sharpening up the stop whistle

[Tomm156]

hi,

I have a 10 month old lab dog I have been training for a couple of months, his recall is brilliant but his stop whistle isn't always perfect, when on the lead or walking to heal he hits the ground as soon as I blow the stop but when he's out in front he finishes sniffing or what ever he is doing, this is only a few seconds but still not ideal, am I expecting to much? when he doesn't sit I go to him and put him in the place I blew and reinforce the whistle again, is there anything else I should be doing?

thanks all
Tom

[bird]

I guess the challenge with the stop is it can be seen by the dog as a bad thing, interrupting something more interesting or fun. How do you reward the stop or make it enjoyable for the dog?

[romanriver]

stop letting him go for walks, keep him at heel or under direction

[ips]

I used a ball as a reward, I tossed ball for her to catch as soon as I blew stop, she was soon stopping on a sixpence.

[Springfield Pointers]

stop letting him go for walks, keep him at heel or under direction

Don't stop the walks. Just let him free in a place where he can come to no harm. And don't try and stop him just to see if it will work, you just teach him to ignore you, just let him have fun. At ten months you can't treat him like a prisoner.

[Rascal]

I don't throw a ball for the dog to catch but I do toss a dummy or ball at the spot where I asked the dog to sit..

Rascal

[newf]

hi,

I have a 10 month old lab dog I have been training for a couple of months, his recall is brilliant but his stop whistle isn't always perfect, when on the lead or walking to heal he hits the ground as soon as I blow the stop but when he's out in front he finishes sniffing or what ever he is doing, this is only a few seconds but still not ideal, am I expecting to much? when he doesn't sit I go to him and put him in the place I blew and reinforce the whistle again, is there anything else I should be doing?

thanks all
Tom

Nothing wrong with what you are doing. Patience, consistency and insistence will work. Tossing a ball to the dog after a good stop reinforces the behavior while bringing the dog back to the spot where the whistle required the stop tells the dog it is not conditional. The reward for stopping well can be varied too so the dog's expectation can be varied. For instance, being sent for a blind or walking up to the dog and treating, before being released are some examples.

One last comment, on correction for sniffing or urinating after the whistle is to be close to the dog in the initial stages and work gradually from there to distance. You want the dog to be more successful than fail but failure does teach what not to do, so, sieze the opportunity as it presents itself. Just remember, to always mark the unwanted behavior immediately to keep the situation clear to the dog, just as you would for wanted behavior.

[Alice]

he finishes sniffing or what ever he is doing

I think this captures it- the whistle is being treated by him (and you!) as a command to 'stop doing the fun thing' rather than 'a fun thing is about to happen, so listen up quickly' - this is dead dead common, that the whistle is used/taught with (inadvertent) negative connotations. He needs to understand that the stop whistle signifies that you're going to help him do something ace. Does that even vaguely make sense?

[ips]

Makes sense to me Alice;)

[Naj]

Yes, the sniffing sounds like a displacement behaviour.