It's important that you build beneficial behaviors in your gun dog throughout the year—they will aid both in the home and in the field. (Photo courtesy of Susanna Love)
June 12, 2024
By Susanna Love Smith with Reid Bryant
Much like their human counterparts, dogs develop habitual responses to circumstances or stresses. These ingrained responses, known as defaults, are behaviors that have been repeated so frequently that they are often done without thought and in the absence of specific cues. They are automatic behaviors that dogs often exhibit when they are struggling with impulse control, frustration, excitement, or uncertainty. Ideally, we would like to develop default behaviors that are beneficial to our dogs and their performance in the field, but the reality is that daily life may instill defaults that are not beneficial to the dog’s performance when hunting.
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