Hi, Florence is now 7 months old and generally doing very well. We have Pippa's book total recall and gundog level 1 training. I understand all the principles of proofing and different rewards depending on difficulty and until today she has been running back as fast as her legs will carry her when she here's the toot toot toot of the whistle. Today we went for a long walk through the countryside where we live. There are pheasants and woodlands and streams and all sorts of lovely things that she is used to. I recalled her over and over to stop her getting into mischief and rewarding bad habits. Maybe between 10 and 15 times in total. But near the end of the walk her speed of return dropped off and the right near home she followed our older lab into the pond and did not come back when whistled. Previously she had had no issue with this. Now after a minute I did her back and on reflection I think I over did the recall and she was bored of it by then? So the question I need help with is how can I walk her, stop her from getting into mischief but don't over do the recall so it's there when I need it??? I suspect maybe she should be at heel or at least close but would love your opinions. Thank you in advance. We are doing mainly gun dog training so she can pick up on the shoot we live on. Mat
OK, here's the thing about the recall. You don't ever want to use it. What?! Yeah, really. Of course, you want to train it, but you do that in scenarios where the dog is winning; that is, they get more out of it than they lose. You proof this against more and more difficult things to get a conditioned response, meaning, the dog responds to the cue without thinking. The way you are describing it, you're using the recall to repeatedly call her away from good things. You can see how that will end up with her getting fed up with it. You're relying on your treats being better than the environment and I can tell you something for free - this won't last. The environment will always win in the end. So, no, you need to work on your puppy wanting to stay with you by engaging her on walks. Reward her checking in to you and staying close. But put your whistle away, other than in training scenarios, until you really need it, or you're just going to end up poisoning it.
Hi Mat, I only use my recall whistle when I really need to which is not that often. You could train a stop whistle which I tend to use more often. I still play hide and seek, throw a ball a few times, reward for all check ins, any voluntary behaviours such as heel work, I do hand touch at a distance and reward for all of these behaviours. Definitely don't overuse your whistle or you might have to retrain it from the beginining. x
Thank you both for your replays. After thinking about what had gone on I thought it was my error. I will but the whistle away and work with her on other ways of keeping her busy and occupied. Her and the little terrier are a naughty pair when they get going. I think heel work and interactions is the next step. Thanks again. Mat
I turn around or go up a different path and either say nothing (they are with me in seconds) or say "this way".
You can still train with your whistle, of course, and using it when she's already running towards you is a good thing to do, followed by loads of praise and rewards. You just need to avoid testing it, using it to call her away from stuff she values if you don't have to. A game of ping-pong recall always goes down well, and pays into your virtual bank account
Agree totally with @snowbunny. I very rarely use the whistle if we are out just walking, instead I work on engaging my dogs so they naturally stay close and connected to me. When I work on recall specifically, it more to work on certain aspects, a fast whip round on the whistle, or fast return back to me. I usually have the best rewards on me, a squeaky ball for Benson or a nice chunk of roast chicken for Bramble. I like the ping pong game, it's fun, and the dogs want to recall! This video below describes the ping-pong game really well https://game.absolute-dogs.com/focus-on-me
