Weekly Training Update (Nov 27) Lilly Shows off WHOA

Over the years, we’ve worked on teaching WHOA (which means “stop where you are”). Some people use WAIT, but I prefer that for when I’m closer to Lilly. WHOA, for us, is more a distance behavior. We practice this A LOT in our drop-in advanced pet dog training with Gigi. Lilly does great when we use a ledge or other visual marker to trigger a stop, but on the flat, we’ve always struggled. Until recently. Check it out.

Granted, the first one is a little sloppy because she takes a few steps before stopping, but she has some a LONG way from when she thought every cue had to be executed within very close proximity of me. After all, that’s where the treats are. That’s where all the good things happen. That’s where Lilly spends a great deal of her time … right by my side.

I will begin working on giving this cue from behind as well, but for now, I’m happy that she can stop while facing me (from a distance, no matter how small) … just in case there is ever something dangerous between us.

You can see the hang signals for WALK UP and WHOA in my shadow.