Gundog Training - One way to teach the stop whistle with a tennis ball

[@Zuke64]

Another great video! I don't know where my Spaniel's training would have been without you 😊

[@SpanielTrainingDiaries]

Aww that is so lovely to hear, thank you! ☺️

[@oliversj1]

This works perfectly with my one year old cocker who is ball-obsessed. This is going to help enormously with his stop at a distance. I've been watching a lot if your videoes which I have found to be extremely helpful - the best training resources for spaniels I have found online. Thanks very much for producing them.

[@kierengreen391]

Lovely video. I'll try this technique. My springy Springer loves tennis balls.

[@lawrencegilchrist2966]

Awesome training video!

[@SpanielTrainingDiaries]

Thank you I’m glad you liked it! 😊

[@shayflipz9098]

Thanks will try this!

[@riflemang176]

Thanks for a great video. I have been doing the 'false throw' for a while with my sprocker Winston, but so far have not had any success with him stopping at distance outside of the false throw scenario.

[@SpanielTrainingDiaries]

Sorry for the delay in response Neil, I seem to have missed a load of comments from 3 months ago. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. It’s hard to advise without seeing what’s happening, is this still an issue for you? If so if you can describe the scenarios when the stop does and doesn’t work for Winston then I can try to give some points to consider that might help. 😊

[@lexiequirie7915]

What do you do if they break the sit and go after the distraction?

[@SpanielTrainingDiaries]

I will calmly go back to them and reset the exercise. But before I do it again I will think about why they didn’t succeed that time. Initially I might try to repeat the exact same set up if I think they will get it right a second time, but the key for me with our training style is trying not to rehearse errors, so if they get it wrong more than once then I will adjust something in the exercise to make sure that they start to succeed again. Examples of how I might adjust are that I may decide that I want to add in a sit or a stay cue before I throw the distraction out, I would do that for a few repetitions to remind them what I want and the fade it back out again when they’re ready. Or I might decide that the placement of the distraction was too challenging for them at that stage of their training and so throw it further away so it’s less tempting, or change the position of the distraction, for instance a dummy throwing it over their head is particularly challenging when compared with one that’s thrown and lands close to me. I might decide that their not ready for thrown items yet and so go back to dropping or placing the distraction. So I will just play around with the difficulty factors as needed to help the dog to get it right and then slowly build them back up again when the dog is ready. I hope that makes sense. 😊

[@lexiequirie7915]

@@SpanielTrainingDiaries that makes perfect sense. Thank you so much. My pup has A TON of energy and even at a heal position after I toss something, he squats down and is ready to go. He never really relaxes. I have been too scared to work on that because I don’t want to ruin his drive. This is the first flushing dog I’ve trained so I’m hoping to mess it up. I’m a falconer and he flushes game for my hawk so things are a bit different but I’m trying to stick with the traditional training as much as I can. I really appreciate your help. Thanks again.

[@noahlundberg3288]

My biggest issue is the dogs know when I false throw, they figure out asap to actually watch after the ball 🤣 Might have to try false throw when they're on their way in to me instead

[@SpanielTrainingDiaries]

That’s the issue I have with Ivy she is too smart for this technique 😂 But yes false throw on their way back could work - let me know how that goes!

[@TomDeLuca-xc3kn]

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