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Thursday at 16:26: One of the obedience disciplines for the retrieving gundog is what we call "honesty". It means that the dog must focus on the job it is presented with, and shouldn't be opportunistic in selecting other things
it considers right. The dog should trust the handler to stop and handle given the the job at hand changes.
Probably the best example of honesty is the retriever that spontaneously picks up a bird, and immediately takes a very fast return to its handler, without considering whatever other game it sees on its way. And the dog should not even consider - once it has picked up a bird - to continue sneaking around for other game. To us, training of "honesty" is a completely integrated part of the training of the young retriever. Too often we see handlers, who as soon as the dog has picked up a bird they, make bells and whistles in order to recall the dog. It can develop into training in disobedience, as the dog gets so used to the recall that it will continue searching once the recall is not given. In trails and tests recalling the dog to make the dog come home will be very expensive.
We have made a youtube playlist, where we show some examples of how you may train the young dog towards being honest. Again it should be said, that these are a few examples, and each drill must be trained several times and proofed separately to reach a firm and honest dog.
Click here to see the playlist.. Thanks to Ms. Pia Christensen and Mr. Mikkel Lyndrup for assisting with both the training and the recording of videos. The dog on the video is
Ravensbank Carrie (Carrie), who on the latest videos have just turned 12 months of age.