What does Hup mean for dogs?

by Jim & Phyllis Dobbs and Alice Woodyard

Step 1 - Teaching the pup to "Hup"

Hold the tidbit in your hand and move it back over the pup's head. Comman "Hup" and, the moment the pup sits, open your hand and give it the treat.

Teaching a spaniel to sit can begin when you first bring your pup home from the breeder. By the time the pup is three months old, it should know to hup (sit) on your verbal and whistle commands.

We begin training hup with a tasty food treat, held in a way that manipulates the pup into sitting. Hold the tidbit in your hand and move it back over the top of the pup's head. Command "Hup" and, the moment the pup sits, open your hand and give it the treat. Repeat until the pup understands the game, and is sitting immediately to get the treat.

Now give your whistle command for hup as you start to move the treat over the top of the pup's head. Don't say "Hup". The pup will chain together the whistle command with the familiar picture of your hand reaching out.

After a few repetitions, blow the whistle and delay reaching out with your hand. Repeat until you see the pup sit automatically when it hears the whistle without needing the hand motion.

Finally, phase out giving the pup a treat every time it sits on command. Sometimes give a treat; sometimes don't.

Use a platform to teach the dog to stay sitting as you tug on the leash.

Step 2 - Stay on a training platform until released

Once your dog has learned the "invisible check cord" and "Come or Here" with mild electrical stimulation from the e-collar (Parts 1 and 2 of this series), it should learn the lesson of staying on a platform to keep the collar turned off. This lesson is the foundation for later work on remaining steady.

We described how to teach a dog to stay on a platform in our retriever training tips column in the February/March, 1996 issue of Retriever Journal. The procedure is exactly the same for a spaniel

Step 3 - Automatic sit at heel

Now the spaniel should learn that when it is heeling on leash and you come to a stop, it should hup automatically.

Begin saying "Hup" every time you come to a stop while heeling. The dog will catch on very quickly, and will begin to hup on its own when you stop. Of course you will praise it for being so clever.

Now you can expect the dog to hup automatically when you stop. If it doesn't, reinforce "Hup" with your leash.

Now use the training platform to teach the dog to "Hup" out of motion.

Step 4 - Hup from motion

Now teach the spaniel that if you give a verbal or whistle command to hup while heeling, it should stop and sit even though you don't stop. It should let you walk away without trying to follow you. This will create the habit of sitting abruptly, which will carry over into the dog's field work.

When you first start to hup the dog from motion, it will have a natural tendency to take steps as it slows down to sit. To teach the dog the physical skill of "locking up" in response to "Hup," use the training platform from Step 2.

Heel the dog over the platform once or twice. Then repeat, but just as the dog steps up on the platform, command "Hup." Help the dog stop on the platform the first few times.

Now repeat, and if the dog doesn't hup fast enough and steps off the platform, reinforce your "Place" command with your e-collar. The dog will quickly learn how to put on the brakes as it hups, and will also be prepared to understand a correction with the e-collar if it doesn't hup in the field.

Now the dog is prepared to hup from motion while heeling without the aid of the platform. At first, pause slightly as you say "Hup" and then continue walking. Gradually phase out the pause.

If the dog doesn't sit immediately on your first command, reinforce your second command with your e-collar.

First Appeared in:
The Retriever Journal, Vol.2 no.3 Feb./March'97

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[Introduction]

0:31 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dogs.

0:38 Today we're going to start our twelve week out English Springer Spaniel, Briar, on tidbit training the hup command. This will be her first lesson.

0:54 Hup. Good dog. What we're going to talk about is getting your puppy off to the right start by teaching it tidbit training with the hup command. What we teach with tidbit training is problem solving so the dog learns through you he is rewarded and how to get the treat.

See, he's going in my pocket right now. Hup. And that's how the dog's rewarded.

1:30 Now we'll walk her around a little bit just to keep her moving, bring her to me. Using the hand down...hup..and reward her. Those are the simple things you want to teach a dog at this age. And then they learn through you they're rewarded.

This was Briar's first day, believe it or not, and she's learned pretty fast...hup...how to do this. Now some dogs, you're going to have a day or two of teaching them. One of the things, ways you want to do it, is if the dog's being very stubborn about sitting, you put it right by his nose. Hup. You pull him down. And the minute his butt hits the ground, give him the tidbit.

2:18 Come. Show you again. I'll get the leash close. Put it by his nose. Hup. And that's how you can teach them a little bit more. And pretty soon you'll let them start doing it on their own.

Now, I like liver treats. And the reason I like them is they're real fast and the dog can eat them right away. I don't like biscuits because they'll sit there and eat them an take their attention off of you. You want a quick treat. And you get some dogs that aren't as food driven. They don't wake up to biscuits the way they do these liver treats.

2:59 Now, I can use the leash here for her come. Come. And I have too. And that's how I can teach her now how to start coming. Come. Good dog! See that got a little snappy there too.

Hopefully these tips will help you get your dog on the right track. And I'm looking forward to seeing your more on Gundogs Online. I'm Gary Breitbarth. Thank you very much.

3:30 [Closing]

3:52 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dogs.

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