Which came first Honoring or Backing?
Honoring: trusting and acknowledgment that another dog is holding point or is ‘standing’.
Backing: when your dog sees another dog holding point or standing, your dog will STOP and wait, without moving until you command a release.
“A good backing dog will honor and automatically stop when it encounters another dog or person that is not moving.”
Starting with the right exercises you first begin with ‘recognition of honoring‘, showing the dog that another dog is confident holding point and standing on birds, then teaching the dog to stop and to watch without moving ‘backing‘. Your pointing dog needs to see, trust and honor a dog that is standing on birds. Once your dog sees another dog standing then the dog need to learn to ‘stop and wait‘. With consistent encouragement and knowing how to properly enforce a backing dog your pointing dog will learn to automictically ‘honor and back’.
- Make sure you are properly enforcing Honoring and Backing when training and hunting wild birds.
- Put the proper time into training your dog so it will be automatic, and you need to carefully watch for corrections and correct them immediately. This is especially important when hunting wild birds. You need to watch your dog and enforce the practice of Honoring and Backing.
No dog should be allowed to encroach on any other dog that is:
- Already on point
- Standing
- Already backing another dog
Watch ALL dogs on the ground, there should be NO sneaking in or stealing a point. From any direction; behind, sides or from in front. Dogs that are backing need to be trained to STOP and to hold steady. All dogs!
Remember:
- Honoring and Backing can occur from any distance when your dog is in training or hunting, once your pointing dog sees another dog standing it must STOP. If your dog will not stop on its own, then you have to stop your dog and force a Back.
- Be aware, watch and stop your dog if it’s getting too close or creeping in on a dog that is standing or holding point – STOP! the dog.
If you are hunting with other dogs, you want your dog trained to Honor and Back. Again, we start our training exercises early and often to build a solid backing pointing dog.
@AZPointingDog, LLC