This is my way of thinking about the hunt whistle; Its not to tell the dog to hunt (if he's worth feeding he should be doing that anyway) its to indicate to the dog that he's hunting in the right area.
Ideally you dont need it, but there are times where scent or prevailing conditions means that the dog may be struggling to pick up the scent. Its really just an encouragement to stay in that area rather than starting to move off and hunt in a different area. Its certainly more use in competition, and if you have a pacy dog it can help to keep you in the game where otherwise the dog would end up taking too much ground in and end up being called up.
However all things being equal, the retrieve would generally be viewed more kindly by the judge if you dont need to use it. You want to make the retrieve look as much as possible all down to the dog, however you only stay in the hunt for awards if you pick the bird.
Well I love the hunt whistle and have found that things have improved no end with my dogs since I introduced it. I find it much more of a soothing professional sound than me hollering Lost or There at the top of my voice which incidentally they can't always hear if on a long retreive with the fenland winds blowing. Somehow the whistle sound carries better than my voice.
Having said that I do train Lost as well just in case!!!
I use the hunt whistle very much as Matt described - to tell the dog he's in the area.
If I send Oslo out on a blind for example I want him to go out full pelt - head up, then when I blow the hunt whistle to tell him he's in the area, his whole body language changes, he slows right up and switches to hunt mode...well most of the time anyway!!
I use both lost and there in the same sense as Matt described.
I expect my dog to be able to hunt without my help, but I feel they benefit from a command to ensure they are in the right area, certainly when they are young.
Also, when there is not a lot of scent and they really have to work hard I don't mind giving some extra help in the form of a single 'Lost' command.
I don't particularly train for working tests so when I compete in them I don't mind if it costs me 1 or 2 points. I train for field trials and there they use a different marking system. I doubt it will make a lot of difference in your score if you use one more command (off course when you do this 10 times you will be penalized). And even if so, I would rather have the bird in fast and without hastle then beginning to struggle to keep him in the area because I did not give the command at first. The score will be even lower when you start messing about.
I had a couple of session with Alan Thornton some years ago and he showed me how to use whistle to get dogs attention to change direction without stopping. I had used it before on the crazy Spanials anywa as a turn whistle, but not on Labs It worked really well, but, I was kicked out out trial for dog NOT stopping on whistle. I use it picking up all the time.
I use the hunt whistle as a last resort, I like the dogs to hunt for themselves as long as they are in the right area. Like others if the dog is in the area and looks at me I'LL give a hand signal to the side he needs to hunt with a motion similar to that if you were patting a dogs head.
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