Castiron Cleo’s Darwin (Castiron Kennels D-Litter: Manny/Cleo) was whelped on 22Dec22 and lives in Kansas. He is the second versatile hunting dog owned and trained by Ben and Elita. In August ’23 Darwin rocked the NAVHDA Natural Ability test with a perfect 112, Prize I score. The best advice Ben and Elita have for anyone training a Picardy Spaniel is:
“Darwin has a lot of heart and a lot of intrinsic motivation to work. He really wants to do a good job, and it really crushes him when he thinks that he isn’t doing a good job. By framing training as a fun puzzle you are trying to work out together as a team, instead of as a test with right and wrong answers, it’s easier to build the back-and-forth communication necessary to create good teamwork between you and your dog.“
Ben and Elita go on to add:
“The Picardies also have all the brain and the nose to do the work if you take what they are giving you naturally and shape that into the finished behavior. They are also very quick to throw up avoidance behaviors if they are struggling with something and if you see that, back off of whatever exercise you were working on, do something fun and easy, and try to figure out where it went wrong. Darwin is one of the softest and most responsive dogs I’ve ever worked with, and with a lot of problem solving ability and creative thinking and a good amount of push to work, which is really delightful in a dog.”
And, in closing:
“While a lot of gun dog breeds have been bred to handle some fairly high pressure training methods, Picardies are not that breed. A heavy-handed approach is really going to squash all of their confidence and willingness to please. Do your training yourself, don’t send them to a board and train. Your Picardy will be more than thrilled to work with you. They are also the kind of dog that will make you look like a better trainer than you actually are, and they are also the kind of dog that will make you a better trainer if you let them.“
US Picardy Spaniel Alliance 