I have a English Pointer bird dog that is 22 months old. I am a beginner trainer and am having problems. I started out with force training with little success and I have now switched to clicker training. I am having some success with the clicker however the dog seems mostly apprehensive during the training sessions,(tail down, head down, slow to respond). I base loaded the dog and he seems to understand the click and treat thing.My biggest concern right now is the dog will not scent -point,in pointing dog circles this is called a sour point or blinking, smelling the bird but not stopping to point. Any ideas or pointers (excuss the pun) would be very helpful.
I think
first of all that you and your dog should practice a bit more with the clicker before trying to tackle the "big issues"
Start out learning the new way of training, by clickertraining some tricks or basic obedience - K. Laurence (spelling?) has a new book out - Learning games - that i think would be a great place to start.
We need to get that apprehension gone - only then will you and your dog get the full bebefit of the clickertraning. Try sitting down to train. increase the value of the treats you are using, anything to make your dog eager and to teach him how to love the training.
i can't help you with the pointing. I work with retrievers.
However I had good use of a book called Clicker Gundog which also covers the pointing and other parts of the hunt specific for pointing breeds.
(I skipped those chapters myself, lol.)
As for books, both Clicker Gundog and Positive Gundogs are great books. I've got them both, and liked them both. However for those who want to buy just one of them, my personal opinion would be that if you are working retrievers get the positive gundog, if you are working a pointing breed (or a flusher) get the Clicker Gundog.
For both books, but perhaps particularly the Clicker gundog, I would recommend, if you are a beginner with the clicker, that you start with a book covering the basics of clickertraining: E.g. Learning games, Clicking with your dog, clicker foundations, clicker training - the four secrets... any one of those will give you good basic knowledge and skills.
the object for you is to learn the mechanics, the skill of clickertraining, how to set up sessions for the dog to learn - the object for the dog is to learn how to learn
Remember, even those skills we need for hunting, and which we tend to be most serious about is just another trick for the dog. Hopefully a trick that the dog will love to perform, often a trick it was born and bred to do, but still a trick like any of the other odd things we ask our dogs to do.
Happy hunting
Christina and the chessies