Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? I realise it's never complete, I really only meant that we had completed Pippa's training program so that we have RECALL. My concern is that Charlie will doesn't want to stay close off lead which I find stressful as Hattie is always by my side or never far in front. This is all completely new to me because all we wanted was another dog to join our family and not to do this endless training with, so yes I do find it depressing. Thank you for your help it's appreciated. Helen
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? See, I'm different, I love training. I love the challenge of how every dog is different and will need a slightly different approach and I am not ashamed to say I also love the achievements that come from training. Both Alice and Caddie have won awards in gundog working tests and other gundog competitions. But most of all I like the freedom it gives my dogs and the bond it creates between us.
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? You should be proud of your achievements you deserve it and of course you should never be ashamed of what you clearly enjoy. I guess I would love training if I had the time required to do it thoroughly , but with 4 children (well 2 adult ones and 2 teenagers ), work, house, taxi service to said children, Hattie oh and my husband (notice he's at the end of the list ) etc. etc. and so the list goes on!! : Excuses aside , I don't want to fail Charlie and will do everything in my power and limited experience to help him which hopefully will be enough. Helen
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? I`ve made mistakes along the way and no doubt will make more over time, but what I absolutely love is to walk over the beach and have Sam ignore everything and everyone because I have his dummy in my pocket , but even more I love the way that he watches my face intently for signs of instruction . Now that the terrorist has joined us , I`m trying to find the time to take Sam out alone, so that we can keep the bond and also attempting to start training the little devil ( aka Poppy ), now she is going to be a challenge :
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Kate, best of luck with training your little Poppy. Terrorists are the only type of dogs that make spanners look like saints.
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? I'm not brave enough to take on a spanner let alone a terrorist! One labrador is enough of a challenge for a beginner like me
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? I admit, they are not the easiest of dogs to train and not for the faint hearted either : Fortunately, due to her poor start in life, she is food led , gives me a slight advantage but miracle worker I am not
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? All I can say is that training my rescue cocker ( and he is still a work in progress ) has been character building! ;D
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Kate I think you have done a great job with Sam and my wish would be that Charlie would look at my face intently for instruction - fat chance!! Training Poppy will be no problem for you as you've done it all before many times Heidrun, may I ask why you decided to rescue your spaniel and have you done that before? Character building, but for me slightly soul destroying, but trying to look at it as you do getting there! Helen
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? [quote author=charlie link=topic=1190.msg7533#msg7533 date=1360763519] Heidrun, may I ask why you decided to rescue your spaniel and have you done that before? [/quote] Helen, Murffi the cocker bamboozled me with his 'butter-wouldn't-melt' look. I had always wanted a cocker and here I was given the chance to get my hands on a drop dead gorgeous working bred cocker with a five star pedigree. What I hadn't bargained for was what a messed up kid he was. I have had a certain amount of experience with rescue dogs having done voluntary work for a springer charity for a number of years. In that time I fostered and rehomed quite a number of dogs. Murffi needs a very softly, softly approach to training or he will just shut down. So I learnt as much as I could about clicker training and this way of training suits him really well. But like I said, he is still a work in progress. I might put up a little video clip of him one day, then you can see for yourself.
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Ah sounds familiar but not the five star pedigree Charlie was an Irish pound puppy 6 months old on the PTS list by his "family" then brought over to the rescue home and then fostered, adopted, returned to foster and then we adopted him. So on reflection a lot of baggage. BUT my heart ruled my head as it ALWAYS does, and that was it he was in the car and home with us. Like many things I have given clicker training some thought, maybe I should put it into action and see how he goes. I always worry that I will confuse him with recall and shortly starting stop whistle and then I can't see the wood for the trees : I actually have sleepless nights over him ??? I would love to see a clip of Murffi even if it will make me even more jealous!! Helen
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Just updating myself on todays gossip! I have a question about simple retrieves (another thread gone slightly off the reel). Lilly is not a natural with retrieving, so I haven't so far made her sit and stay with any great firmness when we are playing in the garden, in an attempt to try and encourage the retrieving part of the play. Inside, and outside when we are otherwise training, her sits and stays are not bad at all, but I can't easily get her to stay when I am about to launch a ball or dummy. : Any tips? I had hoped that retrieving would help with recall out and about, but she has a degree in "self-employment" on our walks jac
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? I have that problem with Charlie too, so I make him sit I hold his collar tell him "wait" throw the ball, let go of his collar, still making him wait and then when I am ready I release him with my command. That's probably wrong but it works for us Someone will have the correct way to handle it. Helen x
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? An experienced trainer I met used to throw dummies around while walking her dogs to heel or on a lead until they learnt to ignore them and that they only went for a dummy when directed. A second person can be useful to deploy (and pick up) so you can keep your dog on a lead until sent or you can hold the two ends of your slip lead and have the middle across their chest, when you send them you can let go of one end. If you don't send them to everything but pick some up yourself they'll hopefully learn to wait until sent. I've been letting Riley chase or run in to keep him keen until just recently when we've started training with more purpose again. I'd like to take him to a shoot one day so he needs to be steady to allow other dogs to pick up or go to the bird I send him to rather than the one he's marked. I'm sure there are probably other ways to steady your dog up but thats what we do
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Barbara, that is exactly how I teach steadiness. To bring the stop whistle back into the thread, I will give a peep on the stop whistle every time I throw a dummy just to reinforce the sit. Once a young dog is keen to retrieve I tend to pick up more dummies myself than I let the dog retrieve for the reasons Barbara explained. The important part is to not give the dog the reward of a retrieve if he is showing any signs of unsteadiness, so you might need a helper to get to the dummy before the dog does. When training on your own throw the dummy behind you so that you can block the dog if it runs in.
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? Thanks for those tips (head spinning again) Got a lot to work on. Wish I could take a month off to do all the doggy stuff I really need to do :-\ jac
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? As soon as Lady's elbows are better we are training in earnest! Hopefully the floods will have subsided by then so the dummy doesn't float away acros the field and it will be a bit warmer. How about organising a fun gun dog trial when we all feel confident enough. :
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? There you go I told you someone would know the correct way to go about it jac, I think I should keep quiet as none of this makes sense to me Helen x Barbara I am sure you are not a novice!! x
Re: I am curious - How to teach STOP to Whistle? [quote author=David link=topic=1190.msg7549#msg7549 date=1360783563] How about organising a fun gun dog trial when we all feel confident enough. : [/quote] If you are happy to let some crummy spanners run then I'm in!!!
