sharpening up the stop whistle

[Judy]

Yes, the sniffing sounds like a displacement behaviour.

Is that a posh term for ignoring the handler?

[newf]

Yes, the sniffing sounds like a displacement behaviour.

Is that a posh term for ignoring the handler?

Too simple.

[Naj]

Y'all know ya love that sort of stuff.

[Naj]

A perfect stop whistle in just 2 months of training? A bit unrealistic. :think

The dog is either sniffing and feigning interest in a scent because it feels confused and under pressure or scent is yet too big a distraction for its current level of sit training. And Tomm, on the face of it, has jumped from sitting at heel to sitting remotely. You wouldn't normally expect a young dog to stop sniffing something interesting to sit on command. I stop a young dog when it is dashing about and not when it's preoccupied with sniffing. I would guess that Tomm has jumped a few steps in training and needs to go back a few steps.

Naj

[Judy]

That's interesting, I've always felt a dog dashing about is on a mission and less likely to stop, I tend to blow when said dog is doing nothing in particular, either pottering or pausing to sniff, either way it needs some kind of reward for sitting. Back in the day when I had Retrievers I would start by sitting at heel, I found it took longer to transition the dog to sitting elsewhere and would get best results from waiting until the dog was coming towards me before raising my hand and blowing the sit whistle, the raised hand would get the dog's attention and the sit whistle would confirm the cue.

These days I simplify matters by teaching the pup to sit in front then using raised hand then whistle until pup will sit to all three after which I increase the distance fairly slowly depending on how quickly the dog grasps it. Some will stop at any distance after a few plays others take a bit longer. My youngster seems to have grasped the concept, if she is going flat out and takes a few strides to stop she will trot back to where she was when I blew and then stop! Daft bitch but she is a Cocker and they do get inventive. Do reward the dog for stopping even praise is good! They ain't stopping for nothing!

[Naj]

I always start by training remote sits/stops these days. Makes far more sense to the dog and much easier to teach this way. I certainly don't give any sit/recall commands when a young dog is likely not to respond, like when it's preoccupied with sniffing.

It would be interesting to hear from Tomm whether the dog is actually sniffing something when he gives the sit command or whether he gives the command and the dog starts sniffing or feins interest in something before complying, perhaps when he looks like he is going to head into the dog. Or if it continues sniffing until he gets there.

Naj

[bird]

I always start by training remote sits/stops these days. Makes far more sense to the dog and much easier to teach this way. I certainly don't give any sit/recall commands when a young dog is likely not to respond, like when it's preoccupied with sniffing.

It would be interesting to hear from Tomm whether the dog is actually sniffing something when he gives the sit command or whether he gives the command and the dog starts sniffing or feins interest in something before complying, perhaps when he looks like he is going to head into the dog. Or if it continues sniffing until he gets there.

Naj

Same here, taught my lab to sit to whistle at heel and had a hard time getting a remote sit. Did the spaniel the other way round - far, far easier!

Sniffing can really switch the ears off so at 9 months I wouldn't be blowing a stop if the dogs already sniffing hard. If it's sniffing after the whistle it could be a response to pressure.

[newf]

Let them sniff as a reward for sitting and not the other way round. Trainer has a responsibility to read the dog. If unsure, about whether confusion or fear is present, I always default to quietly positioning the dog so it can figure out.

[Springfield Pointers]

Also if you know the dig is not going to sit/stop when it's got a snoutfull, don't ask it to. All you're doing is teaching it to ignore you.

[station8]

Agree with romanriver,"sniffing or whatever he,s doing" is allowing him to amuse himself,dog should be looking to you for fun .