We both tend to move quite quietly through the forest so wildlife encounters are fairly common. Last week we had a close encounter with a wild boar. Today we saw two young boar about 50 meters away and several deer. The great thing is that Holly doesn't chase them, but I do worry that, with her usual nose-down attitude, she might not notice some thing until its too late. At best she might startle something, at worst she might not notice a boar charge. A secondary consideration is that I do enjoy watching the wildlife so I try not to disturb it too much. For the last few weeks I've been training her to respond to finger snaps. I reckon that a snap is less likely to startle any wildlife than a shout or whistle. We've got it to the stage where a single snap of my fingers gets her attention. If I want to recall here I just point to my feet. I wonder if anyone else has tried finger snaps? Maybe there are other ways of getting a dog's attention without disturbing the wildlife. I'd be interested to hear other people's ideas.
It's a very good idea - anything that is clear, and consistent is a good idea as a cue. This is why a whistle works so well, and a clicker (as a marker). My attention getting noise is a tongue click, it is one of my strongest cues and I haven't put more effort into it compared to some of my verbal cues. I think it's because the sound is very consistent.
I use a finger snap with Ella but in a much less interesting situation! I use it as a "nose up" cue at obedience training. Sometimes her nose gets the better of her during heel work or in a down-to-earth (she stays in a drop position but has her nose shuffling around on the ground in front of her). I started by saying "nose up" when I snapped my fingers but now I just snap my fingers. Hopefully I won't have to do it at all soon. I'd also thought about a click with my tongue instead as a finger snap gets more tricky in the cold weather Oh, and I'm totally jealous of your beautiful, sensible Holly
Cold weather - I didn't think of that! Maybe a tongue click is a good idea. I'll try that as an attention signal on our next forest walk. I'd agree that Holly is beautiful, but I'm not sure about sensible! She has her crazy moments!
Just curious, where are you and what kind of wild boar do you have. When I lived in Tennessee, we Russian Boar which were huge and intimidating. I've never seen one in the wild, but have seen the mounted heads. They are considered the most dangerous wild game in the Eastern US. Texas has Javelinas which are much smaller. They are so abundant that the wild meat is actually sold in stores and restaurants (not generally legal for most wild game in the US)
