'Hi Lost' Command

[lee-kinsman]

If you wanted to you could call out "Fish and Chips !" it would not matter to a dog.

Wullie

It would in some peoples house. Everytime someone asked whats for dinner the dog would start searching for something.

[SarahP]

Thank-you for all the advice. I will try the whistle

[Judy]

I use both "there" and the pip PEEeoooww fading long pip, voice is useful when you are working the dog close to and whistle for further away. Guess if I competed I would whistle more often although a quiet "there" is less obvious. The other thing I do if I have stopped the dog in the general area is give the command coupled with holding my hand low and shaking it horizontally at the side I want the dog to look which can be left right or towards me. It gives the dog a better idea of where to start.

[Bryn]

I use 'there' close in or 'pip-pip' further out, been thinking recently that at the range a spaniel should be hunting that voice should be sufficient. Suppose it helps if you've spent a few years working collies on the hill

[Springfield Pointers]

I use 'there' close in or 'pip-pip' further out, been thinking recently that at the range a spaniel should be hunting that voice should be sufficient. Suppose it helps if you've spent a few years working collies on the hill

The command to "bring" should be different to the command to "hunt" and it should mean two different things to the dog.

[Naj]

I use 'there' close in or 'pip-pip' further out, been thinking recently that at the range a spaniel should be hunting that voice should be sufficient. Suppose it helps if you've spent a few years working collies on the hill

'pip-pip'? So what do you use as your turn whistle when quartering the dog.

I think it's easy to over complicate things with all these 'theres', 'pips' & 'hi-losts'. The minute you start chucking superfluous whistle pips & commands at a hunting dog is the moment that you begin distracting it from its job, & also the moment you start disturbing game. Surely, the less commands, the better. Dogs are very context based in their thinking & providing they are given the necessary experience & conditioning into the relevant routines they know the difference between sweeping-up (and ranging out) on one command when picking-up & quartering close (perhaps on the same command) when hunting up for the gun or beating. And as for repeating a 'hunting' command when a dog is already hunting - what's the point? As regards hunting at the fall on a blind retrieve scenario. In the majority of cases you are sending the dog on a straight line for the fall, & given the opportunity it will learn to have the sense to run to the downwind side of where you handle it to so it will invariably pick up the scent as it passes the 'fall' location. If it is in danger of over-running the fall or moves out of the fall are & you have to stop it to handle it back in, then a dog of experience surely knows that it is in the location & must begin hunting, unless it is used to being sent on a fool's errand. If the dog is miles out on its initial cast & has to be re-handled some distance then that is surely pilot error.

Naj

[Bryn]

I use 'there' close in or 'pip-pip' further out, been thinking recently that at the range a spaniel should be hunting that voice should be sufficient. Suppose it helps if you've spent a few years working collies on the hill

'pip-pip'? So what do you use as your turn whistle when quartering the dog.

I think it's easy to over complicate things with all these 'theres', 'pips' & 'hi-losts'. The minute you start chucking superfluous whistle pips & commands at a hunting dog is the moment that you begin distracting it from its job, & also the moment you start disturbing game. Surely, the less commands, the better. Dogs are very context based in their thinking & providing they are given the necessary experience & conditioning into the relevant routines they know the difference between sweeping-up (and ranging out) on one command when picking-up & quartering close (perhaps on the same command) when hunting up for the gun or beating. And as for repeating a 'hunting' command when a dog is already hunting - what's the point? As regards hunting at the fall on a blind retrieve scenario. In the majority of cases you are sending the dog on a straight line for the fall, & given the opportunity it will learn to have the sense to run to the downwind side of where you handle it to so it will invariably pick up the scent as it passes the 'fall' location. If it is in danger of over-running the fall or moves out of the fall are & you have to stop it to handle it back in, then a dog of experience surely knows that it is in the location & must begin hunting, unless it is used to being sent on a fool's errand. If the dog is miles out on its initial cast & has to be re-handled some distance then that is surely pilot error.

Naj

whistle
turn - single short pip
stop - single peeep
sit - single trailing pheeeoooww
there - double pip
recall - tripple pip

Those are the commands I've trained in but find I don't need to use them much and very rarely use the whistle. Haven't done any picking up with Bryn (don't plan to this season) and limited sweeping, I expect/hope that as he gains age and experience I'll use them even less, which is what I'm aiming at. For his first ever runner we were beating a drive when another young dog disturbed a runner from a previous drive, it ran onto our patch and up the burn we were beating so I let Bryn off the lead and sent him for it, it tucked up in the bank, he overran it slightly so I stopped him, told him there and he found/retrieved it. In a couple of years or less I hope he'd get the bird on a simple hand signal. The way I see it until he gains the maturity and experience he's going to need help which is where the commands come in.

[whistleshappy]

I agree with all of the above. The only thing I would add regarding sending the dog out to a blind is that the blind sounds to be over some distance, & the blind is a dummy. The OP also says her cocker is 11 months old & probably (maybe), hasn't the experience of an older dog to know when to carry on hunting or 'holding' it's area for a find. Bad scenting days & dummies placed in areas near to more heavily game scented areas, can confuse an older, more experienced dog, never mind an inexperienced one. I use ' there' if a dog looks like it might be struggling to locate a dummy, for example, in an area I know to be the area the dummy is placed. Only if the dog looks like it might need a helping hand. Where possible I like them to work it out for themselves, within reason.

[Alice]

. I use ' there' if a dog looks like it might be struggling to locate a dummy, for example, in an area I know to be the area the dummy is placed. Only if the dog looks like it might need a helping hand. Where possible I like them to work it out for themselves, within reason.

+1.

a there/hi lost is also quite handy if the dog's looking like it's considering blinking the retrieve.

[Judy]

. I use ' there' if a dog looks like it might be struggling to locate a dummy, for example, in an area I know to be the area the dummy is placed. Only if the dog looks like it might need a helping hand. Where possible I like them to work it out for themselves, within reason.

+1.

a there/hi lost is also quite handy if the dog's looking like it's considering blinking the retrieve.

I have another command for that one; "fetch it you bar steward!" Is usually what springs to me lips. Possibly because she has a runner fixation and can just show me where the dead are lying if she is in moo mood.

I used there or hunt whistle a far bit on busy days, from where I am I can often see things the Cockers can't and can get them into the exact area quicker if they have failed to pick up on the scent. Its a useful one for them to know.