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Three (inaudible) cheers for whistle training!

9 replies

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/10/2010 13:41

Had the fright of my life this morning, I have had a horrible cold and cough and as always happens to me I have now lost my voice.

Took 17 week old Rudy out to the (mostly completely fenced but with three gates) park this morning and for reasons known only to himself half way round he decided to trot out of a gate and head for the road.

It was awful I went to shout and nothing came out but three pips on my whistle and he flew straight back.

God only knows that was going on in his whippety head, he wasn't spooked, there was nothing to chase, he has never done it before.

Bloody dogsGrin.

OP posts:
Tortoise · 01/10/2010 13:46

Glad he came back. Smile
How does whistle training work? I have a 7 yr old Greyhound whose recall is terrible! Is it too late to train him?

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/10/2010 13:50

I am no expert, but you know sighthounds and recall....

I trained Rudy as below, it is meant to be very effective. (I have C&P'ed it from a thread I posted it on another day, if any of it reads funny)

For recall I would thing about training to a whistle as it carries no emotion like your voice so you can instantly avoid lots of issues. The training is Pavlovian and goes like this-

Buy whistle

Every day for a week before feeding a meal, blow the whistle (I use three quick pips, you may use what you wish).

You now have a dog that associates the whistle with food and will salivate on hearing it, half the battle is won.

For the next few days (when possible) get someone to hold him at increasing distances from his bowl at mealtimes, blow the whistle,
feed him.

Now you have a dog that knows on hearing the whistle he must run to you then he gets food.

Now abandon the feeding thing and blow the whistle at random times, start very easy, ie when the dog was wandering towards you anyway, when he reaches you he must get a magnificent treat (chicken, hot dog, liver cake etc) and he must get it instantly.

Keep increasing the distance in house, garden, even hide a bit, but work at his pace so he is always successful.

Now start outdoors in a safe area and again build up.

Imortant points, go not let children etc randomly blow the whistle for fun, always have a treat at the beginning, though once he is doing well outside, start rewarding only the best responses, this will make him work harder, but don't become stingy! Most recalls should be food rewarded and all others with praise, never become complacent. Don't ask him to do other things on his return to you (like sit), this is slightly skewered training, and for it to continue to work it need to be on the simple basis of 'hear whistle, get fed'. Once trained, don't forget your whistle!

Rudy was trained this way from 10 weeks and his recall is atm 100%, I can even turn him from squirels, however I am aware that he is very young and as he matures and his prey drive increases this may well not be the case,but I feel he has a good grounding.

OP posts:
Bella32 · 01/10/2010 13:54

Yes, whistles fab! Cut through lots of other noises and carry far and wide.

I love my Acme 212

Well done, Wildie! Grin

BeerTricksPotter · 01/10/2010 14:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tortoise · 01/10/2010 14:16

Thanks for that. Worth a try. Smile Assume any whistle will do?
Only down side could be that Mickey isn't really fussed about his food! May have to add some tuna to make it more enticing! Grin

30andMerkin · 01/10/2010 14:25

Hey WWTW, it's me again Wink

Just wondered what sort of time lag you were using between whistle and feeding. I've been doing it LITERALLY just before setting the bowl down, but some friends have been taught to make it much earlier.

It's not totally ingrained yet, so am happy to move it slightly. Just wondered what your expert opinion was!

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/10/2010 14:54

I only did it for a week or so with feeding and I whistled and instantly fed, the idea is hear whistle = food, so when it becomes a recall they don't hang around.

I literally did it exactly as I have put above.

OP posts:
fruitshootsandheaves · 01/10/2010 16:57

any whistle except a sheepdog whistle...I didnt have my whistle with me the other day so I used the sheepdog whistle I had in my pocket...all that came out was a stange squeak and lots of spit...my collie came back thou...my springer just ignored me Grin

jooseyfruit · 01/10/2010 17:08

have started training with my loopy lurcher. thanks WTWTW

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