Training

Working as part of a team

Laura Hill offers advice on dealing with excited dogs

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Q: WHEN I SEND ONE OF MY TEAM OF THREE DOGS ON A RETRIEVE, ONE OF THE OTHERS CAN HARDLY CONTAIN THEIR EXCITEMENT. ANY ADVICE?

Learning to work as part of a picking-up team is an advanced skill and requires full preparation. Your dog will have learnt to be steady when working with you on his own, but adding in other dogs can lead to feelings of increased ‘competition’ for retrieves. It sounds like your dog is not ready for this yet, and is letting their excitement take over.

Practise steadiness with other dogs whilst out training, keeping the number of retrieves to a minimum, and gradually increasing the level of distraction. But also, remember to build calm behaviours at home, such as waiting while other team members are fed, called out of the car or recalled on name.

When the time comes to start taking your dog out in a group again, take him with just one other ‘old hand’ that is calm and has good manners.