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!