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Basic Poodle Training
Basic Poodle Training
A lot of what follows is geared toward "Standard Poodle" Field
Training (hunting & retrieving) but, the same principles will
apply to your toy poodle and any activities you want to teach
him or her.
Make a list of training priorities. Your dog must learn "the
basics" first.
Make each training session positive by beginning and ending with
something the dog is good at and loves...retrieve a tennis ball,
a short swim after a "fun bumper", run over an "A frame", etc
Try to make this early learning positive and in short sessions.
DO NOT allow your puppy to play with squeeky chew toys and to
chew on bumpers. This is a great way to create mouthing problems
and an adult dog which chews up birds.
When you first introduce your puppy to birds note whether he
rips the bird up and/or chews it. If this happens more than once
then don't give him a bird until he has had the first half of
force fetch, which is "hold". Remember, it is much easier to
prevent a problem in the beginning than to unlearn a patterned
behavior.
Do not force your puppy into water. Introduction to water can
begin at weaning time if the dam likes the water and the weather
isn't too cold. If she swims out into the water most puppies
will confidently follow her. If your young dog has not been in
the water then don't make a big deal of swimming or not at
first. Take along another dog who loves the water and let them
play chase games. When your bright Poodle sees how much fun it
is the young dog often will begin swimming. If they swim
vertically just put on your swimming suit or waders and go out
and hold onto his tail for a session or two and he will quickly
learn to swim horizontally. If after a few sessions your young
dog is not going into the water and he is 6 to 12 months old it
is time to begin "force fetch". I have had great success with
getting a young force fetched dog which loves to retrieve into
the water. Just start a training session near the water. Throw a
bumper into shallow water near the shore. Throw the next bumper
away from the water, next bumper into walking water, next along
shore line on land, next into water which requires swimming for
3 feet or so, next back on land, etc. Make each retrieve a GREAT
FUN EVENT and if he won't go for that first 3 foot swim just say
"fetch" as he has already been well force fetched, and he just
goes after the bumper.
Poodles who had never been near water as old as eleven years
have been taught to retrieve from the water using these methods.
Keep a log of each training session. Include the weather
conditions, what you worked on, how the dog responded, problems
observed, ideas on how to solve that problem, how you felt about
the session, what YOU learned, what you plan for the next
session. Regularly review the log and evaluate progress. Don't
go on to a new concept utilizing lessons from before, if those
lessons have not been LEARNED. This will only confuse and
frustrate both you and the dog.
Before you begin to train your Standard Poodle for field events
there are a number of training principles that you must learn
and understand in order to achieve success. Most people have
trained several dogs unsuccessfully before they actually begin
to understand these principles well enough that they can apply
them to training their next dog.
These principles are no secret. They have been discussed for
years by the more successful retriever field trainers, but it
seems that we each must come to an intimate realization of these
concepts by trial and error before being able to apply them to
actual dog training. I would like to give credit to all of the
books, trainers, dogs and friends who have helped me to develop
an understanding of these concepts but the list would fill all
of the megs available for this web site.
1. You must be fair to your dog. By this I mean, teach the dog
an exercise or concept before you attempt to correct the dog for
doing something that it did wrong. A Poodle is very unforgiving
of a correction that it does not understand. If the dog
understands a concept and then chooses to disobey or not do the
required and well understood action and you give a correction
that is of appropriate degree and timing for the infraction,
your Poodle will accept that correction and react positively by
DOING the action required of it and will not hold a grudge. On
the other hand, if the dog does not understand the correction he
will be resentful, afraid to try again, and will develop a
decrease in attitude and motivation. The lack of understanding
is usually because the dog was not adequately taught what was
expected of it, but it may be that the correction was of
inappropriate degree for the infraction, or the timing of the
correction was off. In fact, most dogs who are corrected for not
doing something that they understand in an appropriate degree
and time will react by trying much harder the next time and will
react with joy and relief to realize that in fact, they do not
have a choice in the matter.
Improperly applied corrections result in poor momentum and poor
attitude. Well timed corrections of appropriate degree given to
a dog who understands what is expected results in increased
attitude and momentum.
How do you know that a dog understands an action? If you have taught the action and then on another day you test the dog and he does it and then on a second day at a location different from the training site you test him and he does it correctly he probably understands. However, don't forget that if you don't repeat the test for a couple months he will most likely forget it, as it usually takes about 2 months for an action to get from the short term memory into the long-term memory of a dog. It is a somewhat shorter time for people (usually)!
2. Train for momentum.
3. Establish high standards of performance. If the dog has
trouble on a concept then you should simplify the concept, not
decrease your standard.
4. Live by the "go, stop, come" rule, and "go as sent rule". In
other words, early on the dog learned to go out, to stop on a
whistle and to return when called. If they don't do one of these
actions then immediate backtracking of your training and
reestablishment of foundations must be accomplished. This also
applies to going as sent. This means that if you send a dog
North and he decides to go Nowthwest then that requires a
correction and back tracking.
5. Vary your training level. If a dog is asked to perform the
most difficult task that you have taught him every test and
every day of training pretty soon he gets depressed and
demotivated. If you have a difficult day of training with lots
of corrections or are working on a difficult concept for the dog
you should spend the next day to several days on simple marks,
easy drills , and lots of fun and "atta boys" to rebuild
confidence and momentum. A test involving triple or quad marks
and a difficult blind should be followed by 2 or 3 sets of
multiple gunner singles. A test with difficult to find marks in
deep cover should be followed by some singles or simple doubles
in short cover with white bumpers or ducks with white streamers
tied to them.
6. Continue to train your dog to use his eyes rather than his nose. A retriever is first and foremost a hunting dog who must use his eyes to mark the falls. It is important to continue to stimulate this talent. Dogs are primarily scored on their marking ability at tests and trials.
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