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Subject: Re: [working-gundog] on steadiness details 1

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cwalt

MH
Posts:180

09/27/2008 2:35 PM
Jere Murray wrote: > So, point in your dogs is not a fixed action pattern or innate motor > pattern? > Rather - it is some trained behavior triggered by what? The act of certainly fixing > the location of game would be the presumptive natural trigger. And then terminated > by the fact of your passage by the dog? - certainly not an innate behavior. > > Jere > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Pointing is most certainly a fixed action pattern and properly continues until contact between the pack leader (handler) and the dog is accomplished. At this transfer of control the handler (pack leader) determines the subsequent behavior of the subordinate member of the pack. In most situations the handler is indeed the pack leader and the termination of intense pointing can be said to be the moment at which the dog acknowledges the hunter's arrival at the dog's location. With dogs that have a strong pointing instinct, or are holding multiple birds, that acknowledgment is often transient and the dog will return to the point after the handler arrives. The dog's behavior at this time is determined by the behaviors of the pack leader and the birds and thus becomes a variable. In many cases the dog's behavior after acknowledgment of the handler is steadiness rather than a continuation of the point, the dog will not point but will be intent on the location of the bird and the dog's body language will shift from rigid intensity to alert interest. The accepted view of pointing is that it ends in a technical sense as soon as the dog acknowledges the handler's arrival by a shift in its body language. In my view this acknowledgment usually marks the transition from pointing to steadiness. Dogs that retain their rigid intensity after the arrival of the handler are still pointing and for many handlers this is the ideal point. With experience an individual can recognize in an instant if the dog is still pointing or is in a state of steadiness. In my own case I have learned to distinguish between pointing and steadiness by sound, if the dog doesn't move at all when I pass it the dog is still pointing or is extremely alert, if there are sounds that show the dog is moving with me it is being steady. If the handler is not the dog's pack leader the transition from pointing to steadiness or to a break is enormously variable. If the dog contests the pack leader position with the handler it will often break and take out the bird before the handler can pass it. Oddly enough many versatiles will hold the point and go into steadiness if a stranger walks past it but will break and flush if the owner tries to walk past it. This situation has nothing to do with the reaction (the fixed action pattern) in response to the bird, it has everything to do with a distorted relationship between the dog and the handler. The cure for this kind of lack of steadiness is to correct the pack status between the dog and handler and cannot be repaired in the presence of a bird. Questions? (there should be some) Cj

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