Sagacity Wins

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Sagacity Wins

Postby Robert Tawton » Mon 07 Dec 2009 1:04 pm

Sagacity Wins

Who of us know what “sagacity” really means, despite the term appearing in the ANKC Rules for the Conduct of Retrieving Trials for Gundogs at Rule 94?

The following is a plagiarised version of an article written by Jerry Patopea that was published in the Retriever Field Trials News (April 1989) and again in Retrievers Online (May/June 2000). I first met Jerry, a leading US Professional Trainer, in 1984 and again in 2000 where both he and his wife, Jane, were competing in the 2000 US National Open Championship. I also note that both were competitors in the recent 2009 US National.

The dictionary describes sagacity as “wise in a keen, practical way; shrewd.” The thesaurus says “penetrating, shrewd, astute - see Intelligence.” Under “intelligence” the dictionary says “having all ones wits about one; understand, grasp, comprehend, figure or make out; come to terms or grip with; see through, see at a glance; perceptive.

Aren’t these attributes some of the most important characteristics we wish to see in a working gundog? When you stop and think about it, isn’t it sagacity that leads some dogs mysteriously to the bird and the lack of it that sends others over the hill and away from the fall area? The great old dogs just somehow seem to know where the birds are even when they haven’t seen them fall. Similarly, when the great old dogs arrive at the Firing Point they seem to know where the blinds are. Furthermore, the great old dogs seem to mysteriously get themselves out of trouble when they find themselves in a predicament. Sagacity is what they show at these times and it is sagacity that makes them great dogs. When we sit around an open fire as a group and reflect on times gone by recalling with admiration the game finding prowess of some of the past champions. There is little doubt that marking is of prime importance and control is certainly important in today‘s Trials, however, sagacity is a major factor in both marking and handling. Sagacity is what dogs show as they traverse difficult and varying terrain and correct their lines through heavy cover and across barriers.

Is the characteristic of sagacity natural or is it learned? Jerry suggests that it is both natural and learned. Sagacity is an inherent characteristic that all dogs have in differing degrees. As the learning process begins, dogs learn to use and trust their natural tendencies according to the successes they achieve and from the feedback they receive from their trainer. They learn to use their head to find birds and to work their way through situations properly, but only if the situations to which they are exposed guide them in the right direction and yield the appropriate feedback.

The natural sagacity dogs are born with varies considerably in accordance with their genetics. Some breeding lines have generations of naturally sagacious dogs in their pedigrees. In years past, when the Runs were not as difficult as they are today, and training was not as advanced, astute breeders tended to use dogs that possessed naturally high levels of sagacity. Dogs that did not naturally show high levels of sagacity at finding birds were discarded early, as trainers had no method of teaching sagacity and not much use for dog that could not easily find birds on their own.

From this point, the remainder of the article has been largely taken directly from Jerry’s original manuscript and so the focus is on the American experience. Nevertheless, there are a significant number of parallels with developments that have taken place here in Australia which, for me at least, makes for very interesting reading.

As Field Trial (read Retrieving Trial) tests have changed, our demands changed have to a dog that was naturally more trainable. We began wanting to see a dog that could not only find birds on its own, but would also work well with its trainer and/or its owner. We began to ask for a dog that could mark well on its own, could learn to run blinds at a very high level, and learn “high tech” marking setups. These new requirements changed significantly our breeding and training programs.

We began breeding for dogs that were a lot more flexible in what they were willing to do for us, at the same time our training techniques advanced to give us more “control”. Breeding and training philosophy was changed to develop a dog that would do what we told it to do regardless of any purpose other than the purpose of doing what it was told when it was told. Naturally, sagacity was totally overlooked.

We began developing dogs that were never allowed to develop their natural sagacity to work things out on their own as we demanded more “control.” We began working dogs to go where they were sent and do what they were told - PERIOD!

We forgot about sagacity. We developed dogs to “mark” and “handle” and take great “overs” for overs’ sake.
We consequently have a lot of dogs running in Retrieving Trials today that cannot think their way out of any situation. They have no idea what to do to correct themselves whenever they get lost or confused. They have never been taught along the way how to choose the correct path when given a choice. Instead we have opted to take choice away from them.

This is a really limiting way to develop dogs for Retrieving Trials. There are only a small percentage of situations where dogs totally understand the requirements at every moment. If they have not been taught that their real purpose of being in the field is to get the bird quickly and to then bring it home, they have no means of cutting through any confusion when it occurs.

How do you develop sagacity? Realise that dog’s make their own decisions. We can teach them what to do . We can direct them to the right place. We can force them, to a point. Ultimately, however, dogs must use their own inherent abilities to do what they do.

If we can teach them that their main purpose is to get the bird quickly; use mechanics to guide them in the right direction; teach them to use their head when they’re confused, and that there is always a way to successfully find the bird, then we can develop a sagacious dog. If we force them to do things our way for the sole purpose of doing things our way , we change the purpose of the dog’s work, and confuse the goals. We end up with a dog with a torn purpose in life and therefore a dog who can not give all of itself to any purpose. It becomes confused easily, it becomes resentful, it looses interest, it can’t seem to concentrate, it can’t seem to find birds the way it used to; in short, the dog loses commitment to find the bird.

Principles, concepts, and basics of advanced retrieving need to be taught in a manner where the dog always knows its main goal is to get the bird. This can be very confusing if we go about it too quickly. At every stage the dog needs to maintain the feeling that his trainer is on its side. It needs to feel that its efforts are co-ordinated with the desires of its trainer. In truth, the desires of the trainer have to be co-ordinated with the desires of the dog. Working retrieves have two desires; to retrieve and to please. These two desired run together if we set up situations to enhance both. If we don’t set up situations to enhance both, we create a conflict in the dog and therefore lower its performance and its desire to please.

Teaching the proper performance for Retrieving Trials involves the development of sagacity at every moment. A few helpful hints in the development of sagacity are;

1. Teach what is most often going to be correct. This involves learning what are the most difficult situations for a dog and break them down into learning stages that it will be able to understand and retain. Try not to waste your time, and the dog’s energy working on things that have little or no pay off. Don’t make it do things just because you want it to.

2. Know where to put the birds. This involves a lot of study about retrieving, and has a big pay off, too. Dogs only have so much energy and concentration. If you waste it by working on things that are not important or redundant, you will not get satisfactory results. Use your extra time to study what is important for the dog to learn. Then teach it.

When you are going to a Retrieving Trial, consider the grounds and the Judge. Each set of grounds has individual characteristics and each Judge has his or her own set of things they like to see. Take the time to learn and understand these things. Don’t judge the Judges. Practise with them in mind as you prepare for the Trial.

3. Limit the amount of time you work the dog on any given day and during the week. Overwork yields fatigue, lack of concentration and resentment. There is a fine line between optimum and excess. Pay attention to when your dog begins to tire, and when it does, end the session as quickly as possible.

4. Limit the number of lessons you try to teach. If you can manage one good teaching lesson per day, you’re doing the optimum amount. Trying to teach more than one lesson per day has a great risk of confusing lessons and overworking the dog. This can lead to resentment and a lack of committed effort. Try one good lesson and be happy with that. If you have more time, use it for studying.

5. Help, handle, and correct your dog with sagacity in mind. Ask yourself the question during every move, “Will this step yield sagacity?” If the answer comes up, “No”, take a different approach.

6. Separate marking from mechanics. This is difficult because there is a lot of mechanics involved in advanced marking. A mark becomes a drill once you start to work on it or if you start out with a setup that is over your dog’s head. In these instances, if you treat the situation as a mark instead of a teaching setup, you have the potential for confusion and excessive stress.

7. Limit stress and confusion. Keep things as simple as possible. If you break things down to their smallest components and teach every step, you will be building your dog in the highest manner. So whenever there is a problem, break it down and take the time to teach and review each segment thoroughly. You are thereby building your dog instead of breaking him down, and you’ll be reinforcing the feeling that you’re on its side, and guiding it through difficult areas. It will end up trusting you and working for you with all its energy.

8. Allow wider parameters for developing sagacity than for developing straight lines. There are times when a dog should not be allowed to stray very far from a straight line. There are other times when it doesn’t matter. At these times it is often better to let the dog drift off the line so it can learn how to correct itself. A long time ago I learned that no matter how hard we work at it, we cannot teach a dog to go straight in every situation and still be able to use its head. So oftentimes we are better off to let the dog go its own way and figure out where it is and how to get to where the bird is. Teach line-running at times when you have obstacles in the test that should not be avoided, and be careful to set up a significant number of tests where it doesn’t matter. Then let your dog learn sagacity.

9. Teach your dog to think during marking. Throw birds that are hard to find, but look easy. Let it hunt a lot so it learns how. Do not be quick to handle at the first mistake. When you do handle or correct, time it to improve sagacity; your dog’s ability to make the correct decision when given the choice of two decisions.

10 Reduce the pressure response. This does not mean eliminate the pressure. It means to reduce the response to pressure. This is done through proper timing, to a great degree. Timing applies to several areas; the moment pressure is applied and the direction the dog is moving at that exact moment; the amount of pressure that the dog has been under; what is coming for the dog in the next retrieve, the next hour, the next day, the next week. All these factors must be considered each time pressure is applied in order to obtain the optimum pressure response.

11. Keep the dog’s attention, momentum, and response at a high level. This involves paying attention to how the pendulum swings in the types of retrieves set a Trials. Not enough stimulation promotes boredom or wilful behaviour; too must stimulation and stressing exercises promote resentment, confusion, and boredom.
The pendulum swings to both sides, and can swing from one side to the other very quickly. The optimum spot is in the centre, and that place will not last long at any time, so you constantly have to be adjusting.

12. Proper teaching over time builds sagacity. Sagacity builds sagacity. Work on it constantly, on marks, on blinds, during drills, during teaching lessons and reinforcing lessons and at Trials.

Think sagacity. Sagacity wins!

I would like to thank Retrievers Online and its editors Dennis Voigt & Fiona McKay and Jerry Patopea for the opportunity to share with you this interesting and thought provoking article.

Kindest regards, Robert T
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Re: Sagacity Wins

Postby Joe Law » Wed 09 Dec 2009 3:32 pm

Sagacity Wins – Article

Thank you Bob for drawing attention to the article by Jerry Patopea. With what appears to be a growing number of Australian triallers and judges worshipping at the American Field Trial altar this article might serve to question where we are being led.
Do we really believe that the forcing methods and procedures that surround the American Field Trial scene are truly compatible with and appropriate to our Australian Retrieving Trial scene as well as our rules, laws and regulations? Will our retrievers be a better breed as a result of applying these methods?
Last edited by Joe Law on Thu 10 Dec 2009 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sagacity Wins

Postby Bill Allen » Thu 10 Dec 2009 9:10 am

Hi There Joe/et all.

This is a VERY interesting subject & one that will no doubt be open to a great many view points.
As a Britt owner I value 'sagacity' very highly. The trait of 'birdiness' is one that is often talked about when referring to Britts. It is one of their strongest charactoristics. Why? I believe that these dogs can be very testing to train at times, although they are often plauded for their 'biddability' & 'Intellegence'. I think, to put it into layman's terms, these dogs retain a much higher % of the wild animal then many other breeds when hunting. This is both good & bad, depending on if & how the handler is able to utilise that instinct. Many are not. They are often referred to as a 'Jeckyl & Hyde' dog. They can be extremely docile in domestic situations but revert very quickly to an 'all obsessive' hunter when turned loose, but that's usually where the control goes out the door also. It takes a trainer/handler with a high degree of natural or learned 'dominance' to control & keep on top of them, otherwise their hunting instinct will quickly come to the fore & the handler will be overpowered by the dog's instinct.

There is an old saying 'no birds no bird dog'. This applies very much to the Britt. They are not a dog that will do well with just training/trialing. They must be hunted on wild birds to realise their full potential. It's the wild birds that bring out the strong natural hunter that's in the Britt. It produces that 'sagacity' in such a way that no amount of training/trialing can.

It's amazing to see the levels the yanks have taken the training of their dogs to. They have no doubt reached levels that 20 years ago could never have been believed achievable. However, I firmly believe that 'sagacity' goes in hand with hunting. It's here that the dog must learn to match his wits with that of the wild bird. We all know that there's a difference between working on released birds & hunting 'wild birds'. A good case in point is our stubble quail. Whilst I think that released birds have a lot to recommend them to the trainer, I am yet to see any released bird that can work a dog as hard mentally as a well hunted, wily, wild stubble quail. These birds exhibit traits that will test a dog in ways that released birds never learn. This results in the dog having to use his brains a lot more when hunting such birds. It developes 'sagacity'.

To simplify, training is usually mostly about control. It's great to have that amazing control that will allow a dog to be directed to a blind that is placed at ridiculous distance over difficult terrain, but this wont instill 'sagacity'. It's the process of learning to 'outsmart' the wild bird in real life hunting situations that will develop 'sagacity' in gundogs. The dog that is trained & trialed but never hunted will nearly always lack in 'sagacity' IMO.

As to how we judge 'sagacity', well that's another matter altogether. I'm not talking about a judge recognising it, but the fairness of comparing one dog to another when judging a trial. 'Sagacity' is something that comes with age & experience. Yes some dogs do possess a higher natural degaree of 'sagacity', but it still takes time to develop. So, when judging 'sagacity' do we penalise the younger dog for not having had the time to gain the experience that developes 'sagacity', when compared to the more experienced dog? I would be very interested in a judges perspective regarding comparisons of traits that are developed with experience (read age). A younger dog may not have the 'sagacity' of an older dog, but then he will often be more enthusiastic in his work purely due to the physical differences between older & younger dogs.
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