Episodes

Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
#235 Teaching Upland Basics, Pointing and Flushing
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
In this episode, we break down the fundamentals to teach a dog how to effectively become a partner in your upland work, hunting or competitive. Things are always easier and more thoroughly taught by teaching them one at a time, in a context that makes sense to an inexperienced dog. These dogs do not come to us understanding the complex upland game, and few learn by just watching other dogs. Approach this in a clear, methodical way based on how the dog perceives this work, and you'll have a dog that doesn't require "correction", whistling, yelling or frustration in the field.

Thursday Mar 02, 2023
#234 How to Figure out the Right Order of Your Training Process
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
In this episode, I breakdown the ways I've always evaluated my training process. How do you know how much of something to do, or when to start or stop it? It can be confusing at times to figure out the order of steps, how much to do and what comes next. Here are a few ideas to help design up your dog work..
www.Batesworks.net

Thursday Feb 23, 2023
#233 It is not the dog’s fault
Thursday Feb 23, 2023
Thursday Feb 23, 2023
In this episode we discuss how much our dogs, personal, training, hunting or competitive - reflect our inner workings, perspective, thoughts and anxieties. When they exhibit certain responses and behaviors that confuse us or become problematic, it is virtually never them having gone rogue or nuts on us. Instead, it is merely a reflection of what we thought or what signals we sent without even being aware of having sent the potentially confusing signals. It is a real skill to evaluate our own impact on our dog's behavior, but it important if we want to become better dog people.
Batesworks.net

Thursday Feb 16, 2023
#232 How do I keep my finished dog game-day ready?
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
Thursday Feb 16, 2023
In today's episode, we break down how to maintain a dog already trained to a high level, so they are game-day ready. In fact, you can't, but you can make a plan, so your dog builds with focus, confidence and trust so come game-day...... You are both ready. Listen in for some ideas....

Friday Feb 10, 2023
#231 The Use of the Electric Collar in Dog Training
Friday Feb 10, 2023
Friday Feb 10, 2023
Electric collar use is fairly widespread these days. You get one idea about how to use it from viewing the video that came with it or reading its instructions. You get another idea from watching local hunters or trainers use it with their dog. You can read things on forums and it's almost like politics, you can wildly swing from one side of the topic to the other. It isn't as much about the collar or the electricity, as it is about understanding your dog, how they think, how they react to training pressure, and how much fundamental work you're willing to put in before turning on the power. It isn't that the 'good' guys don't use it much and the 'bad' guys do. It is about understanding pressure, the goal of its use and how your dog processes all of this. Listen in to a slightly different idea about this tool...

Sunday Feb 05, 2023
#230 Update and Training Approaches to the New Pup
Sunday Feb 05, 2023
Sunday Feb 05, 2023
In this episode, after some business updates, we talk about what to do when you bring the new guy home. How do you decide how to approach this pup, its behavior, its current and future training? How does anyone know what to begin with in a pup's life? Do you even train a baby dog? What does that look like? Shouldn't we just let "a puppy be a puppy?" Let's talk about all of this...
Bateworks.net
Trainingthepointinglabrador.com

Monday Jan 30, 2023
#229 Picking Your Puppy out of a Litter
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Monday Jan 30, 2023
On one of my favorite topics of all time, we break down the steps to go through with your litter of choice, and things to pay attention to. Some folks don't go through the selection process, and some of us have made a life study of it. Grab some ideas here before you go pick out that one in a lifetime pup!

Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
#228 Two Listener Questions
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
In this episode, I take two questions off the website. The first is about recovering a dog made gun-shy after returning from 8 months of professional training. The other is more commentary about an article written by a pro stating we should be thanking our dogs for playing these dog games with them. I agree philosophically, but I think it's much larger than that.

Friday Jan 20, 2023
#227 Solidifying your Training.
Friday Jan 20, 2023
Friday Jan 20, 2023
This is a discussion about going beyond just teaching your dog the behaviors and responses you need. Once that is accomplished, take the next step to make sure your dog makes the right choice with no training gear 150 yards out at a dead run, or starting at a pheasant sneaking away in the cover. It is a thing accomplished through basics, not field corrections. We'll talk about it here....

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
#226 The Importance of a Dogs’ Mental State
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
This has to be one of my favorites of all the episodes, and one near and dear to my heart. Dogs, like people can have mental illness, severe moods, mental and emotional issues. They aren't exactly like us, but they can be similar in the variability in how they perceive their world. When we interact with them, whether in training or regular life, if we first take into account "where their head is" and what they are thinking, or not thinking about, EVERYTHING is immeasurably easier. Here is some food for thought in working with and owning these canines...