Hi all I'm hoping you can give me some advice please regarding recall whistle training. We are training Winnie on a whistle recall and so far she's doing really well. She races towards you when she hears those three pips on the whistle. My question is this, when Winnie hears the whistle she just runs straight forward in a straight line. So if you are off at the side or recalling her backwards she just runs straight ahead! We've started doing more recall backwards and forwards which is helping. It's anything other than a straight line and if she can't see you that's the issue. Can any one help with some training exercises/steps for this. It is early days and maybe we're just expecting to much without doing some essential steps. Thank you in advance.
@heidrun sorry probably a poor explanation, I'll try again. If I hold Winnie whilst my partner walks straight ahead and then whistles her, she runs straight to them. If I stay put and call her back she (hopefully) returns back to me ( in my head a backwards recall). The issue being she likes to just run straight ahead if that makes sense, so always moving forward and not retracing her steps. Hopefully that helps explain. Any advice?
Whenever I teach a new cue which means the same as an already learned cue I give the new cue, in this case the whistle cue pip-pip-pip, instantly followed by the old cue, 'Winnie come' or whatever your cue is. Over time she will start to recall on hearing the whistle rather than the voice cue. It sounds as if she doesn't really understand the whistle cue on its own but is needing other cues to understand, like visual and voice cues.
If you get the book total recall, all of the exercises are set out. The book has you work through a lot of exercises in the house before you even get outside, with your dog turning away from things (so is looking at something else and not you - a familiar person, a strange person, food, a person with food etc) on the recall signal. It sounds like you've only trained come towards you when she is lined up to do that. The other way to train it is to train a 'whip round' which is useful when the dog is heading away from you at speed. This can be done using a game called ping pong recall - if you search on the forum you'll find descriptions of this.
What about standing with your partner and recalling your dog when she is off playing-catching her when she is running towards you and whistling only when she's already on her way then rewarding generously when she arrives? Have you tried running away in all directions/'about turn walk'? Running away and hiding behind a tree etc? Every time she is coming towards you whistle and reward and only use whistle as a command once she can do that easily. Dong whistle when she is busy or not looking at you and only increase difficulty in small steps. Just suggestions. Good luck!
I apologise for jumping in on this thread, I want to start whistle recall with Enzo (11 weeks now) and thought this maybe better than starting a new thread, apologies if not. At the moment he loves playing fetch, loves it! Is this a good way to start out on the whistle recall or will it confuse things. I've read to initially start by using the whistle while the dog is already on his way back to you so he associates the whistle with running back, problems with this are, he doesn't go far enough away from me to run back with out playing fetch, plus if I take him to an empty field and try this he's not going to come back if I just let him run free. Any help or input welcome
Read the pinned post over in Puppies, "let your puppy off the lead" - he WILL come back to you! I know it feels like he won't (surely he'll dart off like a loon and I'll never see him again?), but he will. Then read the article on recall training on the main site, or borrow/buy Pippa's Total Recall from your local library (the book goes into greater detail so I'd recommend that). I'm doing all my recall training with 13 week old Xena at empty schools/fields, it's the perfect place because my house is too small and my garden is full of chickens. I started off with the guide from the main site, but I've now borrow TR from the library. I wish I'd started off using the whistle but I didn't (just using COME XENA!). http://www.thelabradorsite.com/train-a-puppy-or-dog-to-come/
Thanks for the reply @Xena Dog Princess , I have read most of the Labrador site, lots of recall pages but somehow missed the link you posted so thank you I have seen the total recall book mentioned lots, and I also read quite a few reviews on it on amazon that put me off purchasing it, maybe I'll still get it if I think it's needed. I understand that pups have a natural tendency to run back to you, I was more wondering whether a fetch toy is good or bad for this kind of training, no where in articles I've read or in the 4 step technique in your link does it mention it being good or bad. The quickest Enzo runs back to me is after doing his business in the garden haha, maybe that's because I've rewarded him with praise for doing it in the garden from day one. We've also got a cat in the garden which distracts Enzo no end so I've already made the mistake of trying to call Enzo back from the cat using his name, which does not work so know I need to use the whistle for proper recall training, the garden is probably too small to have chance to get a few pips in on the whistle if he is running towards me and I'm struggling to think of a field nearby without dog or children distractions. I'm determined to get it right though so willing to dig in and see those 4 steps through, thanks As an aside, I love all the arnie shwarznegger side links and pics on the link you posted with reference to total recall
