I talked about putting the e-collar around the dog’s flanks, on the whoa board, without saying anything about how we got to that point. A lot of my training I learned from the George Hickox training dvds. He always starts his dogs, on the e-collar, with the kennel command first then the whoa command but today I started Tur Bo on the whoa command using the e-collar around his flanks. I haven’t used an e-collar on him at all.
This morning I put the pinch collar, non-working e-collar around his neck, a live e-collar around his flanks and hooked the check cord to the pinch collar and we started around the yard. I would walk about 30 yards then say whoa and stop walking just to refresh his memory. After I did this about 20 times I started hitting the e-collar on level 2 before I said whoa. I kept it at level 2 for about 8 repetitions and he didn’t seem to be reacting to the e-collar so I turned it to level 3. He started to whoa quicker on the level 3. I would hold the button down and about 1/2 second later say whoa. When they consistently stop before you can say whoa they know how to turn the e-collar off. You can go to whoa and if they don’t stop hit the e-collar. Tur Bo would sometimes stop before I said whoa but he needs several more days of this exercise.
I took the pinch collar off and let him run. When we got to the retrieving bench I had him jump on it. After walking him up and down the bench I rolled the tennis ball for him a couple of times. He brought it back once then dropped the ball on the ground. He would have went after it but I stopped him. I had him hold the retrieving buck 6 or 7 times and made him move his mouth off of it on the give command.
When I put him on the ground he ran straight to the tennis ball, picked it up and brought it most of the way back. He dropped it but came on to me. I said “get that ball” and he brought it to me. I threw the ball 6 times and he retrieved it to me each time. He still rolls on the ground to be petted but he acts like he is enjoying the retrieve game. I can stop him from rolling around later. I let him run back to the kennel.
Whitey and Blaze have been real steady on their birds so I thought we would do something different. I put a pigeon on the string of both pigeon poles. I put an e-collar on Whitey’s neck and flank then heeled her out to the whoa barrel. All of my dogs, except Tur Bo, have been on the barrel as I flushed pigeons. Today I turned it up a notch and after I flushed the pigeon I fired the blank pistol. My dogs are used to being able to move after the shot but if they move now they will fall off the barrel. Whitey flinched but didn’t come off. I had put both pigeons in the release traps and after I flushed them both and shot I walked around re-flushing the birds. I shot 6 blanks and she flinched but she never came off.
Next I brought Blaze out with both e-collars on and put her on the barrel. I gave her the whoa command and walked in front of her about 15 yards then flushed the first pigeon, shot the blank pistol and said whoa, loudly. Blaze also flinched but didn’t come off the barrel. I walked down to the second pigeon pole, about another 15 yards, and flushed the bird, shot and said whoa. Then I walked around flushing the birds from the ground, shooting then saying whoa. Blaze stayed on the barrel through 6 shots.
When I took Blaze back Dolly was whining, wanting to do anything, so badly I put the e-collars on her and put her on the barrel. She is not steady to wing and shot either. Since it’s so long until bird season I may as well break them all. I shot 6 times over her just as I did on the young dogs. She may have been a little more steady but so far none of them have come off the barrel.
I worked Lucky and Luke on the barrel next. Neither one of them came off the barrel. The older dogs have more style when they are on the barrel but mainly because they have spent more time on it.
Then it was Tur Bo’ turn. He has been on the barrel before but never when a bird was released. I put him on the barrel, then walked out in front of him, and released a pigeon. Every bone in his body said catch that bird. He launched his self off the barrel and the chain hooked to his collar stopped him. I put him back on the barrel, walked out in front of him and flushed the second bird, and off the barrel he came, again but with less force. I put him back on the barrel then walked out in front and flushed one of the pigeons from the ground. He came off again but he just slid off. After that he stayed on the barrel as I flushed the pigeons. Since he was the last dog I took the string off the pigeons legs and released them to return to their house. He stayed on the barrel and watched them fly away.
I’m hoping that the older dogs will learn that when the gun goes off I’m going to say “whoa” and they will stop. I’m going to work them several days on the barrel then go to the whoa board that is beside the barrel. After several days on the whoa board I will do several days on the ground beside the whoa board. Next I will have to work them on pigeons, in the release traps, with nothing on the dogs except the e-collars. Then we will go to the field on quail.