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About a year ago, George Hickox contacted me. If you don’t know George, he’s one of the finest field-trial and hunt trainers in the country. Between the two of us, we’ve taken on the task of introducing clicker training to gun-dogs --- more specifically, gun-dog trainers. Why would anyone want to do that? Because hunting is about teaching a dog what he needs to know and why he should do it. In the past, the emphasis has been on the why, without much regard for the what. Meaning, remote collars do a great job of giving a dog a motivation to do something - anything - but style is often lost in favor of compulsion. Clicker training is also about teaching a dog what he needs to know and how to do it - with a strong focus on balancing the two fundamental aspects of training and gearing it to the individual dog. Why is that important? Because some dogs can handle tough treatment - some can’t. If you have a dog who is unskilled, there isn’t any E-Collar in the world that is going to make him instantly brilliant. Another major advantage to clicker training is the ability to start teaching things like directed movements long before he can handle corrections. By laying the foundation earlier, it allows the dog to gain fundamental skills far earlier than with other methods.
If you are interested in the first major advance in this type of training in a long-long time, come on in, the water’s fine.
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