Thresholds in Retriever Training

Tyler Cofield • October 28, 2024

Thresholds in Retriever Training

Harper has been working on marks within 65 yards for several weeks but it’s time to start stretching her out a bit. Today, our marks ranged between 65 and 90 yards. We were also working in a hay field that had limited visibility until the dogs were within 10-20 feet of the dummy depending on where it fell.
 
Harper’s first two retrieves on the day were at around 65 yards. She marked and picked well, not hesitating a bit while stepping on the dummies. Harper was alternating retrieves with the boys today, Mack and Merle. Our Setup consisted of three – four shot dummy launchers with one shooting left to right at 65-75 yards and the other two shooting right to left at 80-90 yards. After watching Mack and Merle retrieve a few from the longer launcher, it was Harper’s turn to pick a long dummy. Harper marked well from her place stand and didn’t break focus as I called her name to retrieve. Her line was true and fast until she got to 60 yards. Could it have been a threshold?


A threshold is a maximum distance that the dog has been conditioned to go to make the pick. Evidently, it seemed that Harper had started to develop a threshold to this 60 yard distance. It may have been because we had not yet progressed to marking beyond this distance in her training. Dogs are creatures of habit – if you consistently set a dog up to only go to a maximum distance to retrieve a dummy then you are encouraging a behavior that the dog will only need to go a certain distance to find the dummy. Do it too much without varying distances and this behavior will become a habit.


Harper got to this 60 yard threshold and hit an imaginary wall and hunted there aimlessly for a few seconds. Harper, a very intelligent pup, made the decision to press forward to the actual fall area. She struck out beyond the threshold and lined just to the right of the dummy. She actually would have continued further had she not come across the downwind side of the dummy. When she came into the scent cone 10 yards right of the dummy the turned left and hunted straight to the white dummy and made the pick.


There are a few things to consider when determining what caused her to stop then push beyond her threshold. Was it instinct or mental decision to move past this threshold? Did she learn from watching Mack and Merle make several retrieves from that launcher? Was it actually a threshold or did she come across the old scent of the previous 65 yard retrieves that fell upwind just 30 yards left of where she stopped? Was it the preventative measures that we take to prevent this thresholding behavior? The fact is – I don’t actually know for certain what caused her to stop then continue. But I can make assumptions based on her previous training and behavior to aid in determining cause and effect.



Even though we have only been marking to a maximum 65 yards in her training to this point, Harper gets a steady dose of placed dummy retrieves at a significantly longer distance. Placed retrieves are memories, unknowns, or blinds. Most of which have been done with a lining aid such as a mowed lane, wood line, hedge row, road bed, wakling path, etc. We utilize these placed retrieves as a preventative measure on days that we are primarily working on marks by starting and/or ending the session with longer placed retrieves. 

Feeding Time is Training Time

By Tyler Cofield • November 13, 2024
Feeding time is training time. Our dogs have some sort of steadiness or obedience training associated with their feed time. For our older dogs, it may just be a roll call with all of them sitting in a group or setting their bowls in their kennel and having them heel around the yard before releasing them to eat. The puppies have a a similar regiment but our focus is on establishing behaviors and skills that pup will utilize for the rest of their life. There is no denying that the puppy months are the most impressionable time in a dog’s life. Why not take advantage of that time when pup is most easily influenced? We start with a basic sit. Our “sit” command is also an implied stay – meaning we train the dog to “sit” until told otherwise. We do this by holding the food bowl over pup’s head and saying “Sit”. Pup’s natural tendency will be to sit as pup looks straight up at the bowl. When pup sits, we put the food bowl on the ground a few feet in front of pup. If at any time pup decides to move out of a sit then we pick the bowl back up and repeat the process. We enforce the implied sit by withholding the food bowl until the release command is given. The implied “sit” command is typically started around 10-12 weeks old and is the basis of teaching the pup to learn with us. This is also a skill that I’ll recommend people start with their older dog that has never had obedience training. This isn’t just a great initial skill for puppies but also for older dogs that are initiating training or need to maintain a level of obedience. Once pup has this down and you are confident in pup’s ability to remain steady, then you can expand on this skill. However, be mindful that you are working with a puppy that is still very immature. Keep it fun and engage their brain but keep reasonable expectations and understand their limitations. If what you are asking pup to do is too complex that day, simplify it to make pup successful! We feed our pups multiple times a day. That gives us an opportunity to have their undivided attention for several training sessions per day. It is surprising how easy and fun it is to progress during these times so long as you are diligent in doing so. We can engrain many great life skills that are so very beneficial to pup immediately and later in training. For instance, we eventually get to a “back” casting command during this time with a 3-4 month old pup. We may only do it for several feeding sessions and not again until pup is 7-8+ months old and in formal training. So far, the dogs that have ben the easiest to train have been the dogs that established desirable behaviors at feed time as young pups. Here is a list of some things we are currently doing with a couple of our young pups. It changes often as we dream up new scenarios to suit the needs and limitations of the individual pup. Back casts to food bowl. Known and unknown. If we do an unknown, we make it super short and simple. Trailing memory. Set the bowl down and heel pup away. Then send back to bowl. Roll call with multiple dogs. Sit all dogs and put their food bowls in their kennels. The most steady and relaxed dog goes first. Sit with bowl close by for an extended period of time before releasing. Start with minimal distractions and add distractions as pup progresses. Whistle stop while they are eating. Give the whistle stop command and separate pup from bowl. Pup learns that the sooner they sit and focus on handler the sooner they can get back to eating. Whistle stop when they come out of a food bowl after finishing. Then recall and/or cast them to another bowl. Sit pup. Walk away set down food bowl. Recall pup with whistle then sit at heel. Release to eat.