Years before I started dog training, I was into falconry, and I have that to thank for all my foundations in animal training. I LOVE falconry. I would suggest anybody get into it, because it is truly a beautiful, humbling and educational experience. It is a rigorous lesson in teamwork with time-tested training techniques dating back centuries. And it holds you to a standard of practice that no animal hobby comes close to. In fact, before falconers can even get their birds, they must be trained in an apprenticeship, and many would-be falconers even start by training pigeons.
One of the most important things to remember in falconry is that you cannot. Ever. Punish the bird. Or else you will lose your bird, it will fly away back to the forest - because they have that freedom to do so - and you simply will not own it anymore. Adversives are 100% off the table.
Not only can you not ever punish the bird, you cannot praise the bird. It doesn't care. It doesn't care about you, it doesn't care about getting affection. It FORCES you to rely on that which is solely reinforcing to the raptor - food, the hunt. You have the responsibility to build an association between yourself and that bird's next meal.
This is where I learned clicker training. I wish everybody could start their animal training journey this way, by studying falconry techniques, operant conditioning, weight management, environmental management, creating drive, using high-value reinforcers. It all translates across species. This is how they train dolphins, rats, fish, all creatures learn the same way. The ancient principles that Falconry was built upon are now utilized by modern science. The result is a powerful relationship built on trust and cooperation. To watch a falconer hunt with a free-flying bird is an absolutely incredible experience and I recommend seeing it at least once.
So if you want to be the best of the best in dog training, go out and get a pigeon (I'm serious!) and do falconry with it. Train an animal that won't abide by or understand adversive techniques or forgive your mistakes. If you can train a bird, you will be absolutely prepared to approach dog training with new eyes and your relationship with your dog will be so much stronger for it.
