Yipping when we stop

[hanandhen]

Just wondering if anyone had any advice on this?

Henry gets very enthusiastic about working, and unfortunately he is very disapproving of any stops This manifests itself as yipping and yodelling

On our first shoot he yipped whenever we were waiting between drives in the morning before settling in the afternoon. Last time he was a bit calmer between drives, but we had to stop and hold the line for a good few minutes during the first drive of the morning, and oh dear oh dear oh dear.... my poor ears! He was calmer between drives, although he still had a good grumble about all the standing about when there were clearly phessies that needed finding.

Fortunately there are no perfect dogs on this shoot (Henry was not the naughtiest there by a long way! ) and nobody minds (they just laugh and say it just shows he's keen to get on with it), but it would be nice to solve this.

He won't be distracted with food, a focus command, or anything, other than sending him to hunt the specific area we are standing in (he stays on the lead at the moment until whoever is in charge says he can go off, so he can't vanish into the distance). This only works for a while though as he wants to move on and of course he can't.

[Black Red + Yellow]

The only tip I can pass on which may help but will need training probably over the summer months rather than being a quick fix......our Trainer recommended from day one that even during a walk in the park was  every so often sit up the dogs and the adults to chat quietly and ignore them...especially after they have had some excitment - teaching them to be ready to stop and start when required and they become used to the 'down time' moments.  Even during a stroll around our favourite local woods will always involve stopping the dogs, sitting them down for about 5 mintues and just chatting and ignoring them....they watch us the whole time just waiting for the signal to be 'released'.

I don't know what else to suggest though - am sure some others will have some ideas

[hanandhen]

I don't suppose there is much of a quick fix tbh, it's just lucky that we've landed on our feet where we go. I've apologised for it, but have been told to stop being so daft and not to worry about it, they are a nice bunch there.

We already have little breaks for me to look at the views (we met a herd of red deer yesterday, which necessitated a long break to grin like a loon as they passed!), so I'll start insisting that he has to stop and be calm during them too

[Cath]

I totally sympathize with you on this one. I have worked very hard with my Breagh for many months to try and quieten her down, to no avail  I had her on her first shoot on hogmanay and I had discussed her noise with the keeper. He said not to worry and to see how it went.

By lunchtime the keeper came up to me and invited me back with Breagh for the last 2 shoots this month. They thought she had great style and quartered and retrieved beautifully  I was just embarrassed by her noise and they were quite happy as she was flushing plenty of phessies for them 
Typical though, by the 5th drive at the end of the day, she quietened down  only because she was knackered 

So I have been lucky too and found a shoot where my noisy working cocker is welcome  We can always hope they do quieten down with age, something tells me not 

[hanandhen]

Oh Cath, I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a yodeller!