The “Aha Moment”, the moment of discovery, is the foundation of how Pat Nolan trains retrievers with the e-collar. And it is the single thing most handlers miss when they first pick up a remote.

What...

Most handlers buy their first e-collar to fix something.

The dog won't come when called. The dog chases deer. The dog ignores the whistle at 80 yards. At some point, the owner decides the answer is a...

 Every handler wants a confident, eager retriever. But to their detriment, many of them only reward the dog when a repetition is done perfectly. Every effort along the way is met with silence, correct...

When a dog presents less-than-ideal behavior, you have two paths of response. You can

1. Punish the behavior you do not want, or

2. Use reinforcement to strengthen the behavior you do want.

One of ...

 Many handlers secretly worry that obedience will dull their retriever. They want a powerful duck dog or field trial retriever, not a stiff, mechanical heel machine. They are afraid that sitting, heel...

One of the hardest judgment calls in retriever training is knowing when to step in with pressure. Correcting too often can lead to a worried, anxious dog. Let too much slide, and your standards will f...

 Pressure in retriever training gets a complicated reputation. Many people picture harsh corrections, a worried dog, and a handler who has run out of patience. Others treat pressure as something reser...

E-collars bring strong opinions among hunting, hunt test, and field trial handlers. Some see them as essential. Others worry about using them fairly. The common concern is whether this will hurt the r...

Scent tube carousel construction

I first created the scent tubes over ten years ago in the plumbing aisle of our local Lowe's home improvement store.

I needed something sturdy enough to hold target ...

I am finishing up two new online courses. Complete Retrieve & Training in Drive E- Collar conditioning for the field. This outtake has too much wind noise in the audio to use in the course, but I thin...

This labrador puppy was 8 weeks old the day this video was recorded. I had been working with her for one week. She had one week of training before this day.  

This drill combines 6 different response...

I often run field trial setups as singles for young dogs in training. 

There comes a time when the young dog is ready for easy multiples but I still run the bigger setups as singles.

Here is one way...