I had a busy day and didn’t train dogs until 4:30 pm. The temperature was close to 80 degrees so I didn’t stay with it very long.
I put the roading harness, weights and an e-collar on Tur Bo and we started our march around the yard. I would heel him, then say whoa and keep walking. He stays without moving until I come back and tap him on the head, say heel and step off. This is with the piggin’ string around his neck.
Friday, I needed a picture of him, him standing still, from the front. I thought I would go to kennel, say whoa, take a picture and come back to the house. I walked into the kennel, said whoa and he acted as if he had never heard the word before. He ran circles around me and when I put my hand up like a traffic cop he laid down on the kennel floor. I have a larger pen, that my kennels are in, I thought maybe if I turned him into it he might whoa when I told him to. All that did was give him more room to roam. I finally put the piggin’ string around his neck, told him whoa and he stood still. I walked in front and got the picture I needed. He has whoaed hundreds of times walking at heel but he has never heeled without the piggin’ string around his neck.
That is the reason that I teach whoa several different ways. I heel the dog then put him on whoa, I use whoa boards, barrels and I also have a pulley system. Later I will use a long check cord, put him on whoa, call him to me and whoa him before he gets to me. He will learn that when I say whoa, he can’t move his feet.
I heeled him around the yard then took the weights and roading harness off. I heeled him to the retrieving bench. He jumped up then retrieved the tennis ball 3 or 4 times. I heeled him to the whoa board, whoaing him then walking him off then back on. After whoaing him 5 or 6 times I put him on the whoa barrel. On the barrel, I make him stand with his head and tail high. If he starts letting down I shake the barrel. Later, I will flush birds with him standing on the barrel.
I put him in the kennel, got 7 pigeons, then loaded Whitey and Blaze in the truck. We went to the county park that’s a couple of miles from my house. In a book written by Paul Long he talks about getting dogs to stop to flush. I use his technique. I put an e-collar around Whitey’s neck and another around her flank then heel her to the training ground. I whoaed her, then tapped her on the head for her to run and hunt. When she came close to me I threw a pigeon in front of her. When she started to chase I held the button on the e-collar around her flank down on level 2. I held it down until she stopped. I didn’t say anything. I petted her then tapped her on the head. She went back to hunting and I threw another one. She started chasing again. I held the button on the e-collar down on level 2 but she kept chasing so I went to level 3. She stopped. I still had not said whoa. I petted her and released her to hunt. When she came close again I threw a pigeon in front of her and she stopped.
In his book Mr. Long says they usually quit chasing on their third bird. Lucky, Whitey and Blazes sire finally quit on his eighth bird. I was glad that Whitey quit on her third bird because that left me with 4 birds to work Blaze.
I put Whitey up and put the e-collars on Blaze and heeled her into the field. When I turned her loose she made a big cast before coming close. I threw a pigeon in front of her and pressed the button on level 2. She stopped within 4 or 5 steps. I petted her then sent her on. When she came close I threw a bird in front of her and she stopped. When I threw the third bird she was coming toward me. When the bird went over her head she turned, stopped and watched it fly away. I still had a bird left so I threw it for her and she stopped.
They are not steady to flush but they know they should stop. This was a good start. I will work them on this several times but not on back to back days. They need to think about this.