Hi all I’m having difficulty working through the process. I’m at the section Basic Recall but I have a small house and not enough rooms to call from one room to another. And Mabel just follows me wherever I go in the house. Occasionally I can call her from our living area to the bedroom but that is all. How do I move on? Do I go to exercise 4 and recall from sleep. she is VERY food orientated and I have to wear the whistle all the time because as soon as I pick it up she’s there! Help please. Thank you
I would move on to the next exercise. A confession - I trained using this book, but I missed out recall from sleep as I just couldn't bear to wake up a sleeping dog! I moved on to recall from food. While I do think it's important to follow the programme as closely as possible you can achieve a good recall with some amendments - the key thing is to make a close association in your dog's mind between the whistle and food/ things they value highly. (I have helped train one dog - not a Lab -who genuinely preferred a ball to food.) I wouldn't worry about your dog coming to you when they see you lift the whistle - just blow it anyway - as it shows they have made the link that whistle=good things. In fact when we are out and about if my dog sees me lift the whistle to my lips she starts to come towards me before I blow. Good luck!
