Anger is a human emotion and has no use in retriever training. New or bad trainers sometimes get mad at their dog, which can lead to a confused dog and poor performance. Some examples: A young retriever creeps on a live shot flyer. The "trainer" gets mad and "corrects" his dog, then sends him for the retrieve. The retriever thinks"OK I will tolerate this routine as long as I can get to retrieve the bird" The result is a dog the routinely creeps. A retriever is running a blind retrieve through tall grass on a windy day. The "trainer" gets mad after his retriever refuses to stop on a whistle. The retriever does not hear the whistle and thinks "I've not heard the whistle so I must be running the correct route, so I will keep on going" The result is a confused retriever that walks out on his blind retrieves. A puppy is coming back from a retrieve. The "trainer" gets mad because the return is slow. The pup thinks "I better slow down even more because the boss is mad and that means trouble" The result is a puppy that continues to return slowly. A retriever runs a perfect 100-meter line then flares a patch of cover. The mad "trainer" recalls the retriever as a correction for flaring the patch of cover. The retriever thinks I must have run the wrong line, so he flares the route on the next send resulting in poor initial line. The result is a retriever that starts to bug and have poor initial lines on blind retrieves. The best trainers I know NEVER get mad at their dogs, they try to understand from their dog's perspective.
