Hello I am new to the forum. I sorry my English. I live with 3 dogs: Louise lab for 9 years, Leto mix labxwaterdog for 4 years, Tristan mixSpitz for 16 years. Louise tends to ignore it when I let her go: if she finds a trace of food disappears and I have to go look for her. He goes to eat and walks away a lot, crossing roads, parks, ... I want to start teaching it with a whistle. I had thought 211.5 for the call, 210.5 for sitting, and Thunderer 560 for stopping. Would it be a good way for Louise to distinguish the commands? And also start with the clicker. Thanks
You only need one whistle and you train different 'pips' to mean differnt things (for example three short pips for come. one long pip for stop). But the key thing is that it has to be trained - your dog won't automatically know what the whistle means. The book 'Total Recall' is a very good resource for whistle training a recall - it sets out in detail the steps to follow, and is available as an ebook as well as paper.
Hi @Dena Welcome to the site. If I understand you properly, your dog does not follow you come cue. You need to go back to basics and get the dog to come back. https://www.thelabradorsite.com/train-a-puppy-or-dog-to-come/ There is a section in the article on using a whistle for cues. You don't need different whistles for different cues. You have to learn to blow a consistent set of different signals, one for each cue you want to teach the dog.
Thank you. I understand some English, but I do not know enough about a book, I think. And I think there is not an edition in Spanish, I have not found it. Thanks for the tips, I will read the article. I'm very clueless, and I'm capable of not remembering if there were 3 whistles "come here" or if they were 4, or if the length was "stop" My little ones come when they hear the whistle, whatever it is that has whistled. That's why different whistle, different signal. I also have to work the call: if they sniff something edible they ignore the whistle. And I do not know how to associate the whistle with other "orders". Thank you.
Yesterday I was practicing with Louise. I started using 3 short whistles in a row, and giving him a prize when he came to me. It comes well, you know what the whistles mean. But the third time I called her she ignored me and ran off to look for things to eat. When I found her I did not scold her (I never do that). I called her by her name and when she finished eating what she had found, she came to me, I tied her up and gave her a prize. With Leto and with Tristan, I do not have those problems. Once they ignore the call, but they themselves come running after going to see what had caught their attention. Louise, no, and I'm afraid she'll get lost, or hurt herself. I do not usually let go, carry a leash flexi 1o meters I am reading the article that you have recommended to me.
Hi @Dena You should have the dogs on long lines. Why? when you use the specific whistle call, then you can use the line to encourage them to come to you. Don't pull the dog in with the line. Instead run backwards encouraging them to come. The line is to prevent them from just wandering off. At the moment you are not rewarding the dogs for coming, but instead allowing them to get distracted. You have to be more interesting than the distraction. The Total Recall book is available as an ebook. The author Pippa Mattinson writes very clearly. If you can understand Pippa Mattinson's article, you will be able to understand her book.
Thank you very much for the help. I tried it on the long line a long time ago, but the first day we used it, Louise got tangled up with Tristan (who uses a wheelchair) and threw him on the floor. I gave away the long line. I'll buy another one. In the end I bought the Pippa books in kindle (The Labrador Handbook and Total recall). I now read them, translate them and put them into practice. Thank you.
well done. Following the book will result in an improvement in your English (which is good to begin with) and your dog. In order to avoid future accidents I would train the dogs separately.
Tomorrow I will have 4 days off in a row. I will give my kids individual walks. When I work, it is impossible for me because of my schedule. Thanks for the help. I have ordered a long line of 20 meters, and a gps locator for Louise (just in case, in the past she has gone away 2 hours and to get away very much.) She is very good and obedient, but when her nose detects something to eat she goes into "dog sniffer / vacuum" mode, and she goes from smell to smell eating everything she finds). It is amazing the trash and junk that there are in the street and field. We are a very dirty and disrespectful species. I think that Louise had to look for the life when they abandoned it (I adopted it when I was 5 years old), and from there comes his survival instinct: to go scavenging. I go through chapter two of the book, between the little free time and that I must translate it while I read I go slowly. But it's interesting and I hope to learn to help Louise
Off topic. About the book. I'm understanding practically everything. Some word or expression I do not know, I use the dictionary. But I'm understanding it easily. For me, reading in English is much easier than writing or speaking it. I like it, for now everything is very coherent.
Hi @Dena_ A GPS? You don't want to let your dog to wander off lead at all until you have a very reliable recall..And even then, I'm not in favour of it. You have absolutely no idea what she is eating on these off lead journeys. The wanderlust is being positively reinforced with scraps of food. That will make it very difficult to train a reliable recall.
I'm not going to let Louise off the leash until we learn both, but just in case. She knows how to remove her harness.
