0:31 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog. Brought to you by George Hickox Bird Dogs.

0:45 Hello, I'm George Hickox. We're in North Dakota at my summer training grounds. Today we're going to talk about backing. When we teach backing, we have a dog on a check cord, we bring him in and then we're going to pop up a remote backer.  When the backer comes up, the dog sees it, we're going to command whoa. When he stops, we're then going to launch a bird. By launching a bird, the dog always expects there's always going to be a bird and that's what's going to give him style when he backs. So let me get a dog and I'll show you how we're going to do it.

1:21 [whistling]

1:38 [sound of bird flying]

1:50 So we're teaching backing. We're going to bring the dog in. We're going to pop up the remote backer so the dog sees it, say whoa, and then we're going to launch a bird. The reason we want to launch a bird is to create style for the dog. By always seeing the backer and a bird coming up, he will always anticipate there's going to be a bird and that's what's going to make him look good when he backs.

2:14 When you're doing backing, it's important to bring the dog in where he's up wind  of the bird in the launcher. This is not a scent drill; it's a visual drill. So by bringing the dog in when the wind is blowing from the dog to the backer, he can't smell the bird that's in the launcher. So you just bring him in on a check cord, you're gonna say whoa. Eventually, you're gonna drop whoa and just the backing dog itself becomes the command for the dog to back.

2:42 So remember, it's very important that your dog first knows what whoa means. You wouldn't bring him on a backer and then say whoa if he doesn't know what whoa means. So you teach whoa when you're yard training When you've taught whoa and the dog understands what it means, then at that point you'd say whoa when you're backing. When we take the dog away, we're going to lower the backer and then take him away because we don't ever want to pull him off the back and say it's okay to leave it. Thatta boy. Good job. Alright.

3:14 [Closing]

3:37 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dog. Brought to you by George Hickox's Bird Dog Training School.