Whoa Training Covey
Covey the Wonder Dog (we wonder why she eats so much) continues to advance with who training at Standing Stone Kennels with Ethan Pippitt providing the kind of bird contact we never good at Dancing Springs Ranch. We’ve got the land and the graass — but not the pigeons! Not Ethans knack with reading dogs. Covey is making great strides under Ethan and his team. Check out those stylish points! And even retrieves. And the haven’t even begun working on formal retrieve training. Check it out!
I can’t wait for this fall. Covey and I are going to hunt every upland bird species in Idaho. That’s nine species! And she’s going to find, point, and retrieve each. (If I do my part.)
Where oh where can my little dog be?
In school, that’s where. Standing Stone Kennels University under the tutelage of Professor Ethan Pippitt. And Covey is advancing through her classes like a rocket scientist. Don’t believe it? Watch the above video.
Standing Stone Kennels was smart enough to video tape the Training of an Old Dog to Learn New Tricks. Covey isn’t exactly senescent, but at 2.5 years she’s a bit older than ideal for some of the work Pippitt is putting her through. Nevertheless, from what I’ve seen she’s making great strides.
Precocious puppy points no longer count. Standing Stone Kennels is now teaching the grown up version of this precious pup what serious bird pointing means.
In this video you’ll see how quickly Ethan got Covey yard trained to understand the “whoa” command. I’d taught her stay, but never enforced whoa other than overlaying it when she was holding point. I made no corrections when she broke because whoa wasn’t a command she knew.
But now she does. And I’m amazed at how quickly Ethan got the lesson across. I would have assumed at least twice as many sessions would have been necessary. Guess that’s what that D.T. Systems collar around the belly advances.
Long, tangle-free check cord Standing Stone sells on their website
In whoa 201 Covey advances to the field where, I assume, she get birds to point and reinforce the whoa command. Can’t wait to see how quickly she nails that. Then it’s on to fetch as a command rather than desire.
Covey enjoyed play fetching as a puppy. We’ll soon see if Ethan can morph this into serious bird retrieving.
I don’t know if you’ll be as impressed with the speed of this training as I was, but check it out and let me know what you think.
P.S. Some of you might wonder why I’d have anyone train my dog. After all, this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been owned by one lab, two springers, one pudelpointer, and five other setters. Covey is shaping up to be the best of the bunch, so I don’t want to waste her potential. She deserves to become the best she can be. And I’ll get to watch her best performances.
