Some years ago I watched a demo at a game fair of a gundog trainer (a well reputed one) training pups with placeboards. Well, I have to admit along with the person I was with we set about ripping the process to pieces, and concluded it was a waste of time, a gimmick. Fast forward a few years, and I have to say I was wrong.
During lockdown one, with plenty of time on my hands, I started looking at other trainers in more detail, and wanted to develop my skills, in a more rounded way, so that I could offer my clients and their handlers more of a training toolbox. Watching hours of videos, reading numerous books, and even being shown by a trainer that I respect in Suffolk, it became apparent that with a couple of tweaks to the training I had watched, so that I was comfortable in what I was going to teach others, I set about knocking up some placeboards, and getting to work on training one of my Labradors.
Once I started playing and working out what could work for my clients, I started to build a process that has to date worked very well for a number of dogs I have been training for clients.
To coincide with that I have put together a very easy to understand placeboard training guide, helping you to start to teach the foundations of your pups basic training, which includes:-
- Sits & Sit Stays
- Sit / Stop Whistle
- Recall
- Retrieve
- Heelwork
- Return To Heel
- Steadiness Drills
- Transition off of the placeboards,
- And, more.