Sportsman's Library - Hunting Articles

Just an Amateur Trainer…

By Dez Young

As I’ve said many times on our television shows “Hunting With Hank” and “Dash in the Uplands”, I’m just an amateur trainer, like most of you.

I used the same technique, which is called "successive approximation," to teach both Dash and his famous dad, Hank, what they needed to learn to perform in the field and on television.

In teaching Dash to "heel" I started with him on a lead (or leash) at 7 weeks of age. At this stage in his life he was so small he couldn't really resist, but he tried. When I gave the verbal command "heel", I tugged on the lead and pulled Dash forward. He tugged back, dug in his feet, tried to bite the lead, whined and yelped. He was trying to see if he could get me to stop by acting that way.

After a few attempts he realized I wasn't going to stop tugging him, so he gave up and began walking beside me. After several lessons, I could give the verbal command without the tug on the lead, and he would begin walking beside me. Through successive approximation steps, he learned that the sound of "heel" meant that he was to walk beside me until he received another command.

The next step in successive approximation was to see if Dash would "heel" without the lead. When that was accomplished I added a second "heel" command...a gentle slap of my hand to my thigh when I gave the verbal command. Once he knew the slap also meant "heel", Dash would follow that command without me needing to say it...another step in successive approximation.

Dez and Dash will demonstrate these and other skills at the 2007 Sacramento, Denver and Phoenix ISE. For more information, please visit www.hwhproductions.com.