Zeke the Wonder Dog

KY Seminar Follow Up – Holding Point

The KY seminar put on last year by Julie and Wendell was a blast and a great learning experience. While I was hoping it would help Zeke and I obtain our ultimate goal, I had no idea how much this seminar would help transform me and my dog.

Zeke is a Grit’s son, meaning he has a strong, intense, and very staunch point. While his initial point to bird scent has always been impressive, I mean quite a few “180 points,” he has traditionally not had a lot of patience holding points over 15 – 20 seconds, especially if I or another hunter starts working walking towards the bird, or if the birds moves or gets up and walks around. He is VERY BIRDY, simply loves feathers. When I start walking to flush the bird, Zeke wanted to get there first and it became a battle for him to remain steady. If the bird popped up and started moving around, there was a 50-50 chance that Zeke would bust the bird (even tho I had whoa broken him to the best of my knowledge, and that of other “experts” and “trainers”).

Before we attended the seminar, Zeke had gone 5 for 6 in his finished tests in HRC, obtaining his HRCH or “finished” title the year prior. We felt pretty comfortable in the retrieving end of things, but quite frankly had not put much time into the pointing aspect of our training. While Zeke is loaded with upland talent, my training experience and expertise was really lacking. Enter Julie Knutson and the KY training seminar.

I quickly learned that I was not the only person/dog team at the seminar that was struggling with “holding point.” In fact, after talking with owners of other “traditional pointing breeds” I found that they also struggle with the same problem. Julie quickly pointed out that “holding point” is one of the most common difficulties with training PLs to high end titles, the GMPR. Maintaining style, while getting your PL to hold point is the real art and science of this training. Anyone can overwhelm the dog with pressure toobtain steadiness, yet then the dog’s head is moving around, tail is wagging, and style is out the door. My goal was to obtain steadiness while maintaining Zeke’s pointing intensity.

Julie’s Answer: The Time Stands Still Drill

Before these drills are undertaken, it is important to note that Zeke is really, really bold on birds and chased a number of birds in the upland field.

Julie introduced us to a drill, the “time stands still” drill. In this drill, you put the dog on whoa, then bring a bird (a 10 ft. string is tied around the leg of the chuckar and tied to a stout fishing pole) into the picture and plop the bird down right in front of the dog. If the dog moves or breaks whoa, you simply pick up the dog and put them back on whoa. You do this drill around 10 to 15 minutes so that the dog learns patience and gets used to holding whoa for extended periods of time. Julie says, “after a while, they no longer think, but instead just fall into a trance and point.” Also, don’t talk, let the dog focus. This is not a quick fix, but instead is a long term drill where the dog learns patience and calmness around birds over time.

So, we begin our journey down this path. I must admit, I wasn’t sure that Zeke would ever “get it” and just relax around birds. Time and time again, for almost 3 months, he would break point in the drill and try to catch the birds. The point is simple, he is way too birdy! Not once did this dog ever get bored with the birds. I got frustrated a number of times, but I just kept on and on and on and on.

At one point in my frustration, I started to apply too much pressure, and I instantly saw the tail wagging effect to a dog that has the most intense point that I have ever seen, not good Mike. At that point, I vowed to win this battle with patience. I just kept hearing Julie’s advice (kind of like the angel on the right shoulder), “you need to wear that dog out with patience!” 

Then, one day, Zeke got it and I saw a remarkable shift in his demeanor around birds with this drill. Its kind of like he went into a trance on whoa. No more thinking, just a trance. All of sudden, he stays really focused on the bird, but now knows not to move. He’s intense, but relaxed at the same time. Its hard to describe in words. Once this happened, I then started walking around, making movements towards the bird. At first, he backtracked and wanted to “race me to the bird”, but we kept after it over time. Before I knew it, about a month later, Zeke could care less where I was walking. Instead, he just focused, “in the zone” with the bird.

Then, I started moving the birds closer and closer to Zeke. The bird is now routinely about 1 ft away. Then, I started flying and walking the bird around Zeke’s nose. I mean I literally run birds 1 ft from his face. I also use the fishing pole “to fly” birds all around his head while he stays steady. At this point, Zeke has learned that birds walking and flying around are no big deal, stay in the zone, stay in the trance, its just another day at the office.

Now the test, time to go hunting.

My brother was in for the holidays and I treated him and my nephew to a pheasant hunt at a local preserve. Zeke found and pointed all 13 birds. 12 of the points, he held calmly for a long time. In fact, we took our time on every bird, just admiring the point. On 1 bird, he broke point, charged in, and my brother shot the bird. The shot bird was a 40 yard retrieve that I DENIED Zeke the retrieve because he broke point. Instead, my nephew went in for the retrieve. Denying the retrieve worked, because Zeke was the “most solid” on the next point. Zeke has always been steady to wing and shot, and was so again on all the birds in this trip.

With about 5 or 6 birds, they got up and starting walking around. When this happened, you could almost see Zeke fall back into his trance, staying in the zone and staying motionless. 1 pheasant ran right by his nose and Zeke never blinked – I couldn’t believe it. In years past, Zeke would have charged in after the moving birds, and I would have been yelling “whoa, whoa, ___ you ___  ____whoa!”

Hearing my brother talk about the dog work was priceless, because he has seen the best of many breeds run birds in the uplands. It was a good day and fun to watch all that training and patience pay off.

While our journey is just beginning, Zeke and I just experienced a major turning point in our upland training, and hopefully competition. I was reading the posts about upcoming seminars with Julie, and I would go no matter how far you have to drive, it just may give you and your dog the training advantage you need. For Zeke and I, we are going to continue these drills along with spending a small fortune at pheasant preserves this winter in preparation for our road to the GMPR title. I owe it to Zeke to show the world what he can do!

Zeke

PS – When I first joined the forum years ago, I couldn’t figure out Julie-Mania. I thought she was good, very nice, probably over rated, but the “fan fare” was a little much. I now understand Julie-Mania and I am a lowly groupie, kind of like one of those guys following the grateful dead! I’m not worthy!