so, here's a good question (or so i fancy it to be, ha ha).... i've re-read pippa's marvelous "total recall," and am trying in earnest to implement the training programme for orion. he's 10 months old, so i know i'm late to the game - i had every intention of beginning it when he was just come to us, but we had a vicious, record-setting winter here (four snowfalls plus subzero temperatures!!!!) so there was very little training done... excuses, excuses, i know, but i'm determined to forge onward and upward (and all is not lost, as he does know his basic obedience and does all very nicely!). anyhow... i know pippa recommends whistling for recall, and for very good, sensible reasons... however, it seems to me that in the uk, there's far more off-lead dog activity than here in the us (at least where i live).... most, if not all, places in the us require dogs to be firmly on lead, at all times, with the exception of dog parks and some public beaches. that means that, by necessity, the dog is almost always very close by, even for hunting or other activities (controlled environment). which leads into my question... given the fact my dog will very rarely be "far off" from me, should i prioritize teaching the verbal recall ("come on!" or some such)... or should i do whistle first, THEN verbal (i know pippa acknowledges one can do whistle recall, and then go back and do the same thing to teach verbal recall for when the dog is close by/in the yard)? or should i prioritize verbal, since it fits more neatly into our usual everyday routine?
Re: whistle vs verbal recall Don't worry about starting late, Simba was 18 months or so before we started, and he is doing just fine on learning it. I live in Canada, and my situation is much like yours. Mostly my dog is on leash, but I do have places where I can go for an off lead ramble, so it is good to have a solid recall. Even if it's at the dog park! As to your question, the thing about the whistle is that it always sounds the same to the dog, and it doesn't carry any emotion, unlike the frustration or anger your dog might hear in your voice if he's just run off when you really don't want him to. So I would definitely train to the whistle, even for that reason alone!
Re: whistle vs verbal recall i trained to the whistle also verbal, once i had a good solid recall after 10 months of training, i stopped using the whistle, i now just use a verbal command, it works just fine for us
Re: whistle vs verbal recall I can panic a bit and get quite tense in some situations,my whistle recall is a god send because it doesn't have the shrillness that my voice can take on when I really ,really need Dexter to come back : :-[ Aside from the practical benefits of a whistle recall,I actually really enjoyed working through the book just as binding and activity with my new dog.As a novice dog owner I was astounded to see the results I could achieve ;D
