Starting Whitle Training.

Hay all,

Just started whistle training with Oscar.

So far he is getting it really well.

He knows come and sit.

I know constant practice and positive reinforcement is key but is there anything else i should be doing?

He is used to the sound and is comfortable with the pitch now. His come is excellent and his sit is getting better.

So any ideas and advice would be great!

Mark and Oscar

When I was whistle training Misty (and retraining Blade) and starting to learn the stop whistle, I'd ask for sit, using a vocal and visual signals, asking for the sit and putting my hand up. Then I'd blow the whistle that I use for stopping.

Once I could ask them to sit, purely using the whistle, I started to increase the distance that was between me and Misty/Blade, then blowing the whistle. Took a while to catch on, Misty used to run to my feet and sit down! I started to shout sit and use my hand signal from a distance, and she'd sit, then I'd blow the whistle straight away. She got the hand of it eventually.

Can now stop them a fair distance away from me, and I've always got the back up of shouting sit at her too!

When stopping at a distance if the dog starts coming towards you when you blow to stop/sit him keep your hand up, step forwand and lean towards the dog in a meaningful way - is something we do and when/if he does move or come instead of sit then just place it back where you wanted him to sit. Also when teaching stop/sit to the whistle, go to the dog to give it praise after you've got him stop/sit rather than call him for praise to start with or he will start to anticipate thats he's going to come after he has sat. Then when things are going well try lots of different combinations of stop and come to keep him guessing.
You might already know this but just thought I'd add anyway.

Sophie