Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:54 am Post subject: whistle training
Whistle training
It is very easy to teach a dog to obey a whistle, in fact many dogs are more responsive to a whistle than to voice. The whistles used by gundog trainers most commonly are the acme 210.5 and the acme 211.5 It is a matter of personal preference, on sounds a little more shrill than the other. You can buy them, and a lanyard to hang them round your neck, from all good gunshops and from The Gundog Club (and other gundog) websites.
Start teaching the recall whistle by blowing it when the dog is already racing towards you (call him/run away from him). For the first few weeks never use the whistle when the dog is distracted as you want to link the act of running towards you very strongly with the whistle. The standard recall is a string of rapid pips…..pip.pip.pip.pip.pip; Dogs seem to find this easy to hear and pinpoint. Praise as usual when the dog arrives. A tasty treat every now and then will help make him think the whistle is a really good idea.
You don’t need a separate whistle for sit. The sit command is a single long blast. Start with the dog at your side and tell him to sit, followed immediately by the sit whistle. After a few session with lots of repetition, you will be able to try the whistle on its own. Dogs pick this up very easily.
Teaching a dog to sit at a distance is a progression of this and needs to be done in a logical manner. Post up if you want someone to explain.
Thank you Pippa for that! i am eagerly awaiting my new whistle and lanyard so will get practising as soon as it arrives.
The sit at a distance sounds interesting and one I would love to learn when we all get used to the whistle. If you could post how to train this I would be very grateful!
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:05 am Post subject: stop signal
Quote:
Willow will however if sent for a ball I dont actually throw will when she turns round sit where she turns if i put my arm up! Can I use this?
Yes you can. The gundog stop signal is a raised arm (like a policeman stopping traffic) If your dog stops/sits naturally to a raised arm in anticipation of you throwing a ball, you can start to link this with the sit whistle. After a few sessions, if you reward the response regularly ( with a genuine throw of the ball) she should sit to the whistle without the raised arm. If you havent yet, and would like to teach her to wait before fetching the ball when you have thrown it, post up.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:49 pm Post subject: whistle sit
Hi Sonia.
I teach the remote sit in stages.
First the dog learns to sit to whistle from a run.
When this is accomplished he learns to sit to the whistle when he is not next to you.
Before you start this training you need to make sure the dog has thoroughly learnt to sit to the whistle when he is standing next to you in the heel position.
You also need to have taught him a basic ‘stay’ That is to say, you need to be able to walk several paces away from the dog without him moving until you return and release him. If you use a ’stay command’ you might find it helpful to consider dropping this as the dog really needs to understand that when you give the ’sit’ (whether you use the verbal ‘sit’ or a single blast of the whistle) he must remain seated until you release him
Once a rapid response to the sit whistle at heel has been established, the next step is to teach the dog to drop into the sit position ‘at a run’ This is quite a big step for the dog and needs to be done gradually. For the purposes of the following explanation I am assuming that your dog has already been taught to ’stay’ whilst you move away.
Your next step should be to teach the dog to remain seated whilst you carry on walking. To start with, walk the dog at heel a few paces and as you stop, both of you facing forwards, blow the sit whistle, look at the dog and remind him firmly to sit and then step forward leaving the dog behind. If he tries to follow, as he gets up you can immediately say ‘no’ to mark his mistake for him, and bring him back to where he was when you stepped away (you may find it helpful to leave the lead on and just drop the end as you walk on, then you can use it to lead him back into position) . Then try again. Just a few paces forwards before each whistle sit, lots of repetitions and try and end with a successful one. If he doesn’t quite get it, finish with a nice easy command that he knows well so that he doesn’t feel bad. Quite soon, he will understand that he mustn’t follow you and soon after that you will be able to drop the verbal ‘sit’ reminder as you leave him, and a while after that you will be able to walk on without even glancing at him. This takes practice so don’t rush it.
When you are successful, you don’t need to go far from him just walk in a small circle so you are back to the heel position again and give lots of calm praise and if you wish, the occasional treat before repeating.
Once he thoroughly understands that he must not follow you after the whistle is blown, you can begin to drop the 'pause'. This means that you simply keep right on walking as you blow the whistle. Your dog is now dropping into the sit position from a walk.
Your next step is to speed things up. A few sessions later your dog will be dropping into the sit position at a run whilst you jog along together.
What you do next depends on the dog’s temperament and other abilities. If your dog is the kind that ‘powers’ away from you like a rocket when you release him, you will probably need to teach him a remote sit on the recall. This is the least preferable option because it needs to be carefully balanced in order not to make the dog sticky on the recall. There are other methods but they are linked to the retrieve
If your dog will potter about near to you - perhaps at the end of a walk when he is tired, or in the garden after a game, then you can begin practicing the remote whistle sit there. To begin with only blow the whistle when the dog is within two metres of you and never when he is very interested in anything else, or when he is moving very quickly. Once he has sat to the whistle, you must go to him and not call him to you. It is very important that he believes he must remain rooted to the spot until you return to him. If you don’t do this he will quickly become unsteady ( ie start getting up before he is allowed to). If you blow the whistle and the dog does not sit you have to ask yourself why?
Did you try when he was distracted? Was he too far away? Take it very slowly, increase distances very gradually and you will get a really reliable response. From time to time give the dog a real ‘jackpot’reward when you return to him. Over the space of a few weeks work up to 20 yards or so between you and the dog, and then bring the distance right in again whilst you proof against distractions.
You have probably gone to sleep now so I’ll stop. I’ll explain about proofing when you get there!
Its a big subject and this is a rather abridged version. I’ve probably missed something out but we can fill in as you go.
Thank you Becs and Pippa for helping me with this - and wow! I practiced at home first then the big wide world! They all respond straight away with the 4 pips (I forget to do the 5th lol) and everytime too! Never have I had so much success with training! Even my 4 month old pup responds really well!
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