I have a 20 week old labrador girl who I would like to train with the above whistle. The problem is that we also have a nearly 10yr old labrador girl who freezes when we use the whistle to call the puppy! She will just sit down, shake & wont move! The puppy does very well when we are able to use the whistle for recall. What is the answer as we obviously want to take them both on walks together?
Hi @Maureen Winskill You can try a different pitch. Acme make a number of different pitchas to their whistles. I doubt whether that will resolve the problem. But you might be lucky. I would use an Acme dog whistle rather than a shepherd whistle. You want a consistent sound rather than something that changes depending on the position of your tongue and mouth. If not successful, then desensitise and counter condition the older dog. Train the older Lab separately. Ask for an assistant to help you. Get the older Lab and assistant to stand some distance away from you with the whistle. How far? The older Lab needs to be able to hear the whistle, but should not react badly. So a mild shift of the head in your direction when you blow the whistle is the appropriate distance. Blow briefly and gently, surrounding the whistle in thick mitten/glove. Everytime you blow the whistle get your assistant to treat the older Lab. Over quiet a number of training sessions, gradually reduce the distance between you and the older Lab. If she reacts badly, then increase the distance once again. Overtime gradually reduce the amount of deadening material, and blow a little bit harder. But ramp it up only gradually. Let us know how you get on.
I think you are going to need to train them separately (as you will be anyway). With the puppy, you can train a whistle recall as you usually would anyway. (And I agree with Michael that an Acme gundog whistle is better than a shepherding whistle - they are gundogs after all!) And then separately and with the puppy shut away, you will need to work on desensitising the older dog to the whistle. To do this, forget about training a recall to begin with and just work on establishing the sound of the whistle with treats. I suggest asking someone else to blow it and to go several rooms away, shut the door between you, and to blow as quietly as they can. As soon as the whistle starts, you will deliver tasty treats as fast as you can - stopping, when the whistle stops. Repeat 5 times in a row and ensure there is zero negative response to the whistle. Then get the person blowing to move a bit closer. As soon as you see any fear in the older dog, send the whistle blower away further. It is much better to be very conservative and start with them further away than they need to be, than to start too close and scare the dog.
