Proofing Stop Whistle & Recall During Hunting

This exercise is a great way to proof both your stop whistle and recall whistle while your dog is engaged in a natural hunting behaviour.

One of the most important skills for a working gundog is the ability to listen and respond to you, even when they are excited and focused on searching. Your dog must understand that your instructions always come first, even when they are in hunting mode.

For this exercise, you will need a helper.

Setting Up The Exercise

Start by allowing your dog to see dummies being thrown into a designated area.

Once your dog has seen where the dummies have gone, cover your dog’s eyes and ask your helper to remove the dummies.

You can then send your dog into the area to hunt.

If you have already introduced your hunt whistle, this is a great opportunity to incorporate it into the exercise. We use “twit two” as our hunt whistle cue.

Allow your dog to hunt and work the area.

Introducing Stop & Recall

While your dog is still actively hunting, use your stop whistle to stop your dog.

Once your dog has stopped and is listening to you, recall them back using your recall whistle.

The aim is for your dog to understand that even when they are hunting, they must remain connected with you and respond to your commands.

As your dog is recalling back to you, your helper can place a dummy into the search area without your dog seeing.

Once your dog returns, send them back into the area to find the dummy.

Why We Do This

This exercise teaches your dog that listening to you does not always mean the end of the fun. They can be stopped, recalled and then sent back to continue working.

It develops control, responsiveness and trust — essential qualities in an advanced working gundog.

As always, build this gradually and make sure your dog is successful. If your dog struggles to stop or recall while hunting, reduce the difficulty and strengthen the foundations before progressing.