Whistle Training the Recall by Pamela Dennison
© April 2008. May not be reprinted without written approval.
Why use a whistle?
- The whistle is never annoyed, angry or panicked
- The whistle sounds the same every time
- The whistle doesn"t become “white
noise” like our voices do – we talk
to and around our dogs all of the time and oftentimes,
the whistle gets through to their little pea brains
when they are distracted – much more so than
our verbal recall signal.
Weeks 1 and 2
- Do 2 short and one really long whistle, then treat.
- Repeat this 2-3 minutes at a time, 2-3 times per
day for at least 2 weeks.
Week 2
- Play the drop the cookie and run like heck game
and instead of saying “come” do your
whistle and HEAVILY reward. Play for about 10 minutes
every day.
- Any time you know for a fact that your dog is
going to come to you, do your whistle.
Week 3
- Take your dog for a long walk on a long line.
Any time he looks back at you, (if you truly think
he will come to you) whistle and HEAVILY reward
when he comes to you.
- Repeat the above steps for about 3 weeks.
Week 4
- As a test, when he isn"t looking at you,
do your whistle and see if he comes. Do NOT do this
when he nose is stuck in a gopher hole. If he does
come, HEAVILY reward. If he doesn"t, go back
and do steps 1-5 more.
- Be sure to practice this in many different locations – not
just the living room because we really don"t
care if he comes in the house or not.
- Once he has responded 100% of the time to the
whistle when he is already looking at you, start
to whistle when he isn"t looking at you. Again,
be careful at this stage to whistle when he isn"t
totally immersed in something.
Week 5
- Take step 9 and gradually start to whistle when
the distractions are harder and harder.
- To keep this strong, practice steps 1 - 6 a few
times per week for the rest of his life.
When I say HEAVILY reinforce, I mean it!
I am talking double digits here – 10-20-30 treats
of the best quality – steak, chicken. If you want
your dog to come when called, you MUST BE GENEROUS! I have
whistled my dogs off of deer and let me tell you, they got
huge handful after handful of treats. Think of it as money
in the bank, drawing interest. The more you feed your dog
for coming, the more interest you will garner for the next
whistle! And that next one just might save his life!