Stop-start!

Fran Ardley continues her training tips on disciplining your dog to the stop whistle and the exercises you need to do

- Fran Ardley

Last month we looked at building on the stop whistle while your dog was at a distance from you. I showed a technique where the dog was called off a retrieve that was placed directly behind it and it was then stopped while coming back towards the handler. The exercise required the dog to have had some previous handling training. The exercises we look at in this article will require the dog to be steady to a thrown dummy.

The stop whistle can be a negative command as in many cases we are asking the dog to stop what it is doing and take further instruction from the handler. One of the most challenging times to stop a dog is when it is in hunting mode, especially if it is a breed such as a spaniel, which will always have a bias on hunting rather than retrieving. Novice trainers will often use the stop whistle without any positive follow-on, which can see the dog quickly become sloppy and even begin to ignore it as it is not getting anything good out of the command. So, to sharpen things up we can introduce something positive immediately after we blow the whistle, and in the training stages that is a dummy or a fur ball.

ON THE MOVE