I do it similarly to what Wayne posted.
Begin with walking sits at heel; blow the whistle and immediately give a verbal SIT. Do that until I can do away with the verbal command - be certain the dog understands the whistle is the same command as the verbal.
Then I use the collar to quicken the response. Sounds like I use the collar differently: Instead of a nick, I use continuous stimulation at low intensity. Begin again with walking heel. Blow the whistle and simultaneously apply collar. As soon as the dog's butt is on the ground, turn the collar off.
Final step is blow the whistle, and give the dog about 1 second to respond. If you don't see an immediate response to the whistle alone, then apply collar with a firm verbal SIT, until the dog's butt is on the ground. If/when the dog does respond immediately to the whistle, then he gets no collar stim. The delay between the whistle command and the collar stimulation will teach the dog that if he responds immediately, he will avoid the collar. Otherwise, if he hesitates the collar turns on.
Begin with walking sits at heel; blow the whistle and immediately give a verbal SIT. Do that until I can do away with the verbal command - be certain the dog understands the whistle is the same command as the verbal.
Then I use the collar to quicken the response. Sounds like I use the collar differently: Instead of a nick, I use continuous stimulation at low intensity. Begin again with walking heel. Blow the whistle and simultaneously apply collar. As soon as the dog's butt is on the ground, turn the collar off.
Final step is blow the whistle, and give the dog about 1 second to respond. If you don't see an immediate response to the whistle alone, then apply collar with a firm verbal SIT, until the dog's butt is on the ground. If/when the dog does respond immediately to the whistle, then he gets no collar stim. The delay between the whistle command and the collar stimulation will teach the dog that if he responds immediately, he will avoid the collar. Otherwise, if he hesitates the collar turns on.
