Is It OK to Tell Your Gundog They're Wrong?

After fifteen years of training gundogs, this is a question I've thought about more than almost any other. My answer has changed quite a bit over the years.

When I started out, I followed a strict "no mistakes, no feedback" approach. If a dog got something wrong, nothing happened. No correction, no reaction, just the absence of a reward. In theory this sounds clean and fair. In practice, I started noticing something that troubled me. Some dogs weren't learning faster. They were getting frustrated.

You could see it in their body language. Hesitation before attempting a task. Disengagement mid-exercise. Sniffing at the ground, toileting, the glazed look of a dog that had mentally checked out. These weren't naughty dogs or stubborn dogs. They were dogs trying hard to get it right and receiving no useful information about whether they were heading in the right direction. For a breed built on a desire to work in partnership with their handler, that silence wasn't neutral. It was confusing.

After years of working with gundogs of all breeds, ages and ability levels, I've come to understand one thing clearly: gundogs want to get it right. It's woven into them. They've been selectively bred for generations to work alongside us, to read us, to respond to us. When they can't figure out what we want, it doesn't roll off them. It affects them.

So my approach changed. I still use rewards as a cornerstone of my training. Positive reinforcement remains the most powerful tool I have. But I also give clear, calm feedback when a dog needs it. Not harsh. Not emotional. Just enough of a signal to help them understand that this particular response wasn't what I was looking for, so we can try again.

The key is to train the dog in front of you. Some dogs need very little corrective feedback. A simple reset and another opportunity is all they require. Others genuinely benefit from a clearer signal before they can move forward with confidence. Treating every dog identically, regardless of their temperament and learning style, isn't fairness. It's a missed opportunity to actually help them.

Good gundog training has never been about fitting neatly into one camp or another. It's about being fair, being clear and building a real working relationship with your dog based on communication that goes both ways.

If you'd like to experience this kind of thoughtful, science-based training first hand, come and join us on one of our gundog training holidays in the beautiful Mid Wales countryside.