1
00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:05,800
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to Houndations. I'm your host, Tony Peterson,

2
00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:08,400
Speaker 1: and today's episode is all about how we communicate with

3
00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,400
Speaker 1: our dogs and how they talk right back to us,

4
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:19,000
Speaker 1: even if they don't say anything. The world of dog ownership,

5
00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: you know, particularly when you get into working dogs, is

6
00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: kind of just dominated by advice on how to speak

7
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,320
Speaker 1: to a dog and get it to do something for us.

8
00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,280
Speaker 1: That bleeds into everyday pat ownership as well. And while

9
00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,000
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily a bad thing, it really sells the

10
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,640
Speaker 1: whole relationship short, or at least the communication aspect of

11
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,319
Speaker 1: the relationship. There are a lot of things to learn

12
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,320
Speaker 1: about how dogs speak to us and how we should

13
00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,159
Speaker 1: speak to them, and that's what I'm going to talk

14
00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 1: about right now. I'm going to go out on a

15
00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,400
Speaker 1: limb here and guess that a lot of you find

16
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,520
Speaker 1: listeners don't really know who I am. That's okay, I

17
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 1: won't take it personally. Most people don't. The ones who

18
00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,800
Speaker 1: do are usually very passionate about white tail hunting because

19
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,160
Speaker 1: that's where I got my start in the outdoor industry.

20
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,560
Speaker 1: Bow Hunting white tails, particularly white tails on public land,

21
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,240
Speaker 1: has been a passion of mine for a long time

22
00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: and has led me to having a pretty crazy career,

23
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,760
Speaker 1: especially for someone who is never considered a very good student. Now,

24
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:22,320
Speaker 1: as much as I'd like to sit here and talk

25
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,760
Speaker 1: about myself, the reason I mention this is that I

26
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,600
Speaker 1: have sort of a weird following in the deer hunting space.

27
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,360
Speaker 1: I'm not super popular overall, but with the people who

28
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,200
Speaker 1: do like me, for some reason, I'm very popular. This

29
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 1: is mostly a good thing, I guess. I like creating

30
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,200
Speaker 1: content that helps people have better deer hunts. Where this

31
00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 1: relationship to the audience sucks, and I mean really really sucks,

32
00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,400
Speaker 1: is when I get pinned down at some event or

33
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,960
Speaker 1: some restaurant or something by someone who knows who I

34
00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,520
Speaker 1: am and wants to tell me every story from his

35
00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,280
Speaker 1: deer hunting life. Now I say his intentionally here because

36
00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: it's never once happened to me with a woman hunter.

37
00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 1: The only thing that makes the situation way worse for

38
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,080
Speaker 1: me is if the hunter who wants to tell me

39
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:12,120
Speaker 1: his stories has been drinking bush light tall boys since breakfast.

40
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,680
Speaker 1: That's a special kind of torture for me for a

41
00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,240
Speaker 1: couple of reasons. The first is that talking to strangers

42
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,919
Speaker 1: isn't always my idea of a great time when those

43
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,120
Speaker 1: strangers are tore up from the floor up. As the

44
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,200
Speaker 1: kids like to say, these days, it's exponentially worse because

45
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,920
Speaker 1: I don't drink anymore now. I used to a lot,

46
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: but those days ended when we had our little girls,

47
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 1: and I realized I could either keep drinking or be

48
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,440
Speaker 1: a good father, but I could not do both. I

49
00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,280
Speaker 1: never really knew how bad it was to be sober

50
00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:44,520
Speaker 1: and have to listen to someone stumble through the same

51
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,240
Speaker 1: story seven times in a row, and now I do,

52
00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,760
Speaker 1: and I can't help but believe there's a heavy bit

53
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 1: of karma involved in that. Anyway, if I'm somewhere and

54
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: someone catches when that, they can come tell me all

55
00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,520
Speaker 1: about their deer hunting, or better yet, how the hunting

56
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 1: industry ruined it for everyone. I'll often look for my

57
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,679
Speaker 1: wife if she's there. It doesn't take more than one

58
00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,760
Speaker 1: little tiny look between she and I before she'll swing

59
00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,120
Speaker 1: through and rescue me with some excuse about why I

60
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,760
Speaker 1: need to go do something. She knows how much I

61
00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,200
Speaker 1: hate that situation because I bitch about it all the time.

62
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 1: The look I can give her that says, get me

63
00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,200
Speaker 1: the hell out of here is just this passing thing

64
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,400
Speaker 1: between us, just as she can glance over and ask

65
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,520
Speaker 1: me without asking me whether I need her to help

66
00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,360
Speaker 1: me hit the eject button. Human to human, we are

67
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,960
Speaker 1: pretty dang good at speaking to one another without verbalizing

68
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,920
Speaker 1: a thing. But did you know that a very similar

69
00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,280
Speaker 1: thing happens between us and dogs. Now. While we focus

70
00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 1: on dog communication mostly as a one way street because

71
00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 1: that plays well into training advice, there's a simple example

72
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,240
Speaker 1: here I want to highlight how that's just not always

73
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: the case. Think about telling your dog to heal and

74
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,560
Speaker 1: then stay. Then you toss a dummy and you offer

75
00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 1: up a release command. An interaction like that is just

76
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,840
Speaker 1: you kind of issuing several verbal commands to your dog

77
00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,600
Speaker 1: while your dog follows through or doesn't. If you have

78
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,160
Speaker 1: a good dog, which you probably do, and you do

79
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,599
Speaker 1: this drill, you can often test one aspect of communication

80
00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,640
Speaker 1: in the time between when you toss the bumper and

81
00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,039
Speaker 1: release the dog. If you wait more than a few seconds,

82
00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: the dog will almost always either break or look right

83
00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,159
Speaker 1: up into your eyes to see what the hell is

84
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,760
Speaker 1: going on. That dog is looking for direction, and it's

85
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,080
Speaker 1: most likely because you usually throw the dummy and then

86
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,960
Speaker 1: immediately release him. Even five or ten seconds, you know,

87
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 1: more of waiting changes the routine, and they'll just want

88
00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,840
Speaker 1: to figure out what's going on. Dogs say a lot

89
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,560
Speaker 1: to us, and we are so good at reading them

90
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,839
Speaker 1: that we often don't even consciously acknowledge what they are asking.

91
00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 1: Let me give you another example. Lab Luna, who is

92
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 1: eleven now and while not fully retired from hunting yet,

93
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,359
Speaker 1: is awfully close. She came down to my office the

94
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 1: other day and I heard her, you know, thump her

95
00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,720
Speaker 1: way downstairs, and then quickly had in my direction. It

96
00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,480
Speaker 1: wasn't feeding time, which she makes sure she never misses,

97
00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,080
Speaker 1: so I knew it was strange that she was moving quickly,

98
00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,720
Speaker 1: since her speed is more turtle than rabbit these days. Well,

99
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,000
Speaker 1: when she rounded the corner and looked at me, her

100
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,880
Speaker 1: eyes set it all. When I let her outside, she

101
00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: sprinted into the yard with an urgency that was both

102
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,640
Speaker 1: alarming but also relieving. If I hadn't been home, the

103
00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,040
Speaker 1: mess I might have had to clean up would have

104
00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,599
Speaker 1: been a really rough one. She didn't have to say

105
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,839
Speaker 1: to me, hey man, I'm right on the verge of

106
00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,600
Speaker 1: blowing mud all over the carpet here because her body

107
00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,880
Speaker 1: language set at all our history of coevolution with them

108
00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,920
Speaker 1: has led to an ability to communicate in a way

109
00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,200
Speaker 1: that we don't have with very many animals. Now, I

110
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,400
Speaker 1: don't know horses very well because when I get on one,

111
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,120
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm on a ten foot unicycle and

112
00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:07,719
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of time before I get the

113
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,240
Speaker 1: Christopher Reeves treatment. But I do feel like people who

114
00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,320
Speaker 1: really love horses have communication kind of on this dog

115
00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,520
Speaker 1: human level. It's probably very similar, and I'm sure there's

116
00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,240
Speaker 1: other examples. I know some of the whack jobs like

117
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,839
Speaker 1: that Tiger King fella probably think they can speak to

118
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,119
Speaker 1: big cats and vice versa. You know, but I doubt

119
00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,640
Speaker 1: that's on par with your average interaction with your retriever

120
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,480
Speaker 1: or a pointer. But again, I've never trained a tiger.

121
00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,400
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing about communication. It is a skill

122
00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,880
Speaker 1: that needs to be honed. We focus so much on

123
00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,520
Speaker 1: not only what to say to dogs, but how to

124
00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,680
Speaker 1: get them to connect it to certain behaviors that we

125
00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:50,560
Speaker 1: forget this stuff is like a two way street. Think

126
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,520
Speaker 1: about it this way. I'm sure you've had a coworker

127
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:55,440
Speaker 1: or a relative or a friend at some point in

128
00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:00,440
Speaker 1: your life who always only talked about themselves, not once

129
00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,440
Speaker 1: do they ask you how you're doing, or how your

130
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,279
Speaker 1: kids are doing, or anything. It's just NonStop drivel about

131
00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,000
Speaker 1: their lives. That's not much fun and it's not very

132
00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,680
Speaker 1: productive in a way. That's what a lot of us

133
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,120
Speaker 1: do to our dogs. But we should be trying to

134
00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,239
Speaker 1: encourage and actively participate in two way conversations. This starts

135
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,360
Speaker 1: when they were puppies, and it's something that you can encourage.

136
00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:26,760
Speaker 1: The easiest way to do this is a trick I

137
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,560
Speaker 1: learned from dog training guru Tom Docin. Docan is the

138
00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,880
Speaker 1: fellow who invented those dummies that look like a duck

139
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,920
Speaker 1: or a pheasant with the hard head and the hard

140
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,960
Speaker 1: feet that teach dogs not only where to grab real birds,

141
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,840
Speaker 1: but also not to shake them. Now, when Doc is

142
00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,920
Speaker 1: dealing with young puppy, say as young as about eight

143
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 1: weeks or so, which is the age in which most

144
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,080
Speaker 1: of us will pick up our pupp he likes to

145
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,520
Speaker 1: grab a handful of kibble. Some folks don't like treat

146
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,800
Speaker 1: training of any sort, but it's hard to argue that

147
00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,760
Speaker 1: the potential negatives outweigh the positives When you're first establishing

148
00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,800
Speaker 1: a relationship with a baby dog that doesn't care about

149
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,280
Speaker 1: you yet at all. What Doc does is wave that

150
00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,080
Speaker 1: closed fist with a few pieces of kibble in it

151
00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,480
Speaker 1: right in front of that pup's nose. The goal is

152
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 1: to get the puppy to smell the food and then

153
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,840
Speaker 1: let it, you know, kind of try to push its

154
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,160
Speaker 1: nose into your hand to get at the calories. Doc

155
00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,440
Speaker 1: then brings his fist slowly up to his face and

156
00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:27,560
Speaker 1: holds it right by his eyes. Most pups will instinctively

157
00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,160
Speaker 1: follow the fist wherever it goes because it contains what

158
00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,080
Speaker 1: they most want in the world. When this happens, they

159
00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,280
Speaker 1: almost always start looking you right in the eyes. This

160
00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,000
Speaker 1: serves a couple of different purposes. The first is that

161
00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,800
Speaker 1: it establishes the groundwork for eye contact. While this is

162
00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,200
Speaker 1: something that might just come naturally from a lot of

163
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,480
Speaker 1: training and working together, there's no good reason not to

164
00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,480
Speaker 1: try to kick start it as soon as possible. An

165
00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,000
Speaker 1: eight week old puppy that starts to learn to look

166
00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:00,160
Speaker 1: you in the eyes is a dog that will be

167
00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:02,920
Speaker 1: easier to train right out of the gate, because you'll

168
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:18,439
Speaker 1: be able to more easily get its attention. This is

169
00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:20,640
Speaker 1: something that a lot of folks forget when they haven't

170
00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,680
Speaker 1: messed with a puppy in a few years. Puppies suck

171
00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,960
Speaker 1: at paying attention. They really suck at paying attention to

172
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,000
Speaker 1: something that doesn't immediately interest them. Think about it this way.

173
00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,040
Speaker 1: If you take a little pupster out and it encounters

174
00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,600
Speaker 1: a frog or a butterfly, then you can bet the

175
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,240
Speaker 1: sum of its attention is going to be focused entirely

176
00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,800
Speaker 1: on this new interesting discovery. If you try to train

177
00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,320
Speaker 1: it to sit, or stay or do any of the basics,

178
00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,920
Speaker 1: when even a minimal distraction like a kermit in the

179
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,760
Speaker 1: grass is there, it's game over. You can issue all

180
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,800
Speaker 1: of the verbal commands you want, but you'd have better

181
00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,080
Speaker 1: luck training that frog. And frogs are not known for

182
00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,959
Speaker 1: being good listeners or being over really biddable. The best

183
00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,959
Speaker 1: you can do with a young puppy is to start

184
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,160
Speaker 1: the process of getting it to look at your face

185
00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,559
Speaker 1: and into your eyes when it wants something that sounds

186
00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,360
Speaker 1: minimal and in a way I guess it is, but

187
00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,680
Speaker 1: it's also not nothing. It's the first step in the relationship,

188
00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,160
Speaker 1: and it's an important one. If you do this with

189
00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,760
Speaker 1: a young dog right out of the gate, you'll communicate

190
00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,440
Speaker 1: to that dog that a lot of what he can

191
00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,800
Speaker 1: do to earn a reward will come right from your

192
00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,840
Speaker 1: face region, whether that's you saying something or you looking

193
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,440
Speaker 1: a certain direction. While there's a lot of runway between

194
00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,960
Speaker 1: basic eye contact and let's say advanced hand signals, you know,

195
00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: like working with an older dog, the truth is that

196
00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 1: if you're going to get to those hand signals with

197
00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,400
Speaker 1: your dog, at some point, you're gonna have to start

198
00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,000
Speaker 1: with your pup and get him to work in the

199
00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,440
Speaker 1: right direction, to get them look in the right direction.

200
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,959
Speaker 1: This is huge in training and something altogether even more

201
00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,000
Speaker 1: important in the field when you're hunting. So think about

202
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,360
Speaker 1: it like this. Maybe you're working on a duck dog,

203
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,360
Speaker 1: a nice lab or maybe a chessi. That dog is

204
00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,720
Speaker 1: going to have to go out and retrieve birds at

205
00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,800
Speaker 1: some point that it either doesn't mark well or it

206
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,880
Speaker 1: doesn't mark at all. Eventually you're going to get a

207
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,320
Speaker 1: sailor that lands in the cattails while your dog is

208
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,720
Speaker 1: focused on a different bird, and when you send him

209
00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,920
Speaker 1: he's going to need direction. Maybe you can start him

210
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,040
Speaker 1: on a perfect line, but perfect dies pretty quickly in

211
00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,439
Speaker 1: the real world with lots of sights and smells and

212
00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 1: the excitement of the hunt, a poorly trained dog might

213
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,920
Speaker 1: just go rogue and try to swim wherever to find

214
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,600
Speaker 1: the duck you've told him was there. This can be

215
00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:44,800
Speaker 1: frustrating but also dangerous depending on the conditions you're hunting in. Now,

216
00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,199
Speaker 1: a well trained dog will look to you for guidance.

217
00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,840
Speaker 1: It'll swim in place and look right into your eyes

218
00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,120
Speaker 1: to wait for a hand signal. The same thing happens

219
00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,040
Speaker 1: when you're up and hunting and knock down a rooster,

220
00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:58,800
Speaker 1: or you hit one that does that nightmare flutter thing

221
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 1: before catching its last wind and pushing on until the

222
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,360
Speaker 1: lights go out, which might be two or three hundred

223
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: yards farther out in the CRP. When you're running the hunt,

224
00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,200
Speaker 1: dead command or whatever you use to tell your dog

225
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,960
Speaker 1: it's time to look for a bird. A good dog

226
00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,280
Speaker 1: will follow your lead and look to you for advice.

227
00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,319
Speaker 1: This is honestly one of the best things about training

228
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,080
Speaker 1: a hunting dog, because it's no longer about him doing

229
00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,440
Speaker 1: his job and then you doing yours. It's about you

230
00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,360
Speaker 1: working as a team. To throw a little punctuation on

231
00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:30,880
Speaker 1: one of the sentences that tells the story of your hunt.

232
00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,640
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing, but it demands an attention to

233
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:40,720
Speaker 1: nonverbal communication. Establishing eye contact early and using it often

234
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,440
Speaker 1: during training is such a smart way to get there.

235
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,920
Speaker 1: It establishes trust, and it will also help alleviate some

236
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,800
Speaker 1: of the misunderstandings we might have when we are training

237
00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,240
Speaker 1: or when we're in the field hunting. Now, that might

238
00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,760
Speaker 1: be clear as mud, So let me explain. If you

239
00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,320
Speaker 1: have a dog that's pretty good at recovering down birds,

240
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:00,400
Speaker 1: and you send him into a patch of cover to

241
00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,520
Speaker 1: pick up a rooster you dumped, it's pretty cut and dry.

242
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,000
Speaker 1: But what if your dog runs through the cover a

243
00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:08,400
Speaker 1: few times and steps to the edge to look at you.

244
00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,080
Speaker 1: The initial reaction most of the time is send him

245
00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:14,800
Speaker 1: right back in, But what if he does that again.

246
00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:19,320
Speaker 1: The initial reaction then often is to get angry and

247
00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,640
Speaker 1: point him back into the cover and maybe threaten him

248
00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 1: with a trip to the pound if he doesn't get

249
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,120
Speaker 1: his shit together. But that dog has come out and

250
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,440
Speaker 1: told you something twice, which is simply that he can't

251
00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 1: find the bird. If it's a young dog, maybe he

252
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,960
Speaker 1: just hasn't worked the whole thing out yet and needs

253
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,439
Speaker 1: more confidence and more time. If he's an older dog,

254
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,360
Speaker 1: you know, one that's been there and done that for

255
00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,720
Speaker 1: a few seasons. He's telling you that I know you

256
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:45,880
Speaker 1: think that bird is in there, but I'm telling you

257
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,280
Speaker 1: he's not. If you hunt with dogs long enough, you're

258
00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:51,840
Speaker 1: going to run into this situation. And some dogs will

259
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,000
Speaker 1: humor you and go sniff around as long as you

260
00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,360
Speaker 1: keep giving the command for them to do so. But

261
00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,160
Speaker 1: down birds are often not dead, and sometimes where we

262
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 1: think a bird went down isn't all that close to

263
00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:07,320
Speaker 1: where he actually hit the dirt. Dog training and hunting

264
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:12,760
Speaker 1: with dogs tends to happen in busy environments with dynamic circumstances.

265
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,960
Speaker 1: It's better to be able to work through this stuff together,

266
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,280
Speaker 1: and communication is the key there. It's also a huge

267
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,800
Speaker 1: benefit to own a dog that you can command without

268
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,800
Speaker 1: having to make a lot of noise. While some people

269
00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,160
Speaker 1: have no problem shouting or blowing whistles to get their

270
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,960
Speaker 1: dog on the right track, this isn't an ideal scenario

271
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,880
Speaker 1: all the time for everyone. Take me, I like to

272
00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,680
Speaker 1: hunt public land birds mostly, and that means the more

273
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,880
Speaker 1: noise I make trying to corral my dogs, the more

274
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,800
Speaker 1: likely we are to spook birds. Sometimes it's just loud

275
00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,120
Speaker 1: in general out there in the field, and you won't

276
00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,200
Speaker 1: be able to audibly get to them very easily, so

277
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,200
Speaker 1: you need to do exaggerated hand signals. Basically, what I'm

278
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,200
Speaker 1: saying is the more ways you can communicate with your dog,

279
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,400
Speaker 1: the better. Now the reverse is true as well. The

280
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,680
Speaker 1: more your dog learns to tell you what's going on,

281
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,360
Speaker 1: the better you're training and hunting. Overall relationship will be.

282
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,120
Speaker 1: This starts with encouraging eye contact when they are puppies

283
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:15,920
Speaker 1: and then really morphs into something special the more you

284
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:18,880
Speaker 1: train and try to work through different environments and drills

285
00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,880
Speaker 1: and challenges. Now, the last point that I'll make here,

286
00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,560
Speaker 1: which probably should have come earlier, but I guess it

287
00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:30,560
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, is that it isn't universal amongst all dogs.

288
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,720
Speaker 1: Some breeds have a far more codependent relationship with the

289
00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,080
Speaker 1: handler than other dog breeds do. Labs, which I talk

290
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,920
Speaker 1: about a lot, have a couple hundred years working really

291
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:47,040
Speaker 1: closely with humans to complete tasks. Their prime candidates for

292
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,640
Speaker 1: a lot of early eye contact and back and forth communication.

293
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,400
Speaker 1: Some pointer breeds, a lot of them actually can be

294
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,280
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic at looking into your eyes for some direction,

295
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,160
Speaker 1: but it doesn't come is naturally with some of them

296
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,280
Speaker 1: as it does other breeds, they're just a little more

297
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,360
Speaker 1: independent now. This is most likely due to their role

298
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,200
Speaker 1: with us in the field and how they tend to

299
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,520
Speaker 1: do a big part of their job, you know, looking

300
00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,640
Speaker 1: for birds and then pointing them well away from us.

301
00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:18,520
Speaker 1: That part of their job is a little bit divorced

302
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,000
Speaker 1: from us at times. It's kind of like, I don't

303
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,880
Speaker 1: know with really young kids, how they go from parallel

304
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,840
Speaker 1: played actually playing together. Now at a certain age they're

305
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,240
Speaker 1: just more likely to build their own sand castle in

306
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,080
Speaker 1: the same sandbox next to another kid, But eventually they

307
00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,000
Speaker 1: learn to build sand castles together. Maybe that doesn't make sense.

308
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,680
Speaker 1: Maybe this doesn't really matter a whole lot, because regardless

309
00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,440
Speaker 1: of the breed you're running, and whether you even hunt

310
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,360
Speaker 1: with them or just want them to listen to you

311
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,200
Speaker 1: at the park when your kid is struggling to play soccer,

312
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,640
Speaker 1: when you know they really just want to do a

313
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,920
Speaker 1: better sport or anything, really, the goal should be to

314
00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,000
Speaker 1: establish and encourage as much communication with your dog as possible.

315
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,600
Speaker 1: It really is the sea secret sauce to good working

316
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,240
Speaker 1: relationship with your four legged buddy and can help you

317
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,919
Speaker 1: level up both your training and the hunting or whatever

318
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,160
Speaker 1: else you do with them. Think about this and how

319
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,439
Speaker 1: often your dog looks to you for guidance as you

320
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,199
Speaker 1: train this summer, and make sure to come back and

321
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,560
Speaker 1: give Houndations another listen in two weeks, because I'm going

322
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,400
Speaker 1: to be talking about chunky hounds and how weight related

323
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,200
Speaker 1: issues can spring up in the off season for our

324
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:32,680
Speaker 1: dogs and how you know, of course we should avoid them.

325
00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,440
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Houndations. I'm your host,

326
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,439
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson, and I just want to thank you for

327
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:39,560
Speaker 1: tuning in. I know you have a hell of a

328
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,199
Speaker 1: lot of options to listen to these days, and plenty

329
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,480
Speaker 1: of stuff vying for your attention, so I really appreciate

330
00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,800
Speaker 1: you taking the time to listen to this show. Now.

331
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,800
Speaker 1: If you want more dog training advice or hunting advice,

332
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:52,919
Speaker 1: or maybe you just need a new recipe for the

333
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,320
Speaker 1: grouse you're going to shoot this fall, or I don't know,

334
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,240
Speaker 1: a sweet new hunting jacket, you can find all of

335
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,320
Speaker 1: that and a lot more. We're at the meeteater dot com.

336
00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:18,119
Speaker 1: Go check it out. M