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Has anyone had experience with a dog whining when sat on the whistle while handling to a blind retrieve?
My pup (2 year old lab) started doing this infrequently last summer, and it has now become a regular occurrence. Last spring he earned his AKC JH title, and I would like to run him in SR when he is ready. He had some noise issues at the line in JR, so we have spent the last year working on line manners and true steadiness (sit means sit, no-bird for any noise, leaning forward, or butt off the ground). This approach has significantly improved his noise issues at the line. Now I’m worried that he will get dropped due to the whining during handling.
Let me give an example… Yesterday at the end of our training session I set up an 80 yd cold blind. I brought him out of the truck and to the line at heel, and he was under excellent control. I lined him up, gave the “dead bird”, he was locked in the right direction and sitting tall, so I give a “back” and he takes off. I sit him on the whistle at 30 yds, he slams on the brakes, and as he is turning and sitting he starts whining. It seems to me that it’s an impatience thing, where he just wants to go hunt on his own for the bird and doesn’t want to take any instruction. He listens, but he lets me know he doesn’t like it… This is where I’m at a loss with what to do. I’ve tried cutting him off with a quick “No!” when he’s reasonable close, which makes him stop, but as soon as I cast him and sit him on the whistle it happens again. I’ve tried just waiting it out, dropping my hands until he stops whining or even turning around. This almost makes it worse. Sometimes he will just sit and whine for almost a minute. Finally, I’ve tried a continuous pulse with the e-collar from the whistle until his butt hits the floor (sort of a diversion attempt), and had some limited success.
So this leaves me with a couple questions. First, has anyone else had this happen and if so how did you approach fixing it? Lastly, is this as big an issue as I feel like it is? I.e., in an AKC SR hunt test if I sit my dog during the blinds and he turns and whines will I get dropped??
Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!
My pup (2 year old lab) started doing this infrequently last summer, and it has now become a regular occurrence. Last spring he earned his AKC JH title, and I would like to run him in SR when he is ready. He had some noise issues at the line in JR, so we have spent the last year working on line manners and true steadiness (sit means sit, no-bird for any noise, leaning forward, or butt off the ground). This approach has significantly improved his noise issues at the line. Now I’m worried that he will get dropped due to the whining during handling.
Let me give an example… Yesterday at the end of our training session I set up an 80 yd cold blind. I brought him out of the truck and to the line at heel, and he was under excellent control. I lined him up, gave the “dead bird”, he was locked in the right direction and sitting tall, so I give a “back” and he takes off. I sit him on the whistle at 30 yds, he slams on the brakes, and as he is turning and sitting he starts whining. It seems to me that it’s an impatience thing, where he just wants to go hunt on his own for the bird and doesn’t want to take any instruction. He listens, but he lets me know he doesn’t like it… This is where I’m at a loss with what to do. I’ve tried cutting him off with a quick “No!” when he’s reasonable close, which makes him stop, but as soon as I cast him and sit him on the whistle it happens again. I’ve tried just waiting it out, dropping my hands until he stops whining or even turning around. This almost makes it worse. Sometimes he will just sit and whine for almost a minute. Finally, I’ve tried a continuous pulse with the e-collar from the whistle until his butt hits the floor (sort of a diversion attempt), and had some limited success.
So this leaves me with a couple questions. First, has anyone else had this happen and if so how did you approach fixing it? Lastly, is this as big an issue as I feel like it is? I.e., in an AKC SR hunt test if I sit my dog during the blinds and he turns and whines will I get dropped??
Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!
