Bird Dogs Afield host Paul Fuller is the gun dog columnist for Northwoods Sporting Journal. The Journal has granted permission to re-print Paul’s articles. Thank you Northwoods Sporting Journal.

Teaching Whoa (Part 2)

It’s important that each time you perform this exercise, when the pup is placed back down on the table, you repeat “whoa” and hold the puppy still initially for three or four seconds and extend that hold still time each exercise. After the puppy shows signs of understanding what you mean by “whoa” and stands still mostly on their own, no longer hold the pup. The training sequence is you initially lift, put down and hold, then you will lift and put down and not hold and then you will simply give the command “whoa” and the pup must stop on its own…and stand still until you give the release command.

Speaking of the release command, we have a different command for each dog. For Dillon, it was “super”. For Cordie, it’s “trigger”. For Dena, it’s “amen”. The same time your dog is learning to stand still, it can learn its release command. The release command is used every time you want to release your dog from standing still.

There is also the “whoa” plank. The plank is a board 6” wide and about four feet long. It’s positioned at waist high. The concept here is that because this is a narrow and precarious position, the dog won’t want to move and will stand still automatically. Lift a dog up and place on the plank. Very seldom will they move. Some pro-trainers will lift and put down as we did on the training table but most I’ve seen simply put the dog down on the plank and leave it there while repeating the “whoa” command. Initially, for a puppy, I would only leave it for a minute or two. We don’t want to scare the pup…it needs to be fun. After the pup has acclimated to the narrow plank, eventually extend the standing still time to five minutes.

And, there is then the “whoa’ barrel. The barrel is the same concept as the plank. It’s a barrel that’s been positioned on a platform so it won’t roll when placing a dog on top.

Also, some of the dog supply companies sell a “whoa” harness. It’s a harness with a handle. The idea is to walk along side of your dog and, when commanding “whoa”, you pick-up the dog with the handle and then set the dog down.

One more tool you may use for standing still (whoa) is the place board. At our house, we use the training table to actual teach standing still; however, we use the place board to reinforce the command. Our place boards are 3’ high and 2’ wide and 3’ long. The top is 3/8” plywood. We paint the entire board and then cover with outdoor carpeting.

On a lead, bring your dog up to the place board (do not stop) and just prior to the dog reaching the board, give a the command “place” while leading the dog onto the place board. Once all four feet are on the place board, give the command “whoa”. We do this three times for one session. When the dog stands still, reward with a treat. Our goal is for the dog to associate the place board with standing still. This is important since we use place boards to teach steadiness (Chapter 6). As with other exercises, we try to do two sessions (three repetitions per session) per day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Three consecutive days is good.

For place board work, don’t be concerned about not having a place board in the field while hunting. The dog easily transitions from place board to bare ground.

Here’s an issue your author learned first hand. Early on, I taught my recall commands before I taught whoa. Both are extremely important. However, teaching recall first makes it a default command. Getting your dog to learn and be obedient to whoa becomes harder. When you whoa your dog, it will feel the pressure and recognize that pressure is eliminated by coming to you. Teach whoa first and then your recall command.

Remember that patience and persistence are the key words in training.

Copyright 2023 Paul Fuller

Paul and Susan Fuller are co-hosts of Bird Dogs Afield TV show. All past episodes are available on their website: www.birddogsafield.com. Contact: paul@birddogsafield.com.