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Whistle refusal question

5K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  dtmanring 
#1 ·
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.
 
#2 · (Edited)
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.
 
#4 ·
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.
 
#5 · (Edited)
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.
 
#6 ·
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!
 
#7 ·
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.
 
#8 ·
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
 
#9 ·
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.
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#12 ·
Not necessarily The times I have been out with my old dog, who is a fire breathing dragon at the line in a hunt test, I don't use a collar out hunting.

Couple of reasons collar could tangle up in something or caught. Early am difficult to see you dog and would you give a nick at the wrong time?

Once he is out in the swamp or open water he seems to be more receptive to listening, but also he seems to know where to go. He has had an enormous amount of DT early on and other drills. I also add I don't usually do the hunting. I like to watch my dog and am a bad shot.

This is a young dog he has and probably more obedience with drills will help greatly. Also more experience out hunting with the dog.IMHO
 
#11 · (Edited)
At 13 months old in the duck blind yeah the dog is going to itching to go. Don't get discouraged just know that in the yard you need to fix the problem. There are a lot of factors involved during a true hunting environment, just the same as a HT you can't exactly imitate it. Make SIT black and white during training, hold her to a high standard. Go back to putting her on a check cord. Without the dog being cc its hard to keep yard work black and white, results become gray from a nagged dog. Being fare sometimes isn't.
 
#13 ·
I agree with Goldenboy. But Iwould consider the ecollar. You really are giving up a valuable tool for training exactly what you want. I trained without the collar and now I use it. It is invaluable.
 
#14 ·
You need to run out in the field and get her attention ..and ...make her sit ...simple...Don't approach in such a manner that she becomes frightened of you ...A long rope to stop her as you near her or a pocket of rocks ( small gravel ) that you can shower her with to get her attention will help..It is very hard to make corrections or reinforce commands at a distance with out an e collar...The time lag between the infraction and the intervention is too far apart for the dog to make the connection...Steve S
 
#15 ·
if you let it go it will get worse to the point you will overnight an ecollar, i suggest you go too that area where you hunt and get blown off. bring long rope, gloves, and a bird or two. start close, stopping the dog on whistle going to the mark, increase the distance accordingly. also stop coming in with the bird. get the point accross. My young dog is having that issue of being in a new place where he is not putting it together with his training. He the thinks all the shooting around us is for him to retrieve, all the other ducks he sees shot in other blinds are his. what they need are birds birds birds
 
#17 ·
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.

Everyone seems to want to change your mode of training tools...BUT I AM GOING TO TAKE A DIFFERENT APPROACH


I am going to say something that most are tip toeing around.....based on the LIMITED info and the dog's age, I will take a wild azzed guess that you have skipped over some stages of training...I have seen some very good trainers do some amazing things with young dogs, but IMO your expectations of what your want your dog to do compared to what it has been taught to do are as different as night and day...

Having a dog stop on a whistle is a challenge for an experienced AA FT dog, and you are asking a 13 Month old dog to do it in hunting conditions ? She may do it on your drills but has it ever been proofed....

I know this sounds harsh...BUT I HAVE been in your shoes...I thought my first dog could do all the work, because it wired all the drills in practice...then I went to my first picnic trial, and got totally embarrassed...HUGE Difference

My offer still hold if you want to discuss training without a collar, you just have to call on one of my nights off or on a day where our time difference isnt a factor..You have my number
 
#18 · (Edited)
Why are you giving the whistle command during a hunt (scenario)? If your dog will blow it off but the dog finds the bird anyway you are really training the dog that your whistle is irrelevant. One thought: Right now you might be better off not giving the whistle at all. Work on this when the hunting season is over. I also agree with Goldenboy and moscowitz about what happens while hunting.

Call Bon.
 
#19 ·
DT: I kept thinking about your original post and something kept staring me in the face....The T an TT drills are designed by and meant to be used in an E Collar training.....what are you doing to enforce the dog stopping at the T and TT(since you train without a collar)...what are you doing for a refusal of those whistle commands....probably one of the reasons your dog is oblivious to or blowing off your whistle on what you consider a simple blind, is that she doesnt understand what it means to stop, and the penalty involved with failing to comply...not all drills translate or are useful in the world of non collar trained dogs ...case in point you spoke in a previous post about FTP...well that stands for Force To Pile, if you dont train with a collar, what exactly are you using to "Force" the dog to the pile

Really trying to understand you mode of operation in order to attempt and give you some sound advice and not just some band aid temp remedy
 
#20 ·
I use t and double t as a means to lengthen handeling, stops, and goes. I had engorced wistle sit in yardwork, so i never really had a problem to correct in these drills. When i referd to ftp i dont use gorce its more of teaching her to ho through slowly lengthining my distance from the pile. So to answer the question i did not have o enforce the stop because she just stopped, i did put on a long lead to make the sits quicker. Its in the excitment of the hunt that she just seems to not pay attention. And i font know how to correct this at 60+ yards. And when u referd to ftp that thread was on how do i ftp without a collar so i have not ftp just sight blinds that i slowly extend from verry short to longer. Thus was to teach to go before t and tt.
 
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