Hi there. I have a 11 week old labrador puppy named Arla. I want to get on her recall training as soon as I can especially now she can go outside the limitations of the garden. We live in the countryside but she will be going into London with me on a thrice weekly basis. I was therefore wondering if I should train her on the whistle (not practical in London) or just stay on a vocal cue which is currently 'come on'? I don't want to confuse her. What are your thoughts? Many thanks Faye
I find a whistle very useful and feel lost without it! You can introduce the whistle when you call her for her meals, blow your chosen cue, (command), I use three peeps and then immediately use your 'come on". MIne recall to voice or to whistle, whichever I choose to use. However, I mainly use the whistle.
Why would you say the whistle isn't practical in London? I'm not sure what you mean by this? There are many advantages of the whistle - it does carry far better, for one - but the strongest is that you can give a very consistent cue, unadulterated by your emotions, whether you have a cold etc. My two don't have a trained verbal recall cue, but do come back to most things, but the whistle is far stronger.
I use vocal, hand signals and a whistle , would be lost to bits without the whistle in woodlands and forest where my lad is likely to hunt , invaluable .
Thank you all for your contributions. It has been really helpful. Stacia, it is great to know that your dogs reply to both vocal and whistle calls. I want to be able to use both as the idea of shouting across a field does not attract me so a whistle is the preferable choice. Fiona, the reason I said a whistle isn't very practical is more about my own faults rather than that of Arla's. I need to take a laptop/books etc into work so am generally carrying quite a bit and I would rather use my vocal commands over constantly taking out a whistle. She's a bright puppy so if I can do both that would be the best scenario.
Pippa - I was watching your recall video and took her out for the first time post vaccinations. She was off the lead and loving life!
I use voice, (COME), whistle and a hand signal. Each is good in certain situations and pup can easily learn all three. LOL, the hand signal is bit confusing, I've had the ATV rider approaching us while the dog is ahead of me think it meant him.
I also use whistle, voice and hand signals, depending on situation. My girl doesn't seem at all confused. I'd be lost without my whistle I don't feel dressed unless it's round my neck
Like others I use a combination of voice, whistle, hand and a loud whoop and holler. Juno manages with all of them without any problems
Vocal, whistle and hand signals here! Murphy responds to all/any with gusto and certain situations may not be suitable for, say a whistle recall.
Good advice, if you want to treat yourself take a look at Gundog Lanyards, they have a Facebook page. I've got one in pink and one in blue.
I use whistle, voice and action as appropriate. I pat my upper chest as a recall signal. On the downside, if something goes down the wrong way and you are choking on something and pat your self violently on the chest you are likely to find a dog carousing around your feet who you least need it. Don't laugh, it happened to me
This forum is wonderful. Thank you all for your help. Arla and I are learning together on this! Loving the Gundog lanyards. Nice to have some colour and they are less easy to lose!
I asked this exact question to my trainer the other week only because I seem to use both voice and whistle depending on the situation. She said it's not a bad thing to have 2 types of recall as I may forget my whistle one day OR lose my voice and need the whistle. So it may be worth training both types.
I am training Coco's recall with both whistle & verbal in parallel, no trouble. At training class we only use verbal "COME", so it is important he can do it. Also OH wanted a verbal recall, so I obliged before we ever went to the class. But the whistle is brilliant, it carries well and never varies. We use 3 pips because I needed OH to help me in the training and he said it was easier for him. To be honest, he wasn't keen on the whistle recall at all at first, but now he has seen how good it is he is after his own whistle - I keep trying to put him off - he is unable to follow my instruction and I fear for my precious signal. Like Molly, Belle has a hand signal recall, I pat the middle if my chest with my fist. She has very ropey recall though, but will come to that signal - if she feels like it. She has a verbal "HERE" which sometimes works. I have several whistles stashed in pockets so should never be without.
