Chapter 12. Halt and Send-away

The Halt and Stand-stay

The training is designed to get your dog to become increasingly skilled at stopping immediately when you tell him to, even when he is away from you. The Halt is followed by a Stand stay which requires the dog to stand still without moving. At first, you can help the dog from moving about when he halts, by going to the dog when he is away from you, and lightly holding him in place. The Halt command will be used to control, both, the Halt and Stand-stay as one unified response.

Selecting the Halt and Send-away sounds. Field-Trial enthusiasts have traditionally used the WHOA command (said, WOE) to Halt the dog. Since the command WHOA sounds so much like NO, the word HUT (an emphatic form of the sound HALT) is used in the present training to command the Halt response. With continued training, the command HUT will come to mean, both, Halt and Stand-stay. The command, MOVE, is usually given after the dog has been in Stand-stay for a brief period; it sends the dog on his way from his present position.

The Send-away

The Send-away is conveniently learned in the same training trial as Halt and Stand-stay. Send-away is a practical kind of control that has the dog leave his present position—usually from near the handler. Occasions you may want your dog to move away: start the dog off on a pleasure stroll; permit the dog to cross the street; send the begging dog away from the dinner table to where he will be less of a nuisance... The Send-away sound in this course is MOVE. In the Send-away part of the present trials, the dog is assisted in making the Send-away response—he feels a sudden release from restraint by a leash action.

The Training

In the basic training-trial, the dog will walk or run a short distance to a food bowl. On some trials, the dog is brought to a Halt and a Stand-stay while en route to the bowl. After a momentary Stand-stay, the dog is sent on his way again with the Send-away command.

The Halt-trial procedure starts with the new command, HUT, followed quickly by assisting the dog to make the response. Assistance takes the form of physically stopping the dog from moving. When you stop, take a firm grip on the leash—it prevents the dog from going any further. Do the prompt without jerking the lead. At first, you will be doing a full leash restraint on the dog to get an immediate halt. Then, as training progresses, your prompt is reduced to a simple, light backward tug on the lead.

All Halt training in this handout is done with the dog on leash. As with most other training trials in this course, the dog is helped (prompted) to respond correctly before he can make the response on its own.

The Goal Run

To do the Goal Run, the dog moves in a straight line from a set starting place to a distant goal (to a food bowl containing a bit of tasty food). On command MOVE, the dog is started on the run. The dog proceeds at his own speed over the course that's about 150 feet long. When he reaches the food bowl, he eats the food that's there. The dog earns no penalties for errors—he is simply helped to make correct responses.

The preparations:

1. Say READY.
2. Prepare to take the dog out of doors: Attach a leash to the dog's collar or harness. Take along a can of tasty dog food, plastic can cover, spoon and food dish.
3. Walk the dog to where you'll be running the trials, such as the sidewalk in front of your house, grass area in a park or untravelled road. You will need about 150 feet of straight-line space over which the dog will travel to the food-bowl.
4. Place the food bowl on one end of the Run; food can and spoon are kept nearby at the edge of the Run.

Step 1. Get acquainted with trial events.

No Halt training is done at this step. During the early trials, the dog will likely walk alongside you rather than precede you to the bowl. Allow that. Later, the dog will dash to the bowl without your help. When you get the speedy response, go to Step 2 and introduce Halt trials. Walk briskly; Permit the dog to pull on the Goal Run, if that's what he wants to do.

The getting-acquainted trials:

1. Lead the leashed dog to the food bowl.
2. Put a dab of canned food into the dish. Let the dog eat this first portion.
3. Drop another portion, but this time don't let the dog get to it.
4. Lead the dog away from the dish. The dog is not expected to be heeling during the lead-away.
5. When you are about ten feet from the bowl, and still moving away from it, say MOVE.
6. Turn and move briskly to the food bowl. Do not begin your turn before you say the sound.
7. Allow the dog to eat the food.
8. Put in another portion.
9. Lead the dog away. On this trial, send him to the bowl from a distance of twenty feet.
10. Then do one last getting-acquainted trial from thirty feet.

The procedure for Halt and No-halt trials

1. Bait the dish while restraining the dog by the harness or collar from getting at the food.
2. Turn and move to a starting line, 150 feet away - do not Heel the dog along the way.
3. At the starting line, say MOVE, then turn to face the direction of the run.
4. Immediately follow with a light forward tug of the lead as you begin the run. Keep the dog on about a four foot lead length.
5. Walk briskly to the food bowl. Keep a slightly taut lead, if convenient, for all the runs.

Step 2. The Early Halt and No-Halt Trials

After halting on command, the dog does not have to Stand-stay—he is allowed to move about at the halt position within the limits of the short lead. In Step 3, the dog is helped to Stand-stay in place.

On the No-Halt Trial:

The dog does the entire run without stopping. About one in four trials have no Halts on the run.

On the Halt Trial:

On the average, three out of four trials are done with Halts along the way. The Halt sound HUT comes on while the dog is on his way to the food bowl. You may halt the dog once or twice in the same trial. Don't halt the dog in the same place each time.

1. Say the Halt sound, HUT, while you and he are moving toward the food bowl.
2. After the sound, Stop abruptly and hold the leash firmly in your grasp. This physically stops the dog from moving forward—it doesn't jerk the dog back. For two training sessions, allow the dog to move around to the limits of the lead (you will stop the dog from moving about in the next training step).
3. Wait at least five seconds before you send the dog on his way again.
4. Say MOVE. Prompt the dog to move by moving yourself after delivering the sound.
5. Unless you have scheduled another Halt on the same run, the dog finishes his walk to the baited food bowl and eats the food.
6. If you're giving another trial, bait the bowl, then lead the dog to the starting line and begin either a Halt or non-Halt trial.
7. At the starting line and without stopping, say MOVE; then turn in the direction of the run.

Be sure that you don't cue the dog that the Halt sound, HUT, is about to come on, by any change in your movement or leash action, beforehand. Also, don't make a sudden change in your movement that will cue the dog that the MOVE sound is about to come on—such sudden changes in your movement are called "unintentional signals."

Conduct 6 Halt trials and 1 or 2 non-Halt trials in the session. Stay in this training step for only two sessions. Then go to Step 3.

Step 3. Stand-stay follows the Halt

In this training phase, you will get the dog to stop moving about after he halts. Also, you will try to get the dog to face forward (in the direction of the food bowl) as soon as he stops. Continue to program one No-Halt trial for every three Halt trials.

1. Say READY.
2. Make the usual session preparations.
3. Go to the starting line that's about 150 feet from the food bowl. Without stopping, say MOVE, then turn in the direction of the run. The trial may be either a Halt or non-Halt procedure.

On the Halt trial:

1. As the dog is moving smartly ahead, deliver the Halt sound, HUT.
2. Stop and apply full leash restraint on the dog.

At the moment the dog halts, go to the dog. Stop the dog from moving around, if necessary, by placing one hand under the dog's neck and the other under his belly. Also gently reposition the dog so that his body faces forward. You may say STAY after the correction - said in a normal tone of voice. The STAY command, if used, is said only in the early trials. The HALT command comes to mean, both, Halt and Stand-stay. Most dogs learn that readily without the intervening Stay command.

3. After several seconds, say the release command MOVE.
4. Move to the food bowl.

If you happen to be holding the dog in place, do not begin to release your hold before you give the command, MOVE— you don't want the dog to learn to use the feel of hand-release as a cue to move out. Hand-holding the dog, as a physical aid, can then be phased out gradually without difficulty. Do as many sessions of these mixed trials (Halt and No-Halt) daily, as necessary to get reasonable looking Halts and Send-aways.

The strategy that the dog eventually learns is to reach the food bowl without earning a penalty.

In the next training Step, the dog begins to earn penalties for making certain kinds of errors. Offenses that can be made by the dog on the run: The dog fails to Halt on command, or fails to Stay in place, once halted. The penalty: Delay of reward—the dog is brought back to the starting place, or some other intervening point, to redo that part of the trial.

Do the Step 3 procedure for one week, then go to the next step.

Step 4. Getting quick Halts and Stays

Begin to reduce the amount of restraint used to Halt the dog, and the amount of aid used to position and hold the dog in place. Reduce the assistance gradually. When you get good command control of the dog's Halt response and Stand-stay in the forward-facing direction, introduce the penalty procedure.

The NO sound. NO tells the dog that he failed to Halt, or that he broke from the Stand-stay. The penalty is a gentle correction to the correct position or stance. It also warns the dog that another such error may turn on the TIME sound. Say NO at the precise moment of the error. Then go to the dog and make the gentle correction. Stand behind the dog during the wait period.

The TIME sound. This sound tells the dog that he must do the trial over again from a more distant position. TIME is sounded at the exact moment that the dog is making the error. A bridging signal follows. It's called a bridging signal because it maintains a connection between what the dog did (an incorrect response) and the actual punishment that follows.

The bridging event: After you say TIME, go to the dog, grasp the leash about one foot from the collar and raise it above the dog's head (he feels only a light upward pressure of the lead). The raised leash is continued while the dog walks back to another starting line. There, the leash is released after the dog is given the MOVE sound to begin the trial again from the new position.

Avoid a harsh jerk of the lead that starts the bridging signal. Also, maintain only a light upward pressure of the lead for the duration of the signal.

The punishment is "a bit of extra work that the dog must do, along with a consequent delay of reward." The dog and leash must be handled with gentleness throughout the procedure. Do not give more than two TIME punishments on any one trial, nor too many TIME punishments in a single session. Schedule no TIME punishments on about half the trials. A trial is defined as a single goal run.

Step 5. Automatic Halt and Stand-stay

(To be continued)

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