Name Training by Tok Mostert

I have seen many people train dogs yet I have seen very few people name train their dogs. I had a interesting conversation with Flake’s breeder yesterday on this particular subject.

Sure your dog knows it’s name, but do you use it consistently before every command? I know I do.

“Flake – Out”

“Flake – Sit”

” Flake – Stay”

” Flake – YES, YES”

Sounds pretty simple and for the most part name training a dog could be seen as pretty useless, but for those of us who train multiple dogs and run with bracemates, name training may just give you the edge over someone else.

For instance when your dog is backing another dog on point and they are very close together. Calling your dog back or in with a whistle, may also cause a problem with the dog on point, but if you name train and give the appropriate command you could very easily pull your dog out from the position or even stop him from advancing with the dog on point when their command comes.

Handling several dogs at the same time, has unlimited possibilities and problems, but if your dogs understand that they can only act once their name is called, it makes things easier.

I have seen too many dogs that get confused when they are run together with a bracemate and their bracemate gets a stern command, often your dog will react to this and the moment it does that, it’s not hunting and there lies a problem. Use it don’t use it, but be prepared to pay the price.

Next article here.

Tok Mostert, a Professional Hunter from South Africa, now living in Sweden,  is sharing his writings on dog training with us. You can start reading them from Part 1 here.