Here is a little breakdown, with what may possibly be a few handy tips and tricks to get yourself, and your pup ready to test.
In Summary: The NA Test is about having fun with your dog and to have the most fun, your team should be prepared. If you are having to force anything during your preparation, simply put, you are doing it wrong. For the NA you should be focused on creating a lasting bond and partnership with your dog, some good memories, and ultimately a nice hunting dog that you can live with.  Kids and dogs go together like peanut butter and jelly. Being able to teach your kid some skills: priceless
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 When I talk to handlers about what their e-collar stim means to their dog. I get the most interesting looks. Then I ask, so when your dog does X (undesired behavior) what are you going to do? The handler usually states, "light it up" or something along those lines. But why, I mean, does the dog know what being "lit up" means? Again, usually more puzzling looks. Using the e-collar like an electric "no" is just as ineffective as saying "no" to a dog. What is more effective then, you may be thinking? Well, instead of "no" try having your dog do something it has been taught e.g. "off, down, leave it, sit, or even here/come". Basically, give the dog something to do, more importantly something the dog knows how to do, and does well. We use the e-collar for a silent recall, a non-punitive, low-level stim cue to recall. A cue that quickly becomes fun and rewarding to the dog, which they are more than happy to abide with. So, a "gentile tap" = recall and nothing else. This recall can be used to curb all manner of behavior to the extent that the dog gives its intent away when it does something that has been worked on, and automatically gives itself a recall. I'm not saying what we do is perfect, but our dogs know what a stim means, and that having a bulletproof recall can not only curb a range unwanted behavior, but also can save a dog's life
I got into birddogs later in life, but I have always been nutz about dogs, to include their training, learning, and later their conformation/structure, breeding and so on...
My Air Force career kept me from doing many of the things I wanted to do with my dogs. Long hours, working on my days off, deployments, travel, etc. A real sob story. So being able to do the "field work" I wanted to do with them was a far-off dream. These days, as long as things are working halfway decently, "playing with my dogs" is what I do.
Powder was initially trained by Dan Hoke of Dunfur kennels just outside of town. Dan is a GSP guy and has a field trail resume few can equal. Moreover, when Dan was a young fellow, he was an apprentice to Sigbot "Bodo" Winterhelt - The Bodo Winterhelt! Dan is a gifted dog handler for sure, and I will forever love watching him handle a dog I believe. He has a gift that is just magical! Still, he wasn't able to steady Powder up for whatever reason. 
Powder has been a great companion to me. She is MY dog without question, and well in tune with me as one would hope (expect) from a Medical Alert Service Dog. In the field she has been a consistent producer, best yet she has become more proficient with each passing year. I have always wanted to do more with her steadiness for a long time now and this summer finally presented the opportunity I have been looking for!
This little video is kind of a big deal since Powder has spent most of her life treating gunfire in the field the same way Usain Bolt treated a starter's pistol sounding off! I had hoped to work on this last season, but she was injured, then pregnant, and went straight into hunting season just after the pup left. At 8 years of age, and only 4 dedicated training sessions for her this training season she now understands being steady to wing, shot, and release. So here we are, Team Hunting with Tule and Powder. This is their first co-session together. Tule did a great job of supporting Powder's initial point, so I gave her permission to come up and establish her own point, which she took advantage of. They worked well (even though Powder was a bit slippery as I walked in) and were nice and steady, overall, I'm really happy with them both. We use structure over force and high pressure. For her to demonstrate this level of steadiness with another dog in the mix is pretty awesome. 
For the three of you who follow my blog, recently renamed The TGK Blog, you will know that I enjoy spending time with my dogs. I’ve come to learn ‘training’ and hunting with them are simply different avenues to cultivate a stronger relationship with them as companions. I’ve ‘trained’ dogs since I was ten years old, and I learned as most of us have at that age by following an adult and using the method they used. It was easy to accept, as there didn’t seem to be any other way to go about ‘training’ a dog. The books that were available at the time only further supported the process. I remember when the Monks of New Skeet’s books were the hottest thing on dog training next to a branding iron ready to go…
I recall being introduced to ‘clicker’ training in the early 90’s when I lived in Alaska. The way it was presented made me more than just a skeptic, to be honest; I thought it was a joke. I did see there was intent to train without the use of force/pressure/use of harsh aversives. But I just didn’t get it.
It wasn’t until I moved to New Mexico and began training with Janet Miller that I saw ‘balanced training’ in action, and I immediately liked it. I saw the benefits of using things the dog liked to get them to perform versus just making them do it because it is what I wanted. When I got into agility with Shadow, my Golden, through Janet – that was all positive. But I wasn’t clever enough to recognize it at the time. Still, my time training with and learning from Janet redefined how I worked with and wanted to work with my dogs. 
Years later I re-discovered the Drent and really wanted to make this bird dog thing happen. I read dozens of books on training a dog for field use. All of them required the use of force in one way or another. Nothing I was comfortable with, in fact, one book I ordered as a reprint of a famous out of print training book went into explicit detail on how to properly hit your dog with a 2”x4”! Feeling shocked, I recall throwing that book away. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to train with a few notable gundog guys in New Mexico and Washington. At the puppy end of their programs, it was all fun and games, but to get high trials levels of ‘performance’ aka steadiness, the need for the use of force was there. Still, they weren’t doing some of the incredibly harsh things some so-called trainers were doing. Things that were as shocking if not more so than the 2x4 guy… Fast forward a few years, my own style had become more and more LIMA (Least Invasive Minimally Aversive) through fits and starts in a clumsy haphazard way that tends to occur when a person is without a road map or mentor. I often wondered about how this could apply to the world of Gun Dogs. In the Gun Dog world Positive/Force Free/LIMA ‘training’ is rare as hen’s teeth, and as I have learned, a highly taboo topic.
When Jenna had lived in Western Washington state, she trained in a group that used the Gibbons-West method; a low-pressure, low-force way of training for her Fowler dog. This intrigued me – so it was possible! Why had I not heard of this? It made sense to me that training gun dogs should be able to be done without the use of force, after all in nearly all other facets of dog-sport the use of force in training is taboo these days. From Agility, Dog dancing, Flyball, frisbee, even in Mondioring and so many points in between people have been getting high drive dogs to do totally amazing things. More importantly, how have they done it? Well, the more amazing the behavior has been, the more likely it is that the handler/trainer has gotten the dog to offer the behavior and then rewarded the dog for doing so. Then the act of performing became rewarding for the dog. The dog chooses compliance… 
Jenna suggested we try to train with Brad Higgins. Contact was made, and the appointment set. I don’t recall the last time I was so excited to learn something. From the moment you arrive, you are being educated. This I loved. I will not bore you with repeating the experience here, as I have written about it already. In short, I will say this, we both had a wonderful experience and came away with our eyes opened further and our heads reeling from trying to take in so much added information. We returned home with elevated expectations for the hunting season and how we would ‘train’ the following summer. Sadly, our original quail lady had elected to skip out on far more than producing quail for us, so our big summer of working with Ila and Tule was tabled. I did, however, add several books to my pile to read.
Just like leading up to our first Higgins experience dumping out old irrelevant information was without question the single greatest hurdle to learning the new. Learning is a journey, a fantastic one if you are ready and wanting to grow. I had become inspired and given the impetus to make another big step in the direction I had been pointed for a long time. This time with purpose and direction and possibly a mentor. With this experience fresh in my mind, I reread several canine behavior books – now with a whole new level of meaning and a much deeper level of understanding. I also joined force free training groups, added all kinds of books on learning theory, modern force free training methodology to my reading pile.
Over that summer I realized I, more than Ila, needed to go back to train with Brad. I returned to Nevada and with Brad’s help we focused intently on my handling. Brad videoed me and he critiqued my handling, missed queues, off timing, and the few things I did well. It was then he went from teacher to mentor. I had a lot of respect for Brad before, his care and passion are unmistakable, and dare I say it, palpable. We covered a lot of ground, I learned a great deal about myself and what I was doing, or rather what I thought I was doing. I spent those days so focused and deep in concentration I ended up with a truly crushing migraine – I had thrown everything I had at learning.
It should go without saying, Jenna and I had a great hunting season, better yet we had secured a new quail lady! Amanda has been fantastic. She works hard to deliver healthy strong birds for our program, and we are appreciative of her great attitude and commitment towards helping us achieve our goals. For this first summer of having a flight pen full of quail, we used Pharaoh quail. Amanda brought in a strain that was going to be edgier than the normal docile pharoah for us. While some were flightier, most were not so impressive. We learned the lighter color the bird was, the more likely it was to act wild. Ultra-rare it was when a rich-brown or dark grey one got up and left Dodge.
With the Higgins method it has been my observation that the use of pressure and harsh aversives are replaced with structure. To be successful with the Higgins method you need birds that will act wild, and you need to adhere to a deviously simple protocol. With some patience and a few good birds, the dog comes to understand you are critical to its success as a hunter. Better yet, the dog believes you are the key to his success! With this ‘truth’ installed in the dog’s mind his level of cooperation is amplified. All you have to do is not screw it up. This relationship is built upon trust and cooperation. The more this is allowed to grow, the higher the level of performance you will get from your dog: better bird management, points that are stauncher and more dramatic, and yes, even better retrieves. All by basically just slowing down, being quiet, paying attention and being calm - of course a gross oversimplification.
this may So back to our pharaohs. One of the more interesting and useful parts of the Higgins Method is allowing the dog to flush. Yes, it seems unusual and maybe even quite contrary. But after your dog has established its point, and you have situated yourself the dog is taught the “all right” queue, where the dog has permission to charge in and flush the bird, or simply relocate, or stand and defer to you. But in many cases one or two explosive steps is all it takes to get a bird to break and its game on. Do you like to shoot doubles? Here is your chance. What we learned in ‘training’ is our birds wouldn’t go and the girls would simply scoop the bird up on the “all right” – which technically is fair play, but what wild bird would let that happen? Moreover, this ninja grabbing became problematic for us, most notably Ila learned to stalk in like a panther and snatch the bird. There is a clear difference between when a dog is managing birds and creeping. Ila still didn’t have intent to put the bird up because if it flew, she stood steady, but if it sat tight, she would panther cruise in until the bird was in her mouth.
We consulted with Brad, and he confirmed our suspicions – we had a bird problem. To move forward we had to ditch “all right” at least temporarily. But what to do about Ila, the furry bird snatching glacier? Since we don’t use “whoa” or zap our dogs, just what were our options? Well truth be told; the solution was incredibly simple. I knew the difference between Ila managing a bird on the move, and when she had intent to cruise in for a snatch. This was the cornerstone to the fix. When she went into cruise mode, I simply recalled her, I knelt and praised her for returning and we left that bird alone and went to another. She was denied her reward, which is all. It took two times that day, and another on the following training day. She hasn’t cruised since. No yelling, no whistle bleating, no “whoa'ing", no zapping, no dramas; it was that simple.
In all we had a great summer of fun Ila, Tule, and I. We ‘trained’ three or four days a week. I honed my craft and improved my timing by taking video of most of our sessions. I did learn I am a terrible videographer, but what I managed to capture was adequate for its intended purpose, for me to learn and improve. Yes, with the Higgins Method the handler is held accountable for what goes on and how well the dog performs. We understand what the dog will do when they make associations. With consistency in handling, it becomes easy for the dog to make the associations we find desirable. In this case awesome points and steadiness, basically the dog becomes non-reactive to birds flying, gunfire, birds being shot, etc. Chasing is eliminated entirely. All the things I just mentioned become queues to remain steady for the dog, all done without drama, pressure, hollering a 'command', or zapping the dog. Early in the program dogs are helped to make the association that flying/flushing birds mean to be steady without verbal commands or queues be it verbal or electronic. We then make the association that they may flush the bird, but become steady again once the bird flies, again without command or queue from us, the flying bird is again our queue for steadiness. This is much easier than you might think.
Once the gun gets involved a lot of energy is added to the situation, and once we have added a bird tumbling to the ground, there is again even more energy added. For us, this isn’t an insurmountable obstacle for us, and one we can defeat without the use of any kind of harshness. Our dogs learn the gunfire is also a queue for steadiness. Even while hunting at our local preserve hunters in other fields shooting will cause our dogs to pause briefly. Typically, the opposite of dogs trained conventionally, who when they hear gunfire usually rocket off in the direction of the report of the shot! Because so many of our birds were very weak to get off the line, I had to put a bit more emphasis on gunfire, being a queue for steadiness to ensure the safety of the situation. Again, this was done without the use of force. I simply leaned a little further into the associations we had already built.
How did I do that? To be honest it was simple and based on modern learning theory. Done again in the Higgins way, as quietly as I am capable of. By emphasizing my return to the dog after the shot, varying the time to get back, and varying the time for release once I got back to the dog, my queue “hunt dead” was properly reinforced as the association I wanted to make. Releasing the dog is easy, there is a lot going on, a lot of energy and excitement in the air, and usually a downed bird to be found and retrieved. Once we had the release ironed out, on occasion I would let the girls go without returning to them, but only if they remained steady and turned to look for me – anticipate my return to them. This will be the area I focus on through the upcoming hunting season. I intend to be mindful of making a point to return to them on occasion before offering the “hunt dead” queue. Just a few times here and there will be all it takes to keep the whole thing together.
I ended my ‘training’ season by starting our Spinone pup using the Higgins Method with remarkable success and having two Drents that were dead nuts bang on steady to release.
With the few birds I had left I elected to try working Tule & Ila as a brace. They both played the game by the same set of ‘rules’, and they both used the same queues to the same level of fidelity no less. I wasn’t nervous about running them together at all. I just wanted to see how it would go down. Tule works closer, Ila tends to run bigger. As a pair it’s about perfect. They worked so well together, very cooperative! If Ila has the bird, Tule very naturally will honor her. Once I walked past her, she would resume working and either establish her own point or would again ‘honor’ depending on the wind or situation. Ila is by default of her personality is a risk taker, instead of ‘honoring’ she would work around and set her own point in her own way at the distance she thought was right for the situation – never with the intent to compete or interfere. Yeah, so just like that I now have a brace of Higgins dogs. Lucky me. 
Haha, I say it like it just happened, but in some ways it did because we all just had a lot of fun over the course of last summer. We learned a lot from one another. Trust, timing, teamwork. I improved my handling, timing, and consistency. My patience and persistence grew by using the video because I stopped repeating mistakes, and even when I did repeat an error it was never to the degree it was before – improvement is the name of the game. So really it was through diligence and attention to detail I have a brace of Higgins Gundogs and an eight-month-old pup that performs better than most folks seasoned pros…
We even got to take our act on the road and offered guiding services for Sage Canyon Outfitters in Oregon where every client we took out made similar remarks about enjoying the slower more casual pace of the hunt, the quiet: no yelling or whistle bleating from me, and never hearing a dog squeal from being shocked – they all commented on that and how much it bothered them to see it happen to the other guys dogs. Additionally, they really liked being able to get set up around the dogs they watched work and with a ‘thumbs up’ all around the “all right” was given and easy shots presented to the guns.
I love fielding questions from our clients! We offer 24/7 tech support, but I'll just go ahead and say it. It's much easier to head problems off before they occur, then to fix them after they have been allowed to manifest.
We used to have a hard time finding clients with enough time to adequately care for their dog, now it seems everyone is working from home and has time, but this creates new challenges. It seems the big one is, how to keep a pup quiet while I'm Zooming. The next one in line is heading off Separation Anxiety, which should be managed before it even has the chance to manifest.
With a Drent, and most active sporting breeds, a balanced approach is really the way to go: Body & Mind. 
Body:
Many folks assume taking the pup for a lot of exercise will help them sleep the day away. To a degree it works like that, however, it will also create a dog that requires exercise... How much running makes a marathon runner tired? Trust me, for the first couple of weeks after hunting season is over, the natives are restless. During the time a pup is young you really can't take them for rigorous or forced exercise. Fortunately for a young dog it doesn't take much to wear one out... it's when you get to the teenage-time that they can go for quite a bit of exercise 'at their own pace' and they will also begin to develop stamina. This is a one dimensional solution that becomes both self-limiting and its own problem. As a side note: a Drent really needs to be at least a year old to start becoming a running partner, even then, shorter runs with varying pace as you work pup up to it. 
Mind:
There is a time where using distractors: toys, chews, brain games, etc. is great. Just as important to getting pup out to stretch his legs, but on its own this too becomes self-limiting. As it puts the burden on you to find ever new and more enticing ways to focus your dog's attention. In fact, by spending too much time in the 'mind zone' you can actually defeat your Drent's natural 'off switch' because your dog will always need to be entertained with something! Ever meet a kid who needs to be entertained constantly to stay quiet and out of the way? I'm pretty sure you have... it was fun wasn't it? 
So I just took your whole plan away you say? Well, if that was your plan, then I suppose so and I wasn't even trying - ouch!
So let's do this instead, because I see them as as related. You need balance, Body & Mind, but let us also take advantage of one of the things that makes living with a Drent pretty awesome - let's do some deliberate work on their natural 'off switch' and we do this by teaching the dog to settle! Teaching 'settle' also helps with crate training - which you will need to do as part of your regimen. Also now with so many people being 'home based' these days, taking a proactive approach to avoid separation anxiety has a level of importance many have yet to realize! Yep, that's right your increased availability has a Darkside... So let us head all of this possible drama off at the pass, this is the way. Please take a few minutes to watch these videos:
You can see they are very similar, basically a subtle variation on the same theme - you can find dozens of similar videos on YouTube, and all the better ones will more or less resemble what I have posted above for you. We did this with Ila, and by 5 months she was an Old Hat at being a pro-pub dog!
 Grandpa Booker, Powder-mom and 14-week old baby Ila
I was tempted to write another 'teach your dog to walk with you' article, but really I think what is needed is to flesh this one out a little further. So what I had to say two years ago and some. I love being in a state of constant learning. Challenging old ideas and learning not just new but better methods has been very exciting for me.
So as it is we are likely to call this 'heeling' and/or 'leash manners', it is both and not at all, at the same time. We have been getting more and more into the Force-Free & Higgins Methods of dog training, and frankly it is a direction I have been pointed in for years and didn't realize it. As a side note: Brad Higgins really doesn't like using the words we have assigned to conventional tasks and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this about it. Those old commands come with a lot of baggage and that baggage can be hard to leave behind. I mean after all the use of 'heel' and other commands has just as much been ingrained into our minds and more importantly how we employ it. Instead of deleting "Stop your dog from pulling!" despite reeking of disciplinarian style obedience (which wasn't intended and rather unfortunate). I'm keeping it around as a bookend to a past life and way of doing things versus disavowing what I wrote. Rather, I hope to build on it since I have learned so much more in how to put these things together. I think we can all agree having a dog that knows how to walk nicely with you is right up there with having a dog with a bullet proof recall. It can save your dog's life and on the lighter end of the scale make walking with your dog so much more pleasant. Allow me to digress a little - over the years we have been using more 'classical conditioning' methods vs old school dog training, also known as 'operant conditioning', as outlined in 'Super Socialization' I recently posted. With Ila we have pushed all the way into this and have achieved some really nice results, really quickly and without any pressure. Phase-1 One of the best ways to start a dog walking with you, is without a leash at all - did I just hear your mind get blown? Yeah. Start without a leash, just high value treats and a clicker if you like. Find a quiet distraction free environment, so you can be the most interesting thing around. Begin by calmly walking away from the pup and into as wide of a counter clockwise circle the area will reasonably allow for. If you are planning to have your dog "heel" on your left. You may need to pat your thigh a time or two initially, but if you can resist your urge to make noise, call to the dog, etc. He'll figure this game out in a jiffy. Before pup gets to you, wedge a small treat right into the crook of your index and middle finger nice and tight. Keep your hand flat, and palm facing rearward. Pup should come to investigate, when he touches your hand, say yes, or click, then let him take the treat. Keep walking as if nothing happened. Reload your finger pocket, and put your hand back down facing back. He may have wandered off a bit in these steps, but he'll be back to see if there is anything good in your finger notch soon enough... By keeping the pup inside your imaginary circle, you are able to use your body to help block him in a bit, and keep him focused more on you. Be sure to be generous with loading your finger notch and rewarding him for being right there at your side. This is a wonderful game, and soon your pup is likely to come running to your side if he sees your hand held low facing back. Phase-2 When pup has really gotten the gist of this fantastic walking game, you can take more steps and begin to use fewer treats by shaking it up a bit. Pop, step. Pop, step. Pop, step. Walk for a few steps. Pop. Walk a step. Pop and so on. Phase-3 Before you ready start weaning him off the goodies. You will want to work in changes of direction. E.g. walk a figure 8, reverse it. Walk squares, etc. You can evolve this game up to whatever level you would like. For example, I used to take Ila to the elementary school next door and use the painted lines on their outdoor multipurpose courts. I'm sure we looked crazy, but she loved the game. For her it was just treats and playing with me. How wonderful is that? So we now have a dog that walks beside us without a leash, but we really aren't ready to go prime time with this until we add in, you guessed it, the leash - but also a 'start' and 'end' queue. Phase-4 So we have done all of this without the use of any collar of any kind: prong/pinch, e-zapper, or choke. No ridiculous harnesses or any of that nonsense. I'm also hoping you have eased up on the use of the clicker by now, and have transitioned more to your verbal marker, 'yes' in my case - it just makes it some much easier, because you are going to have your hands full of leash management! Yes, this leash stuff is going to get interesting, but it'll be so worth it. 4A) Teach your dog straight line leash pressure (SLLP). Start by having your dog wearing a fairly wide (minimum 1" wide) flat collar and you will have a 4'-6' long 1" wide leather lead clipped to the collar. The leash is to be parallel to the ground and as close to 90-degrees from the dog's neck as possible. With the dog standing by your side, gently nag the lead - just enough pressure to get Fido to take a step on his own with the pressure you introduced. Do not pull the dog in any way! Just a gentle 'nag'. Let him choose to step at your suggestion. With that first step, mark it, 'yes' and reward! Do this from a few different positions. This is super basic, but your dog will earn this quickly. You may choose to start your walking sessions with a few of these. 4B) This step is really just a proofing step as your dog should be tracking you pretty darn good if you did well with the first three steps, and taught your dog what leash pressure means in 4A. Start walking with your dog, leash loose or even slightly dragging the ground. After several steps turn sharply, he should be right where he knows to be. Vary your pace, and do turns - keep it up beat and a game. See this was an easy step. 4C) Teach your dog to follow your left leg. Once you have done this, you'll never not want to... Up until now, pup has just learned that following you is fun, and pays the bills. But now we are dialing in a level of fidelity that will make it even easier to manage him around other dogs, people, crowded places, and so forth. With pup standing by your left side and both of your feet in line, in a comfortable neutral standing position. Have the leash short, but loose when you step off with your right foot, it's okay to be a bit exaggerated at first. If pup steps with your right foot, simply give him a touch of rear SLLP (4A) he should stop immediately with this. Then as you step with the with the left leg (for the first time say 'let's go'), he is likely to follow right along, if so mark it, 'yes' and reward! If not give him some gentle SLLP when you step, when he follows on his own. Mark it, 'yes' and reward! Walk around like the robot child of Frankenstein, take big slow deliberate steps. Be sure to step off with your right foot, and return to standing periodically, then step left. Shake it up a bit and when you stop on your left, be prepared to apply SLLP to keep him from fording ahead. Always mark, and reward for moving or stopping with your left foot movement. Odds are Fido will get this really quickly if you take the time to look foolish stepping around like a crazy person. 4D) Turning left. So now your dog is tracking close to you, and stopping when the left leg is stopped and walking when your left leg is in motion. Turning to the right is super easy, but turning left puts you into the dog... let's avoid that. One if you did the circle method, odds are he tracks you well, if not this will help dial it in. Walk normally and stop walking with your left foot down. At first you will need to exaggerate the movement of your right leg. Take a high-kneed marching step with your right, and cross it to your left swinging it in front of the dog, then walk. As you practice this you can become more natural with your walking at the speed your dog identifies what is going on... Don't worry, looking a bit foolish is a small price to pay for creating a masterful walking/running companion! 4E) The release word! This is great for letting your dog know he can go potty on leash, or go tearing free at a place and time you have determined it was safe to do so. I use 'all done' as taught HERE. Your dog has a start and stop queue - how sweet is that!? 4F) Practice: Yep, go walk your dog! Your dogs knows where to be, and if he gets a little bit out of place you have a gentle tool (SLLP) to help him get into place. He will monitor and pace your left leg, walking or running. Turning left or right. The more you play this game with him the better he will be. There is no punishment in this method - period. The dog has chosen to walk with you, and has learned that being in 'heel' position works really well for him. When you get to the advanced stage where you are using the leash it is never punitive, it only is used to gently deny him the self-reward of walking when the right foot starts. If you didn't use the free shaping method I detailed above, you will want to use the Higgins Leader walk detailed below. This method can be used in tandem with free shaping for a dog who has learned to pull. Your dog does need confidence walking on leash in order to employ this method. So if she is pulling hard at the leash, she is ready. The dog controls the 'pressure' it takes on. The dog really does all of the teaching it needs vs you pressuring the dog into position. Now that Ila's confidence on the leash has made her a bit of a nuisance, her 'leash work & heeling' has moved onto the phase of using Brad Higgins' 'The Walk' method and with really good success at that. So get ready to add another layer of teamwork and trust:
Kat from StandingStone Kennels uses essentially the same method, and she explains the use of the method a little more and maybe a little better. You will see she uses an EasyLead which in comparison to the light line Brad uses, I feel, is slightly less effective. Make your own mind up:
 Some of the inquiries we get might surprise you. As you might guess in this day and age, many lack basic common courtesy – the worse of which we simply don’t even acknowledge. The better of which will we provide at least a reasonable, if not short, but professional response. However, recently we fielded an inquiry about how to bring a new puppy home. The answer for this question is best provided by the breeder you have acquired your pup from, or even Google vs some random breeder or person. After all it's not a short answer. A rather odd request from someone who you have not had nor plan to have any future interaction with. I provided some basic info, then reviewed our own puppy related materials and realized it wouldn’t hurt to add to what we have started. So, for that, thank you random person for your questions. This also this helped to make good on a client’s request on putting all this stuff in one place – I didn’t really know how to do it, but this is what I came up with. Part 1: What is the best way to acclimate a new puppy into the home? A great place to get setup for success is to review each of the articles highlighted by the hyperlinks throughout this article to include reviewing our Recommended Reading for new puppy owners. Getting Set up for Success is where we talk about all sorts of things ranging from general physical concerns and needs for a rapidly growing puppy's joints & bones, as well as puppy proofing your home & yard. Here is a list of puppy essentials for what your puppy will need. Oh and not to forget, how do you plan to manage the messes that will happen, during your potty training adventures? Additionally, have you nailed down a teething management strategy,? Some pups will chew like a beaver, and others hardly any, but knowing what to do in advance can help shape all of their desires. Have you considered coat care, and the tools and time required? For Drents it’s pretty easy, but still it’s something you should have thought about. Extending this thought process, you will want to be sure you have a veterinarian selected, if you don’t have one already, well in advance to bringing pup home. Also, what do you plan to feed pup? You don’t need to feed the ultra-expensive stuff to have a happy, healthy dog, but if you are considering to feed Old Roy, you should consider putting yourself on a diet of corn and rice hulls seasoned with charcoal, and for a big night out you guessed it – Top Ramen.  Next, you will also want to have a socialization and training plan thought through in advance. The more comprehensive, the better. At the minimum we strongly encourage everyone to update what they know, or think they know about dog training. A lot has changed with the advent of the scientific study of Canine Behavior: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. The old concept of Alpha/Dominant v. Submissive is quaint. The old techniques of traditional obedience training are at best boring and repetitive. These methods tend to be unkind, bordering on inhumane. Not even thinking about the old ways of bird dog training which if we are to be frank can be quite barbaric. We can and should do better, by looking towards trainers like Brad Higgins, McCann Dog Training, and Stonnie Dennis, for example. You should seriously consider enrolling pup in a certified AKC S.T.A.R. puppy course and shooting for achieving an AKC Canine Good Citizen certification. Part 2: How do you Introduce pup to your other dogs? Alright, so The Pup is en route - what to do? Each dog should ideally have its’ own handler – this really can make it or break it if things were to slide sideways. Both dogs should be restrained by a leash initially. Allow them to sniff one another. Expect pup to maybe be a little bit timid or restrained. If so, it may be appropriate to allow the pup off leash to make its own introductions on its’ own terms. In this case restraining the adult dog can be important as they can get over excited and without meaning cause harm to the pup, in particular if much larger and stronger. With a little care, some calmness and patience, introducing pup should be fairly quick and painless. However, pup and Fido-1’s interactions will need to be supervised for the next few days. Play sessions will likely need to be supervised for the next several months, remember avoiding serious injury to pup is paramount – when in doubt call a timeout. With that in mind, here are a few other tips for success: Be aware and don’t leave yours dogs alone and unsupervised. Avoid free feeding and encourage waiting when it is feeding time. When you offer special treats e.g. chews and/or raw hides, ensure there is enough for all, supervise, and pick them up long before they are fully consumed. Please be sure to have an ample supply of toys and beds. If one toy becomes a point of contention, retire it. Monitor play time be aware of body language and if/when needed redirect and give timeouts as appropriate. To the greatest extent possible give each dog a little bit of its own time. We believe through daily, structured walks; your dogs will respect you as the boss and look towards you for guidance and direction. Daily, structured walking is a great way to establish your benevolent leadership. After a month of careful supervision, correcting misbehavior, structured walking, and supervised feedings, your dogs will know you are the boss and the new/old dog is not a threat. Once your dogs begin to feel safe with one another, their true personalities will come out and you will have two wonderful pack members to entertain you and love you for the rest of their lives.  So, if have been caught be the Drent virus, you are likely adding to your clan. Or if you are recently afflicted, you may still have another dog as part of your clan. Either way, you need to integrate. If you don’t already have a dog, my initial reaction is to pass this up…but my better sensibility says take a moment to read, and let it marinate for a later time – after all, you have the Drent virus, and there is no known cure. Alright, okay, enough shenanigans – I’ll get to it…well, not to be special, but you are here on my blog so endure. You need to introduce pupski to an established adult dog. So, let us consider the established dog for a moment. Is he a model canine citizen? Let’s be honest, you know him far better than anyone so there is no need to tell any stories or make excuses. Does Fido-1 have separation anxiety, excessive barking, destructiveness, house training issues, aggressiveness/shyness towards other animals/people? If so, you should really work on getting those issues remedied – puppy will not help any at all. What you can expect pupper to do is to pick up some, if not all, of these less than desirable traits unless YOU have a clear and decisive plan, which is likely to involve external onsite assistance. Because the only thing worse that one canine terrorist, is two (or more, God forbid). Okay, so your current dog is more or less well-adjusted and well behaved. Finding balance is likely the path to success. This doesn’t mean if your dog is a total couch potato you should add Hellfire the Tasmanian Spaziod to the equation - what is or will be complimentary? What temperament and personality will compliment, coexist, or coincide with what you currently have? With some deliberate thought you can create some amazing canine partnerships. Part 3: Crate training - what is that all about? Some people want to think a dog crate is a punishment tool, when in reality a properly sized crate is your dog’s home inside of your home. This, as you might imagine, has a few benefits like helping to potty train pup, keep pup safe when you can’t supervise him adequately, to name just a few. It is important to have the crate properly sized and built to be safe and secure. A dog’s crate should be a happy place. The training process can go quite rapidly, or it may take a couple of weeks. Always have in mind, the crate is the dog’s house, and it should be a pleasant place for him. Generally, this can be accomplished without too much ado by breaking the process down into a few steps, just be mindful not to rush. A handy, mobile, oft overlooked and undervalued tool is teaching your dog to settle. Drents have a natural 'off switch' so why not cultivate it and use it to your advantage? In doing so, it will help with crate training and in turn separation anxiety if you happen to be home based as many are these days. Who knows, you might even end up with a super cool 'pub dog' that everyone is jealous of... Now back to crate training. Introduce pup to the crate. Do so calmly and be sure the door can’t slam around or close. Put some of pup’s favorite things into the kennel along with a few treats. Drop a few treats near the kennel, then just inside the door, then toss a few treats in. Let pup take his time to go in. We familiarize our pups with kennels in the whelping box – so this should be super easy. However, at first, this will be new in his new home, so a little bit of patience will serve you well. Once pup is going in the crate well on his own, be sure to feed him at least once a day, or possibly all his meals for a little while in the crate. At first with the door open, then gradually work towards shutting then even latching the door for short periods. Work up to 10 minutes or so after eating. Here is where things can get tricky, and you will need some will power to get through this. If pup whines in the crate, you did too much too fast and here is the catch, you can’t let pup out while he is whining or crying. You can sit by the door, even place a finger in for pup to smell and help calm him. Once the whining has stopped, and this could be a while in some cases, you may then open the door. If you open the door while the pup is crying it very well may make the association and begin doing much more crying and whining – just what we want to avoid. You may need to have pup close by in his crate at first, and just like ‘playing with the door’ you can adjust proximity. Evening TV time, or some other calm time is perfect for working on building familiarity and comfort. Also McCann has an entire crate training series which you may find helpful.Some people want to think a dog crate is a punishment tool, when in reality a properly sized crate is your dog’s home inside of your home. This, as you might imagine, has a few benefits like helping to potty train pup, keep pup safe when you can’t supervise him adequately, to name just a few. It is important to have the crate properly sized and built to be safe and secure. A dog’s crate should be a happy place. The training process can go quite rapidly, or it may take a couple of weeks. Always have in mind, the crate is the dog’s house, and it should be a pleasant place for him. Generally, this can be accomplished without too much ado by breaking the process down into a few steps, just be mindful not to rush. A handy, mobile, oft overlooked and undervalued tool is teaching your dog to settle. Drents have a natural 'off switch' so why not cultivate it and use it to your advantage? In doing so, it will help with crate training and in turn separation anxiety if you happen to be home based as many are these days. Who knows, you might even end up with a super cool 'pub dog' that everyone is jealous of... Now back to crate training. Introduce pup to the crate. Do so calmly and be sure the door can’t slam around or close. Put some of pup’s favorite things into the kennel along with a few treats. Drop a few treats near the kennel, then just inside the door, then toss a few treats in. Let pup take his time to go in. We familiarize our pups with kennels in the whelping box – so this should be super easy. However, at first, this will be new in his new home, so a little bit of patience will serve you well. Once pup is going in the crate well on his own, be sure to feed him at least once a day, or possibly all his meals for a little while in the crate. At first with the door open, then gradually work towards shutting then even latching the door for short periods. Work up to 10 minutes or so after eating. Here is where things can get tricky, and you will need some will power to get through this. If pup whines in the crate, you did too much too fast and here is the catch, you can’t let pup out while he is whining or crying. You can sit by the door, even place a finger in for pup to smell and help calm him. Once the whining has stopped, and this could be a while in some cases, you may then open the door. If you open the door while the pup is crying it very well may make the association and begin doing much more crying and whining – just what we want to avoid. You may need to have pup close by in his crate at first, and just like ‘playing with the door’ you can adjust proximity. Evening TV time, or some other calm time is perfect for working on building familiarity and comfort. Also McCann has an entire crate training series which you may find helpful.  Crating pup overnight: Alrighty, now it is really time to start to work with longer crating periods. We have found doing this while you are at home really is best as you as easily start adding some structure to an already familiar event. Here are your marks:
 Yes, this can appear to run a bit contrary to to the whole training process, and frankly can be the most difficult part of crate and potty training – the night shift. Leaving pup out all night is surely going to result in a mess, damage to something, pup getting into things which might harm him, or for a real banner night all or a combo. Crating at night is a must until pup has proven himself reliable in all ways. Generally, it’s a good idea to put the crate in your bedroom if space permits or nearby in a hallway. Young puppies will need to go potty during the night, and you'll want to be able to hear your puppy BEFORE they whine to be let outside. Put pup in the crate using your regular command and a treat, know what pup’s potty schedule is (going potty just before bedtime is an absolute must), so that you can set a gentle alarm to take him out just before his normally scheduled time. Expect to get up at least 2 times each night for the first few nights. As his day schedule lengthens his night schedule should as well. One bit of advice here is to pick up the water bowl about 2-2.5 hours before bedtime. Soon your dog will be sleeping comfortably through the night with the crate near you, you can begin to gradually move it to the location you prefer, although time spent with your dog—even sleep time—is a chance to strengthen the bond between you and your pet.  Potential problems:
Whining - If your dog whines or cries while in the crate at night, it may be difficult to decide whether they’re whining to be let out of the crate, or whether they actually need to be let outside to eliminate. If you've followed the training procedures outlined above, then your dog hasn't been rewarded for whining in the past by being released from their crate. If that is the case, try to ignore the whining. If your dog is just testing you, they'll probably stop whining soon. Yelling at them or pounding on the crate will only make things worse. If the whining continues after you've ignored them for several minutes, calmly take the pup out of the crate and carry outside. This should be a trip with a purpose, not play time. Give your “go potty” command and give pup a few minutes to get the job done. If he goes potty, give a calm “good boy” and carry back to the crate without a fuss. If he does not potty, then without drama take pup back to his crate. Potty or no potty ends with the same outcome - trips in the middle of the night are for necessity only, and the crate is a requirement until it’s time to start the day. If you're convinced that your dog doesn't need to eliminate, the best response is to ignore them until they stop whining. Don't give in; if you do, you'll teach your dog to whine loud and long to get what they want. If you've progressed gradually through the training steps and haven't done too much too fast, you'll be less likely to encounter this problem. If the problem becomes unmanageable, you may need to start the crate training process over again. Separation anxiety - Attempting to use the crate as a remedy for separation anxiety won't solve the problem. A crate may prevent your dog from being destructive, but they may get injured in an attempt to escape. Separation anxiety problems can only be resolved with counterconditioning and desensitization procedures. You may want to consult a professional animal-behavior specialist for help.  When training reward value matters. That reward can be many things. From simple contact with you (affection), actual treats as we will focus on here, or in the case of field training the bird is the ultimate reward.
So, it is important to know the value of your ‘treat’ in relation to the training situation. Treat value matters a great deal when it comes to training dogs. You may be able to use dry treats or even kibble when asking for easy, known behaviors at home – or for situations when the treat itself is the distraction to lower the value of the treat. But when you go out into the world and must compete with smells, sounds, and squirrels, those lame treats aren’t going to cut it! And if you’re trying to work on hard things in a high-distraction environment, you’re going to need to some super high value treats. You get what you pay for when it comes to behavior, so make sure you’re using the right treats for the right activities. It is critical to remember; the actual value of the treat is up to the dog…so beware the currency rate can and may change on you! Some pups go bonkers for cheese, others lose it over ice cubes or tortilla chips. In my experience, the most expensive treats are not the most valuable to your dog. Using this visual aide as a pretty good guide: from left to right 1,2,3 are not high enough in value to be useful for most training scenarios, for most dogs (unless you NEED a low value treat e.g. starting work with ‘leave it’). 4 (stinky jerky treats) You are in the medium value zone, and like the low value treat, it does have it’s use and place in a training program. But when you really need and want your pups attention to get things rolling, go for the big guns. 5,6,7 Be sure to use only teeny tiny bits of these super high value treats. If needed, these treats are high enough value to help you use ‘luring’ to get your dog to do what you want and be of some help in high-distraction environments. I have learned over the years, most dogs like hotdogs in the same way crackheads like free crack. So, use them responsibly and with care. |
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Two GunI'm just a guy suffering with an infatuation with gundogs since childhood. Forty some years later this is what you get. 
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