How to Teach a Pointing Dog to Back (Honor): A Step-by-Step Guide

If you ever hunt with more than one dog, your bird dog has to back, or honor: stop and stand when it sees another dog on point, even if it can’t smell the bird. A dog that steals points or charges in ruins hunts and friendships. Here’s how to teach a dog to back using a silhouette decoy and a remote bird launcher.

Before you start

• Whoa must be rock solid. If it isn’t, go back to teaching whoa first.
• The dog should be steady on its own birds. Backing is much easier when that foundation is in place.
• Be patient. For most dogs, a reliable back comes together in the second season.

What you’ll need

• A pointing-dog silhouette (a life-size decoy on a stake), ideally with a string on its support leg so you can tip it over from a distance
• A remote bird launcher and a pigeon or quail
• A check cord, a blank pistol, and an assistant if you can get one

Step-by-step: teaching your dog to back

1. Set up with the wind. Place the launcher with the bird in front of the silhouette, with the wind blowing from the bird toward the silhouette. Angle the silhouette so your dog will see it clearly.
2. Bring the dog in downwind. Work your dog into the wind toward the silhouette, on a check cord. Ideally it sees the “pointing dog” and smells the bird at about the same moment.
3. Let it stop, or help it stop. If the dog stops on its own, great. If not, gently check it into a stand with the cord and a calm “whoa.”
4. Reward the back. Release the bird, fire the blank, and praise the dog for standing. Then tip the silhouette over with the string, so the dog’s attention isn’t drawn back to the decoy, and lead your dog away in the opposite direction from the bird’s flight. This teaches it that once a bird is gone, it’s gone.
5. Remove the scent. Once your dog backs the silhouette reliably, set things up so it can see the decoy but can’t smell the bird. Handle it exactly the same way.
6. Move to live dogs. Graduate to a steady, experienced pointing dog, with your assistant holding the check cord on your young dog at first.

If your dog breaks, stop it with the cord, return it to where it should have stood, and reassure it with a gentle “whoa.” Set up situations that help the dog succeed rather than catch it failing.

A warning about e-collars and backing

Treats rarely matter to a bird-crazy dog in the field, so praise and handling are your main rewards. A remote training collar can help with a dog that already understands backing, but only if the foundation was built first. If a dog gets a warning tone followed by stimulation without understanding what it did wrong, it can become afraid of the tone, and even of the collar’s beeper, and stop hunting. Use the lowest level that works, and see our e-collar training guide.