Duckhill Kennels

About the Training Model

With Absolutely Positively Gundog Training, Milner has taken the latest scientific research into how dogs learn and combined it with his own vast experience and commonsense training methods. The result is an approach that is as effective as it is easy. For the hunter who wants a calm, steady, and obedient retriever, there's no better training method.
This book provides everything needed for you to turn out a sporting dog that excels at life. Whether you want your dog to be a gundog, a water dog, a shed dog, an upland dog, a deer tracker or a fishing companion, this book charts the course
Every other page exclaims, "That makes perfect sense". Milner debunks a number of groundless myths and counter-productive training practices that proliferate in today's sporting dog culture.
A big divide exists today in the gundog sector in America. The opposing views are tradition-based compulsion training versus the science-based positive training model derived from B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning theory. Robert Milner's new book bridges that gap. Milner brings to the table vast experience in both training methods. He has trained over two thousand gundogs with traditional compulsion and has trained several hundred gundogs with a positive training model. He pronounces the positive model a definitive winner. His new book covers all the bases for a beginning gundog trainer. Milner covers the dog's history and domestication as it relates to training. He shows you how the dog perceives the world, how the dog communicates, and how he learns. Big surprises await some readers. Milner cites many examples of recent dog research that upend traditional training theories.
This book gives the reader a simple roadmap to success in producing a gundog that is extremely well-mannered, a persistent hunter and very responsive on whistle stops and hand signals.
The simplicity of the training model will be a pleasant surprise to many new trainers. Most importantly, Milner's training model is fun for the trainer and the dog.