Whoa Command

[Pappy]

I have trained several dogs. I am no expert but I have had very good success. I tied something different one year while training a new dog. But before I get into that I well start off first by letting you know how I usually train my new dogs. I am a firm believer in using Richard Wolters Gun Dog book. I have had very good success using his training methods. I remember reading his book several times how important the whoa command is. When I followed his book whiling training two of my dog using the whoa command it seem to work out OK. Ya my dogs will stop but not always completely. It seem that some of my dogs would stop better than the other dogs. With this new GSP I purchased I thought since the whoa command is so important I started training my dog on the whoa command first. I was very impress with this dog. After training him and taking him hunting. I could yell whoa and he would stop at a full stride in his tracks. I was very pleased how this dog took to the whoa command. I have since train another dog but I followed the Gun Dog book. I just was not very pleased how this dog came out on using the whoa command, ya he stops but not like my GSP did. My questions is how many trainers start out using the whoa command first before using other command like sit stay etc. This seem to work for me the time I tried it. What are some of your training methods on the Whoa Command ?

[ezzy333]

I normally don't teach WHOA till they are a year old or more. I try not to use it around birds as I want the dog to point and not whoa. Whoa is nothing more than a stay command and is a control type command and not a hunting command.

JMO

Ezzy

[ultracarry]

I'm with ezzy.


On a different note I'm not a huge whoa person. Could care less if the dog stops in its tracks. Here IS more important. You can teach a dog to stand birds without saying a word.

[bb560m]

I'm with ezzy.


On a different note I'm not a huge whoa person. Could care less if the dog stops in its tracks. Here IS more important. You can teach a dog to stand birds without saying a word.

What about for honoring or stop to flush?

[ultracarry]

Not a sound...

[RoostersMom]

What about for honoring or stop to flush?

Use birds to teach that the same way you teach whoa with birds (not using words, using the birds to teach the dog to stop).

[ezzy333]

Can't tell you how many times I have found my dogs with one on point and the others honoring. If you have to tell them, how do they hunt when you are not close enough to tell them what to do? Just doesn't work very well.

Ezzy

[SetterNut]

I don't use whoa while hunting with one exception. If a dog can not see another dog on point, I will whoa him.
That can happen here when hunting in the tall prairie grass.

Some of the grass is a lot taller and thicker than this, but I don't have pics in it where you can see the dog,

[bwjohn]

I think the bird is the whoa command, if that makes since. Start with a lot of stop to flush work, teaching the dog every time the bird is in the air he stops. from that point on you can start making the corrections when a bird flies off during a pointing drill.

You can add the whoa command toward the end of the stop to flush to work, once the dog really starts to stop on the bird flying away. Kind of like, don't name it until he already knows what he is doing.


the other point that i think some are trying to make is, you should not whoa a dog into a point. If he is creeping let him until the bird gets up and then make the correction. If you have wild birds that is real easy, if you have launchers you can simulate, if not it can be hard.

brandon

[Pappy]

I normally don't teach WHOA till they are a year old or more. I try not to use it around birds as I want the dog to point and not whoa. Whoa is nothing more than a stay command and is a control type command and not a hunting command.

JMO

Ezzy

I guess I never thought the Whoa command was nothing less like a stay command like you quoted. I know whoa is important to stop your dog when you need him to stop. I personally don't think that it is just a command to use on the dog while chasing birds or creeping in on birds. I have hunted some chuckar and these bird are very weary. I have whoa my dog because I saw where these birds were at. Don't get me wrong I do let the dog go on in when I am trying to locate these birds but sometimes I will who him to keep him back from spooking these bird up.

[no.5 buckshot]

I've used both of these meth. and to each his own but I do prefer the whoa command over the other. For one thing whoa means to stop here means to come and I use both. You don't have to go out of your way to teach here but whoa is no different than stop and stand just reinforced with a word. Whoa works well with keeping distants. I'm a grouse hunter and these are not pin raised birds a dog has to learn to handle a grouse and you have to trust a dog to go out where you can't see him to point and hold the bird. A dog figures things out on it's own all we do is guide them a little to what we want. If you have a dog that wants to still point for instants he will go for the bird sent infront of the pointed dog and whoaing him to correct the problem and teaching him to back when he don't want to is a good and easy way to correct the dog. But always choose a meth. that you feel comfortable with. Oh yes don't teach a pointing dog to seat that's just for show I wouldn't waste my time on that. What your looking for is a dog steady on birds and you want know what you've got till you get on wild birds that you don't have to kick up.