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Sit on Whistle

5K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  waycool 
#1 ·
I am fairly new to the retriever world. Very avid hunter and have a dog who is up to par on everything on the beginner level. He is ready for hand signals but first he needs to be great on "sitting on the whistle". What are some drills and things I can do for him to grasp the idea? Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Bandit, are you following any formal training program such as smartworks, Lardy's TRT, or other? You can teach the sit whistle when you are healing your dog on lead and command sit, followed with a single toot of the whistle. Eventually you can replace the verbal sit command with just a single toot. But there is much more to all this, and there are programs to formally take you through all the steps one by one. I would recommend looking in to those.
 
#3 ·
I have been working with him on this drill. He sits, and I walk twenty yards away, turn around and tell him his release word. On his return to me (about 10 yards away), I blow whistle and he (half way) creeps with his rear end almost dragging the ground until he finally sits about 5 yards away from me. He drags his rear end for anywhere from 5-10 yards almost everytime. He is collar conditioned. When should I and how should I correct him with the E-Collar?
 
#4 ·
Not unless or until you have trained him to perform the skill, and then not until you have e-collar conditioned him. Same question; are you following any particular program? Different trainers do this differently.

Evan
 
#6 ·
Your dog is likely confused. Doesn't know if you want him to return to you, doesn't know what the whistle means, and possibly isn't used to the command of sitting at a distance. Correcting with a collar would only result in more confusion and a downward spiral to your dog's willingness to play the game. Start with your dog heeling at your side. Don't add distance yet. And turn the verbal sit command into a game with an upbeat attitude and the occasional reward. Introduce the whistle ("toot-sit"), keep the attitude and rewards up, keep the sessions short. Only use the collar after you know with absolute certainty that your dog knows that is expected and chose to do something else. You're better off giving the dog the benefit of doubt than giving a correction that was ill-advised.
 
#7 ·
If you feel you have to do it at a distance, put a long rope on him and run it around a pole that is behind him when he is coming to you so that when you blow the sit command and he creeps, you can tug on the rope and check him up. But as others suggest, start at the basics first.
 
#9 · (Edited)
X2 what Freeze said. If you can't afford a DVD program, get Vol 1 of Mike Lardy's compilation of Ret. Journal articles. Only about $30. See banner above.
 
#15 ·
Wayne and others...... teaching whistle commands must be on some other Lardy DVD cause I don't see it on TRT 2nd Ed. Point being you can have a program and still not have details on every aspect. Just .02

Probably the thing I'm leased impressed with ... Not much actual showing of the basics... so for a novice it might not be the best... ymmv.
 
#16 ·
Steve, Yes he does but not in the way many do it. He does it as a part of x. Read volume 1 of RJ articles to find out what "x" is.
 
#19 ·
So its not in DVD sets... Its in a article? Magazine? Or you're referencing Training with Mike Lardy Volume 1.? the book? Interesting..... if so....
 
#17 ·
I used to do some of what others have mentioned but no longer. I doubt anyone would recommend doing it the way I do it but it seems to work fine for me. So here it is, take it for what its worth.
I no longer bother to specifically teach sit on the whistle. The first time my dogs hear a sit whistle is when I start 3 handed casting. I simply blow a sit whistle before every cast and the sit whistle is learned as a by product of 3 handed casting. I also blow it when they return to a front finish with the bumper. They learn to sit on the whistle very quick, a day or two.
 
#18 ·
^^^ this and if you need reinforcement on the stop on a come in , a 50' check cord and a pole work well as stated above.
 
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