Pick-up Shaping, Whistle Sit

Today was a light day of retrieve practice, with a single brief series in the morning at Fair Hill. In the afternoon, we hiked with Renee and her Golden, Gabriel, and worked on Lumi's and Laddie's whistle sit (WS) along the way. The morning series was as follows:

• Series A. Pick-up shaping (both dogs)
  

Series A. Series A was intended to give the dogs an opportunity to practice fast pick-ups of ducks. The dogs also had some practice running thru cover, and for carrying clipwing pigeons in their mouths as reinforcement for their retrieve work.

At Fair Hill, I chose a location in a field with several large patches of high grass. I placed the start line (SL) in a small clearing surrounded by cover, and chose three directions separated by 90° angles to throw poorman marks of ducks into cover for the series. Running Lumi first, then Laddie, each dog ran the following sequence:

1. Dog ran a poorman single.
   
2. I walked with Dog to the pigeon carrier and said, "Your birdie's waiting." Then I cued "sit", placed a clipwing on the ground (see "Picking up a Clipwing" below), released Dog, Dog picked up the clipwing, I called Dog to me, we walked 10 yards away from the carrier together, then back to the carrier together, I again cued "sit" and took delivery of the clipwing, and placed the bird back in its carrier.
3. Dog ran two more marks as a poorman double.
4. We repeated the ritual in step (2) above.
5. I tossed a duck for Dog, cued "Get your bird," we walked together to the van, Dog jumped in, and I gave Dog a high-value treat.

Both dogs seemed highly motivated by every step of the game and both had fast pick-ups of every mark.

Picking up a Clipwing. I had planned to place the clipwings in the dogs' mouths because the dogs are rough on the birds when they pick them up from the ground. But Lumi reacted adversely when I tried to put the clipwing in her mouth, and since my intent was to use the clipwings as reinforcement, that was an undesirable situation. Therefore, I decided to let the dogs pick the clipwings up from the ground instead.

Practicing Whistle Sit. During our afternoon hike, I tried a test that Alice had recommended. We hiked for about ten minutes, and then, with both dogs within 20 yards and distracted with doggie activities, I blew a WS. Lumi sat instantly. Laddie froze looking at me and I watched him, but when he still had not sat down for five seconds, I whistled again and then he did sit.

Approximately every ten minutes thereafter, I blew another WS under the same rules as the first one, for a total of six times. The results were as follows:

1. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle (as described above)
2. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle
3. Both dogs sat immediately (for this WS, the dogs were 20 yards away and on the embankment across a creek from me)
4. Both dogs sat immediately (for this WS, the dogs were roughhousing together when I blew the WS)
5. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle
6. Lumi sat, Laddie required a second whistle

As Alice pointed out, the more we practice this, the less useful it is as a test of the WS in an unaccustomed context. However, I feel that if we continue to practice in this way on more hikes in the future, gradually increasing distance, the dogs will become increasingly fluent in their responsiveness to the whistle. Equally valuable, I will acquire a better knowledge of the level of their evolving responsiveness, enabling me to make informed decisions about when to use a WS in training situations and when it is unlikely to be effective. The goal would be to continue this kind of drill until the dogs become completely reliable at virtually any distance and regardless of what activity they're involved in.