Totally Gundogs

In our introduction  to the stop whistle,  we talked about the potentially negative nature of the stop whistle command.

We also looked at different ways of rewarding the dog when he sits to the whistle.

There is however, another way of giving the stop whistle a  ‘feel good factor’.

We can associate the sound of the whistle itself with a feeling of pleasure.

Conditioning the whistle

Before you begin stop whistle training, it is worth getting into the habit of regularly associating your sit whistle with a pleasurable event.

Pick events where the dog is already sitting.  This helps to pair the whistle with the sitting position too.

Two examples would be

• Each time you leave the dog on a ‘sit-stay’ and walk away from him,  blow the sit whistle just before you return to him
• Each time you throw a marked retrieve for the seated dog, blow the sit whistle just before you throw the dummy

You can read more in this article called:  Making the stop whistle a ‘good thing’

Introducing the whistle as a signal

Our next step is to introduce the whistle as a ‘sit’ signal, and the best way to do this, is to pair the new signal with our old one.

You will need to decide on how you are going to blow the whistle before you begin.  Most of us use a single blast on the whistle ‘PEEEEP’ as a stop command.

Blow fairly quietly when the dog is close to you and save a louder blast for when he is further away.

Whistle sit at heel

Our old sit signal is the word ‘sit’, and what we need to do, is to precede the word ‘sit’  with the new whistle signal.  Have the dog on a lead to begin this exercise.

The dog needs to be standing up at the start of the exercise, so, if you have taught your dog to sit every time you stop moving use exercise 1b

EXERCISE 1a

1. Start with the dog standing next to you
2. Blow the sit whistle
3. Say ‘SIT’
4. Reward the dog for sitting
5. Move a couple of steps forward so that the dog is standing again
6. Repeat from step 1

EXERCISE 1b

In this exercise, halting is the old sit signal, but use the verbal ‘SIT’ in addition to make it very clear to the dog what you expect.

1. Walk a couple of steps with the dog at heel
2. Blow the sit whistle and stop walking
3. Say SIT as the dog sits
4. Reward the dog for sitting
5. Repeat from step 1

Spend a few sessions preceding every old sit signal with the new whistle.   After a few sessions,  begin to drop the old signal from time to time.  and reward the dog profusely when he sits.  As in the following exercise.

EXERCISE 2

1. Start with the dog standing next to you
2. Blow the sit whistle
3. Reward the dog for sitting
4. Move a couple of steps forward so that the dog is standing again
5. Repeat from step 1

What if he doesn’t sit?

The first few times that you ‘omit’ your old verbal sit command,  the dog may fail to sit on hearing the whistle.   Wait a couple of seconds to give him a chance to figure it out and then, if he still fails to sit,  give your verbal sit command.

Continue pairing the old and the new commands a few times (Exercise 1) before trying again (Exercise 2).  Failure to sit will happen less frequently as you practice.  He will soon recognise that the whistle means sit, and be happy to comply.

Practicing

Practice as often as you can,  you can use the sit whistle indoors too.  Keep the whistle around your neck.  Wait until the dog is standing up,  then blow the whistle softly,  and reward the sit.  Use a verbal ‘back up’  SIT  if he fails to respond, and reward each sit.

Make these exercises very simple.  The dog should be very close to you,  calm, not moving around, and not distracted by other people, dogs etc.

Remember to release the dog quite quickly after rewarding him.  In the same way that SIT means ‘sit until I tell you to do something else’,  the stop whistle means “sit/stop and don’t move until I say so”. 

Keep it simple, make it fun.

Once the dog sits at heel  (or under these other limited conditions) each time he hears the whistle and without you needing to add a verbal signal, you are ready to move on and introduce the next level of difficulty.

Fade rewards before you do this!

Making the exercise harder

In the next post we will look at adding movement to this exercise.  We’ll be teaching the dog to drop into a sit position from a walk, and eventually from a run.

If you are following along, let us know how you are getting on!

 

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