Rick Smith Seminars - Training Center Articles
You've waited for weeks for this day, maybe even months. At last, your new puppy is old enough to take its place in your home, your family, and your heart. In all their innocent and youthful exuberance, puppies have no idea what a heavy burden they are carrying — and most of us don't realize we've placed it upon them. That cute little ball of fur is carrying our hopes, dreams, and expectations.
The most valuable aid to training effectively is the ability to read your dog. What we’re talking about is your ability to understand the body language and expression of your dog and then being able to apply this knowledge to the current training situation.
In every dog’s training, there comes a time to ask the dog to work out away from us at a distance. This is best accomplished gradually and in small steps using a valuable tool called the check cord. Using a check cord gives us control over our dog’s movement at an increasing distance, reinforcing how and where we want the dog to work when hunting in front of us.
