Maery over at Cowgirl by Proxy wants to teach WHOA as part of her prep for skijoring with Java. So, as promised here is more info and video on how I taught WHOA, the cue that means “stop where you are.”
It helps to face your dog in the early stages and to use a visual, physical barrier. At class, Gigi has us stop our dogs on a ledge in the park or at a spot where the grass gives way to concrete. Lilly stops automatically after a few repetitions, but I’ve always had trouble transferring the behavior to the flat or to other scenarios.
Avoid using COME to get the dog to move toward you because it can erode that cue and ruin your recall. That’s why I use WALK UP or her release word (OK), rather than COME.
We sometimes use the fake-out toy throw, as a way to get Lilly to move away from me, then I attempt to WHOA her before she gets all the way back to me. Sometimes that works. Sometimes not. She catches on fast and often will refuse to run after the possibly-thrown toy. In those cases, you can toss treats so that there is indeed a payoff for moving away.
As we progressed, I added another distance behavior, SPIN followed by WHOA, to make the exercise more interesting to Lilly. That helped a lot. The WALK UP + WHOA as noted earlier also helped Lilly make the distinction between moving and stopping.
Handlers often use these kind of stop-go cues in sheep herding, which is essentially a form of stalking. I like to pretend Lilly might be good at it, but I seriously doubt she would have this kind of control with sheep around.
She looks more intense because I’m combining work with play. With the earlier video (which was also shot at home), I did not have a clicker, or food, or toys. I just asked for the basic behavior.
In the new video, we were playing fetch and working. I had the new toy as a reward.
I think there is something about this exercise that triggers her instincts. If you’ve ever seen border collies working sheep, they look very serious.
She looks much more intense in this video compared to the last. Do you think it’s because she’s practicing on her own turf?
I really like this behavior. A lot of work must have gone into training it..
I’m impressed! Almost more so by the spin than the whoa and walk up as I’ve been trying to teach that too. I’ve tried to get Java to follow a treat and she follows it all right — with her head. Her body pretty much stays put. Thanks for posting this!