I had a moving on with whipit lesson yesterday…so I thought I’d post about the next stages in using the whipit game with Charlie – this exercise has progressed slower than some of the others because I don’t have a big enough space in my garden to play it, and if I try to play whipit on Wimbledon Common I get every dog in the neighbourhood joining in. : Over the last few weeks we have built up the value of the game – this is done just by playing the game. Charlie’s eyes light up when he sees the whipit stick and he jumps round like a jack in the box. We now have a rabbit skin ball on the end of the whipit stick, this is very, very high value for Charlie. Now, we are asking for control. So in order to start the game, Charlie has to sit still (without a cue) and look at me – he had to figure out what he had to do to start the game. The ball is put on the floor and I’ve now built up distance so I can move away from the ball and Charlie will stay sitting and not move until I say “whipit”. He chases and when he captures, if he wants to start the game again, he has to give the ball back to me (that’s often very difficult for him, but he is getting better). Yesterday we moved on to stop whistle. While Charlie is chasing the ball, I blow my stop. If he sits, the toy is flicked towards him. If he doesn’t stop the toy comes back to me and the game stops. The end aim is that even in mad chase after rabbit skin, Charlie will sit instantly to his stop whistle. I’d say we’ve got a way to go to achieve instantly, but he did stop. I didn’t quite have the "whistle – watch dog – change direction of toy" sequence right, so more work to do on that. We also did sit to flush. So here the ball is whizzed over my head again and again until Charlie stops when the ball goes up. Then the ball is flicked back to him. We only did it twice yesterday, but he was already getting it… The game always ends with a free chase, and then a trade off for food – to keep the value of the whipit high. Whipit is also used in a “pocket version” with the toy/ball on a bit of rope as a reward, so the value of the game has to be maintained even when you start asking for control.
Re: Whipit Wow Julie that sounds terrific! I know I wouldn't be able to do it; I don't have the necessary dexterity or timing... Can you get your nice OH to video it?
Re: Whipit Thanks Julie,This is something I really need to get into...it's on the list : ....I fear for whacking Dexter or myself on the head though in the sequence you've just described.....maybe that's the trick,practising without the dog....sit him inside and he can see me having a play in the garden with it.....build up the interest ( or the fear when he sees me clock myself one ;D) If I could get him keen it would really help me out as a distraction.
Re: Whipit Even if you don't ever incorporate any cues, it's a great game for dogs motivated by chase - you can build up the value of capturing the toy on the end of the whipit so it's enormous. Then you have the toy in your pocket on a much smaller bit of rope "pocket whipit" and use it as a reward for recall. I've seen people do it, it really works. You have to keep playing the main whipit game to recharge the value of the toy though.
Re: Whipit Ooh, thanks for the instructions. I have a rented house with use of the next door field booked for Christmas week, so I think I might need to sneak the lunge whip into the back of the car.......
