Whistle refusal question

[dtmanring]

I must start by saying i train without the ecollar.

My pup has been through double t and swimby, we are currently working on patternblinds. The past two times i have taken her hunting and i send her on a blind she totally disregards the stop whistle, and i am not sure how to correct this?? She does great in drills such as tt an swimby, but when shots start getting fired and its the real deal its like all training is thrown out on the whistle stop she just wants to hunt without interruption.

Thanks!

She is 13 months.

[Richard McCullough]

Hopefully someone with more experiance with this will chime in. My first dog was trained without a collar and his commands and obedience was not as tight as it should be. This manifested real big in the field. I now use a collar in all my training and hunting and get the correction in quickly when required. My young pup on his first duck hunt were we actually got to shoot some ducks did great, and the one blind I did send him on no refusals. His training has been a little more tougher than my older dogs.
But my speculation is, her drill work is not a 100% you are letting her slip or be a little loose when you give her commands. Tighten those up.

[john9]

keep it up!

[Wayne Nutt]

There is no twenty word answer to your question. I suspect the dog lacks control and its ob wasn't as good as it should have been.

But I have not seen the dog and you work. So, much comments are without any foundation.

Did your training include work in a hunting blind or dog hut, with dead and live shot flyers, use of shotgun at the line, work around lots of diversions and distractions? Did it include pattern blinds with diversions? Did you do ob at many places where there are lots of distractions, like at a park?

Did you devote the first few hunts to training your dog?

These are some of the things that need to be done to prepare a dog for hunting with ecollar training and much more so without using an ecollar.

I am not trying to be hurtful but helpful.

[Bridget Bodine]

On the TT pattern,have you stopped her on top of the pile,(20'away then 10' then on top of it ) without let her get the bumper? Have you done poison bird concepts on the tt pattern? with bumpers first and then with BIRDS, All on a rope of course. These type of things may help you.

Ps maybe you should not hunt her until she is more thoroughly prepared.

[Goldenboy]

She's 13 months old, no e-collar trained, and blew off a whistle while hunting? My 10 year-old, all-age, collar trained dog does that while hunting all the time!

The excitement of a real hunt is near impossible to train for adequately. The only advice that I can offer is to keep working on her whistle stop in the yard with as high a standard for compliance as you can employ and, maybe, bring her out to hunt without you carrying a gun to see if you may be able to exert greater influence. She's young, good luck!

I must start by saying i train without the ecollar.

My pup has been through double t and swimby, we are currently working on patternblinds. The past two times i have taken her hunting and i send her on a blind she totally disregards the stop whistle, and i am not sure how to correct this?? She does great in drills such as tt an swimby, but when shots start getting fired and its the real deal its like all training is thrown out on the whistle stop she just wants to hunt without interruption.

Thanks!

She is 13 months.

[Mike Tome]

Are you an athlete or have you ever talked to an athlete about the difference between training and being in the game?The excitement is higher, the adrenaline is flowing.... and it it isn't any different for our dogs. Training is training.... and getting to hunt or be in a hunt test or field trial is a whole new level of stimulation.

You need to add some scenarios to your training that increase the level of excitement and also consider just training your dog while you hunt.... don't carry a gun, let others do the shooting, and you concentrate on working your dog and letting it know that it can't get away with doing any different in hunting than it does in training.

You don't mention whether you use an e-collar.... knowing that would help in the advice area... but what I've written above is the basis of what you are dealing with.

[mohaled]

You expecting a lot out of a young dog, especially in the exitement of real hunting. Just be happy to have her steady and pick up birds for now, meanwhile work on your handling/ whistle when training but restrain from trying to do that while hunting. You only developing bad habits that will be harder to retrain. Good luck

[dtmanring]

Thanks for all of the great advice, and to answer a few ? No we have not started diversions/poison birds, but i am not sending her on complex blinds just simple ones. Yes i did let other ppl shoot for us the beginning of the season untile she became steady. Now i am shooting and workin her, but only one bird at the time. Its just somthing about the hunt..... She acts like shes on speed, and i lover that she has that kind of drive, but i cannot create that drive in training even with birds.

[TollerLover]

I really think you should consider an e-collar. Used properly, I believe it is the most humane and efficient way to communicate with a dog at a distance. Your dog chooses the level of intensity by how she responds to you.