Whoa Post Question - SCS

[ceadmin]

So I am following the Smith's Silent Command System on Whoa Post training. The dog has been great through 4-5 weeks of phase 1 whoa posting. She fought me in the beginning then just accepted it. Now her tail is up and wagging when we are between posts and after we are done. She slams on the brakes when intially hooking her up. She is immobile with distractions so I moved her on to phase 2 of 3, which is the incorporation of the 180. The dog is not locking up all the way across and we have been at this for an additional 3 weeks. She knows to stop when getting stimulated or just about getting stimulated by the rope but won't fight me going across to the other side no matter what. She doesn't run but walks with me until she gets stimulated by the rope. I am about to give up and move to the ecollor on her flank and start working her on phase 3.

Any suggestions or comments?

[kninebirddog]

Going back to the first side ..Bring her to the end with a bit more reason..when you get her to the end drop the check cord and have her stand there till she accepts ...take her off go to next post do the same..again as you begin to walk bring her to the end with a reason after a couple reps of that ...put her on the chain gang then come back go to first part again bring her to the end with a reason then when you get to the end let her should her sign of acceptance then turn to do the 180 when you get a long side of her begin to bring her across with a reason

What I mean by a reason is being a bit more determined in your approach not ripping to the end but having a bit more command to the 180 bring to the end which on this you should start to see a bit more resistance in the 180

I had the same thing with one of the dogs and it was he needed a little more authority in the process

hope that helps

[ceadmin]

Thank you very much for your help! I have taken your advice this last week and really snapped her to the end of the rope for about 3 separate times, left her on the chain gang and then tried the 180 (after stimulating first, of course). She kept up the same charade, stiff, walk past the post and stiff again, but I did notice she was fighting me harder when she was pulling back. Well yesterday, she slammed on the brakes all the way across. Success! So again, thank you, I thought I would just move on but this worked and now I have confidence when I start stimulating her with the flank collar. We'll start that next week, I need to let her wear it everyday to get used to it. She did pretty good with running through the field today, but I'd like to see her on it a little while longer before turning on the juice.

This is only my second dog and I can say I learned alot from the first (screwed her up - she is world class on birds but not obedience - better trainer and I think she would have been a champion) and I am learning alot from the second, though the two dogs are worlds apart on their obedience levels (the younger is better than the older). Hopefully I'll start getting in to a better rhythm and as a trainer, the longer I go forward. Whoa training will be done in another couple of weeks and its on to FF, though I'll have a trainer do that one for me. I know better as I don't have the time or space anymore to do it as we sold our home and we are in an apartment for the time being. Can't wait for season though.

[kninebirddog]

Awesome ...gotta love those learning curves