When training young Blackie, you've surely sometimes wished you could explain a command to him in simple English. For example: "Look, Deadgrass, when I say 'Heel,' you just saunter along beside me. Trust me; this'll come in handy later on."

Or, "Goldilocks, when I say 'Hold,' please keep this dummy in your mouth until I say 'Give.' Is that asking too much?" And so on.

But dogs can't understand ordinary conversation (which is sometimes a blessing). Consequently, we must instill control training through "conditioning," compliments of Pavlov and his salivating pooch. Conditioning has three elements: stimulus, response and results. The stimulus is a command word (Sit, Heel, Come and so forth); the response is the dog's reaction, correct or incorrect and the results vary with the dog's reaction. When he responds correctly, we reinforce that response by rewarding him. When he responds incorrectly, or not at all, we dissuade him from such behavior by punishing him. After sufficient repetitions, the dog learns to react properly and to avoid reacting improperly to the command. Clearly, the cornerstone of conditioning is repetition. Thus, the "three R's" of control training are: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. Of course, we should not repeat anything too often in a given training session, lest we damage the dog's spirit.

When the dog responds properly and is thereby rewarded, he's in "Trial and Success" mode. When he responds improperly and is thereby punished, he's in "Trial and Error" mode. The former encourages proper responses by motivating positively. The latter discourages improper responses by motivating negatively. The positive motivation of "Trial and Success" promotes style. The negative motivation of "Trial and Error" promotes reliability. To develop a retriever that is both stylish and reliable, you must use both, but in the proper sequence and mixture. Too much of the former will adversely affect reliability. Too much of the latter will adversely affect style.

You should start each command out with "Trial and Success." You give the command, and then help your dog obey properly, and finally you reward him. With enough repetitions, he'll learn what you expect of him and do it happily. After he understands the command and obeys it without assistance, you should add enough "Trial and Error" training to convince him that he must obey every time. Here you give the command in circumstances (distractions and so forth) that tempt him to disobey. When he does, you punish him appropriately. With enough repetitions in enough distracting situations, he'll learn that he must obey, even when he thinks he has a better idea. Thereafter, you should mix the two in whatever proportion your individual retriever requires to maintain both style and reliability.

Phase 1: Trial And Success
In this phase, you use positive techniques to teach your dog what you expect of him on a given command. To do this, you rely on training exercises that preclude failure and ensure success, with its subsequent reward. Let me give you a couple of examples.

When you start steadying your retriever, to prevent him from making a mistake (breaking), you physically restrain him until you say his call-name (or whatever you say to send him to retrieve). The retrieve itself is his primary reward, with the icing being a little praise when he delivers to you. Since successful retrieves matter so much, you should do all phase-one steadying in coverless fields, where he'll always find the bird or dummy easily. Enough repetitions of successful "restrained" retrieves will condition him to wait for his call-name before leaving to retrieve. In his early puppy retrieves you can prepare your dog for this steadying process by saying his name as he takes off after each just-thrown puppy dummy. Toss the dummy, and as he leaves to chase after it, say his call-name. If you do this consistently, he'll associate his call-name with leaving to retrieve. Then, when you start the formal steadying process, this mental association will kick in and help get the new concept across.