Dirt Clod Drill (aka Cow Chip Drill, etc.)
This valuable little drill has a number of applications depending on the need. I’ll focus on your dog in this explanation, and that is de-switching. A dog prone to switching lacks discipline about diligently hunting a fall to the extent that they will readily leave a hunt to go and hunt another fall.
Keeping in mind the age and developmental level of this dog, we’ll approach the cure on a more advanced level. That will include literally setting him up to commit the foul you have cited as habitual, and then correct it sternly for lasting effects. Bear in mind, this is something you will likely need to do a number of times, reading your dog as you go for the development of a conscience.
D.L. noted that when a dog has been given enough education about his job that he must learn a sense of obligation about doing it to be reliable. I agree with that, and this drill is designed to do that.
The first step will be to configure a set of double marks with ample suction away from the go bird. Below is a diagram of a hip pocket double with proportionate distances to give you an idea of how to set them up. Converging marks provide this type of suction, as well. I would say to set yours up so that there is no more than 50 yards between the falls.
The dynamics of the drill, as they were originally run, included having your bird boy either throw a large dirt clod or a cow chip. The object was roughly the size of a bird, and we used enough distance that they couldn’t tell the difference. But, when they got to the fall area, there was no bird. That is because we wanted them to quit the hunt, if they had that proclivity, so we could correct them for it. They would sometimes leave it instantly, finding no mark in the area.
Instruct your bird boy to be ready to slip a bird out into the fall area on your cue. This would happen when the dog left the AOF to go for another mark. You’ll make your correction, and direct your dog back into the fall area to resume the hunt. Try not to get side tracked here about “What do you do if he doesn’t hunt”. We’ll get to that.
The fall area of the go bird should be open ground. There should not be cover in the fall area adequate to hide even a pigeon. When your dog returns to the fall area, the bird will be visible, and retrieving it should be virtually automatic.
Don’t re-run it. Put him up and go run something non-mark related. Come back tomorrow and run another Dirt Clod Drill in another spot, and change the configuration slightly to have a different look for the dog.
As for when to make the correction, let me say this. First, I no longer use dirt clods or cow chips. I use the same drill dynamics, but we throw birds (ducks), and attach decoy anchor lines to both of them. The distance to the shortest fall (the go bird) is about 75-80 yards, so the bird boy has plenty of time to reel in the bird after the dog is sent. The bird boys retrieve both marks, so the dog isn’t ever rewarded by a switch.
That allows a more effective application of the drill because I allow the dog to complete the switch and establish a hunt in the long fall area. Just as he commits to the hunt, “Toot” – nick – “Toot”, and then “Toot, toot” to direct the dog to come back into the go bird fall area, where the bird boy will have already replaced the fall with a duck that has no line attached to it. This rewards the dog for hunting the fall area of the go bird, in direct opposition to having been corrected in the long fall.
I do not send them for the long mark, where they’ve just received a correction.
In the rare case of a dog hunting so diligently for the go bird that he will not leave it to switch, I instruct my bird boy to be ready to sneak out a bird on my cue, and to do so in a manner that the dog will not see him do it. That is a reward for a diligent hunt. But that rarely occurs.
Questions?
Evan
