PDTE 2013 Winter Newsletter

well because the dogs automatically
sit themselves, and it is a good way for
the owners to treat them on time.
KNOWING THE BREED
The Kooiker is a Dutch hunting dog. It
was originally used to lure and drive
ducks into cages known as kooien,
which were basically canals ending in
traps in which the hunter could easily
catch the fowl. The dogs lured the
ducks by wagging their furry white
tails. The breed is independent, which
allows them to work by themselves.
They are alert, which allows them to
act quickly and they are not too noisy,
which is important for luring.
For the search, we chose good equipment
such as a 3 m long leash, a
harness, and of course good treats
and plenty of water. A long leash is
important because, as we all know, trying
to learn something with someone
standing over your shoulder is a bit
uncomfortable. Sniffing also produces
a dry mouth, which is why water is
important. If the dogs are not drinking
enough water, they can be inaccurate
in their work. And of course
breaks are important — for both dog
and owner, especially in this case as
the owners need plenty of breaks for
their bodies. When a break is necessary
is sometimes a bit difficult to tell,
but as I like to tell the owners, when
in doubt, keep out! Why are breaks
important? Because when you want
to learn something, you will remember
it better next time if you allow
the brain to eliminate the toxins that
learning produces. People can concentrate
for about 15 minutes very well;
I’m not sure if this is true of dogs or
if it is shorter. During breaks the brain
can process the information from the
previous session. We have all been in
situations where someone is speaking
and we hear the words, but they don’t
make any sense because we are too
tired. It may be a boring subject or a
boring speaker, but most of the time
it is because we don’t take breaks on
time.
STEP-BY-STEP TRAINING
It’s important to do the training in
little steps. So, every time the dog
was successful, we made the task just
a little bit more difficult. Success is
important to keep the dog motivated.
It’s the same with children; they don’t
have much self-confidence so sometimes
it helps to ask them something
very simple in between other questions.
Especially for children who have
poor self-confidence, it helps them
feel that they know something and it
keeps them motivated. The same is
true of dogs.
As we know, dogs learn by association.
So we have to associate the keys with
something nice — which normally for
dogs means food. We keep one hand
behind the back and hold the key in
the other hand, and as soon as the dog
shows interest in the keys, he is treated
from a flat hand. This is quite easy,
because dogs are curious by nature
and will want to investigate what you
have in your hand. Having the hand
with the treat behind the back ensures
that the dog is more interested in the
keys than in the treat.
Next, we move the dog a little further
away in the direction of the keys, starting
by holding the keys further away
from the body, sometimes changing
hands, which stimulates the dog to
think. Gradually we move the keys
towards the ground. In this case, the
owners were sitting on chairs, as it
was more comfortable for them. In a
funny episode with Ed and Windy this
proved a bit challenging, because with
the keys on the ground Ed was looking
at Windy, and Wendy was looking at
Ed, and they were a bit confused as
to what to do next! Ed was probably
expecting Windy to look for the keys,
whereas Windy was looking to Ed for a
treat. The solution to this is don’t look
at your dog! Sometimes it also helps
to look at the keys on the ground. You
can also throw the keys a little further
away, but we need to be careful with
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