| | | | | |  |  | | James B. Spencer |
Double Mark Head-Swingingby James B. Spencer
Most retrievers, while learning double marks, slip into the counterproductive and aggravating habit of "head-swinging." This fault can take two forms, either of which adversely affects the dog’s marking and memory. In the first type, as soon as the memory bird comes down – sometimes even while it’s still falling-the dog swings his head around to look for the go-bird. This happens most frequently when the memory bird is a control bird and the go-bird is a shot flier. In dog-games, if the guns are visible from the line, a retriever can tell when one station is about to shoot a flier, which is far more exciting than a control bird. Dogs learn to distinguish between the two because three people (one thrower and two shooters with shotguns) normally stand at a flier station, whereas only two (one thrower and one popper with a blank pistol) normally stand at a control bird station. Knowing this, a dog may swing around from the ho-hum control bird to the exciting flier before he has had an adequate opportunity to mark the former. Consequently, he frequently pins the go-bird, but has all sorts of difficulty finding the memory bird.
In a dog-game, about the only defense against this type of head-swinging is to stand so you block your dog’s view of the go-bird station until after the memory bird is down. Some handlers try to keep their dogs from so much as seeing the flier station until then. However, that increases the risk of a break when the flier surprises the dog. So other handlers allow their dogs to see the flier station, but then block it until the memory bird is down. To do this consistently, a person must train his dog to work from either side. That way if the flier is on the right, he can work his dog from his left side, which puts him on the dog’s right side. Similarly, if the flier is on the left, he can work his dog from his right side, which puts him on his dog’s left side.
As stated above, that is about the only defense against this type of head-swinging when it happens at a dog-game. However, by using the drill described below in training, you can prevent it from happening.
In the second type of head-swinging, the dog watches the memory bird well, and swings around to see the go-bird at the proper time, but, before being sent, he looks back around at the memory bird. Then he may even swing his head back and forth several times between the two falls, which can only weaken his marks on both birds. Or he may remain locked in on the memory bird, which dims his memory of the go-bird.
If the handler sends him when he is looking at the memory bird, the dog can make any of three serious mistakes. First, he might go to the memory bird area, establish a hunt, then quickly switch to the go-bird area. Second, he might run through the memory bird area without establishing a hunt and head for the go-bird, thereby disturbing cover between the falls unnecessarily. Third, even if he finds the go-bird satisfactorily, he might, when sent for the memory bird, wonder whether he hasn’t already picked it up, since he started in that direction before retrieving the go-bird. Thus, he might head straight for the go-bird area again, which is returning to an old fall. But let’s say he avoids all three serious mistakes. Let’s say that, when sent initially, he does indeed complete the retrieve of the memory bird first. Let’s even say that he does a better job on it than he would have done had he retrieved the birds in the normal sequence. His mark on the go-bird bird will be weaker than it should be, so his gain on the memory bird is washed out by his loss on the go-bird.
Consequently, whether in a dog-game or in training, if your dog swings his head back to the memory bird after the go-bird is down, you shouldn’t send him until you bring his head (and mind) back to the go-bird. If you send him when he’s looking the wrong way, you can gain nothing, and you risk three serious errors. How should you bring his head back around to the go-bird? If it’s to the right of the memory bird (and your dog is on your left), turn away from him and pat your leg to bring him around. If the go-bird is to the left of the memory bird, turn into and slightly in front of your dog to force him to turn toward the go-bird.
So much for how to deal with both types of head-swinging after the fact. How can you prevent these habits from getting started? Well, you can take a giant step in that direction by training your dog to shift with you as you turn to face each mark just before the bird is thrown. If, instead, you set your dog up in one position at the line and keep him there through both falls, you encourage head-swinging. But if, after the memory bird is down, your dog shifts around with you to face the go-bird station, he will be less inclined to swing his head back to the memory bird after the go-bird is down.
But what if your dog is a chronic breaker? Since shifting between falls encourages such dogs to break, anyone who has one should plant him in one position for both falls. Happily, chronic breakers normally aren’t head-swingers. They lock in so tightly on the most recent bird that you might have difficulty physically bending their heads around to another fall, previous or forthcoming.
If your dog is not a chronic breaker, you should train him to shift with you between falls. He’ll almost certainly still swing his head occasionally, but it won’t become a habit as easily, and the drill described below will be more effective in curing any head-swinging problems he develops.
DRILLS
"Stop Counting!" Drill
This drill teaches the dog that he cannot rely on his own eyes to tell him how many falls he is about to see. When you bring him to the line, he sees two throwers standing out there in plain sight. Your dog’s experience to-date tells him he is about to run a double mark. But you fool him. You run each fall as a single, using the other as a decoy, so to speak. Back and forth you go like this. Then you sneak in a double. Then back to singles. If you do this often enough, he will lose faith in his own ability to predict how many falls he will see in a given test. This will encourage him to pay attention only to the bird in the air, and ignore extra gunners out in the field.
 | | | Most retrievers, while learning double marks, slip into the counterproductive and aggravating habit of "head-swinging." |
Purpose of Drill
This drill helps the dog stay focused on each fall as it is thrown for him, rather than to look immediately for another. It also helps him remain focused on each fall, rather than peek back at the previous fall. In other words, it cures, at least temporarily, both types of head-swinging.
Prerequisites
The only prerequisite is that your dog has begun to swing his head in either of the two above-described ways on double marks.
Equipment and Facilities
You need two assistants with blank pistols, or two dummy launchers, or one assistant and one dummy launcher. You also need several dummies. You need a suitable field, typically with light to moderate cover and no hazards. You should not make the marks difficult, for you want your dog to succeed easily on each retrieve.
Precautions and Pitfalls
Don’t overwork your dog in any one session.
Process - Steps in Training
Set up a relatively simple double mark for your dog. Both assistants should be visible from the line. If you use dummy launchers, each one should be marked somehow (perhaps with a chair) so your dog can spot them from the line. Heel your dog to the line and let him look at both stations. Then set him up in your normal manner. Signal for either bird. After it’s down, send your dog for it. When he returns with it, set him up again and signal for the other bird. When it’s down, send him. Go back and forth like this a couple of times. Then, give him both falls as a double. Finally, give him each fall as a single again. That’s the total procedure when everything goes right, which it seldom will, at least at first. Now let’s look at how you operate when things don’t go right, that is, when he swings his head during this drill.
If he swings his head toward the other station after a single mark is down, help him re-focus on the single that is down before you send him. If you send him while he’s looking the wrong way-in "See! Serves ya right!" mode-he will learn nothing. He’ll wobble out toward the wrong assistant, and wander all over the pasture. Instead, make sure he’s looking at the mark that was actually thrown before you send him. Then, immediately rerun the same mark. If he swings his head again, repeat the above, and then rerun the same mark again. Do that mark as a single until he doesn’t swing his head two successive times. Then go to the other mark, and repeat this process. When he has succeeded twice on it, too, give him the double.
If, when you intend to give him the double, he swings his head too quickly from the memory bird to the (anticipated) go-bird, don’t signal for the go-bird. Instead, re-focus him on the memory bird and send him for it as a single. Repeat the memory bird as a single until he doesn’t swing his head two successive times. Then try the double again.
If, on the double, after both birds are down, he swings his head back to the memory bird, immediately heel him off-line and have your assistants pick up the birds. In other words, give him nuttin’. When you bring him back to the line, give him the go-bird as a single until he doesn’t swing his head two successive times. Then, try the double again.
Addenda
If your dog has learned to identify flier stations in dog-games, and consequently does the first type of head-swinging, set up such a double in training. Put three people, two with shotguns, at the flier station. Put either one or two persons at the control bird station. Then run the control bird as a single-again and again and again, until your dog stops swinging around to the flier station before you have shifted around to face the flier. This is a good drill to give such a dog shortly before a test or trial.
James B. Spencer is a well-known retriever trainer, clinician, hunting test judge, as well as an award winning and engaging writer. He is the author of Training Retrievers in Marshes and Meadows, Retriever Training Tests, the companion to this book, Retriever Training Drills for Blind Retrieves, and several other titles. He writes regularly for Gun Dog and Wildfowl magazines. He resides in the midwest with his wife, Theresa.
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