Escaping

[CraftySam]

OK I am completely convinced about a whistle & am going to get one off ebay.  Which one is best - a silent one or an audible one ??

I use a high pitch audible one, the pitch is adjustable.  You can get them for a couple of pounds at Pets At Home, which might be cheaper than ebay. If you don't have one near you PM me.

[Neville]

Bought a whistle last night - what a response.  The best £1.49 I've ever spent!

Neville is already coming on a whistle from whatever he's doing and sits in front of me like he's been doing it for years!

I've kept a certain type of treat for him when doing this, as suggested - I just hope last night wasn't a fluke!

Hope it works for you too Michelle!

Love

Neville's Mum

[cazza]

Well they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks

But Jock even responds to the whistle

[CraftySam]

Bought a whistle last night - what a response.  The best £1.49 I've ever spent!

Neville is already coming on a whistle from whatever he's doing and sits in front of me like he's been doing it for years!

I've kept a certain type of treat for him when doing this, as suggested - I just hope last night wasn't a fluke!

Hope it works for you too Michelle!

Love

Neville's Mum

I'm really glad that Neville responds to the whistle too.  I would recommend you stick to the method I posted earlier to ensure that he responds to the whistle reliably. Its very tempting to skip it but if you do and if he starts to ignore the whistle, it could be a lost opportunity.

Whilst at training the other week, myself and the lady who owns the Ridgeback I mentioned earlier, were chatting about what excellent results we were getting with the whistle.
Our trainer overheard us, and said that it wasn't the whistle that makes the difference it was that we had improved our training skills.  If this is the case then the difference must be the way we introduced the whistle. 

Good luck to everyone who's trying the whistle. 

[michelle123]

Thank you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much 

Whistle bought off ebay & have been using it with cheese for treats since Saturday.  The results, so far are fab.  For instance today, Blue was "playing" with the cat, I shouted for him to come to me but his selective deafness got in the way    one toot on the whistle and he was sat at my feet within a second 

We are going to try the ultimate test tomorrow and that is outside.  We live in a very small cul de sac and have planned, what we think, is a minor military operation    I will "accidentally" let Blue out    whilst OH waits (hidden) at the top of the road so that he cannot properly get away - as Blue goes to leg it I will try the whistle 

The outcome will follow tomorrow 

I am now just considering what the neighbours will be thinking 

[allym]

I've now got a mental picture of your OH dressed in camouflage gear with twigs in his hair waiting for a cheeky little Cocker to come bounding down the road! How I'd love to be a fly on the wall!

Good Luck!

[hamfam]

Hows your hubby's rugby tackle, hope its a good one

Best of luck, dont forget to let us know how you get on!

[debbie321]

Thank you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much 

Whistle bought off ebay & have been using it with cheese for treats since Saturday.  The results, so far are fab.  For instance today, Blue was "playing" with the cat, I shouted for him to come to me but his selective deafness got in the way    one toot on the whistle and he was sat at my feet within a second 

We are going to try the ultimate test tomorrow and that is outside.  We live in a very small cul de sac and have planned, what we think, is a minor military operation    I will "accidentally" let Blue out    whilst OH waits (hidden) at the top of the road so that he cannot properly get away - as Blue goes to leg it I will try the whistle 

The outcome will follow tomorrow 

I am now just considering what the neighbours will be thinking 

I'd love to see your neighbours nets twitching!  Joling aside I think I will invest in a proper whistle.  I have a 'dog' whistle that is very faint to me and it's never worked.  Admitedly it was only used for a few days - but Ben was a 'clicker dog' then so the whistle had no effect.  

[CraftySam]

Thank you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much 

Whistle bought off ebay & have been using it with cheese for treats since Saturday.  The results, so far are fab.  For instance today, Blue was "playing" with the cat, I shouted for him to come to me but his selective deafness got in the way    one toot on the whistle and he was sat at my feet within a second 

We are going to try the ultimate test tomorrow and that is outside.  We live in a very small cul de sac and have planned, what we think, is a minor military operation    I will "accidentally" let Blue out    whilst OH waits (hidden) at the top of the road so that he cannot properly get away - as Blue goes to leg it I will try the whistle 

The outcome will follow tomorrow 

I am now just considering what the neighbours will be thinking 

Michelle I'm really pleased its worked so far for you and Blue. 

Can't wait to hear how the military operation goes.    I'm sure the neighbours will be astounded by Blue response to the whistle, he'll be the talk of the neighbourhood!    Keep us posted!

[PennyB]

The whistle I've got is a gundog whistle (I got mine from the local gun and tackle shop but you can buy online) --- one of the Acme ones (210-1/2), which works very well and is far from silent (it has a pitch that carries). If you carry a whistle a lanyard is useful so you know where it is and aren't either losing it or fumbling around in your pocket. You then need to train them to the whistle and best way to start is in the house --- just keep blowing lots as you move round the house (so there's no set place they hear the whistle from --- I would carry mine on the lanyard round my neck so it was with me for a while) to get them to come to you (initially you may have to shout come at the same time if they don't) then giving a treat so they associate the whistle as something good. Its a bit like sensitising them to a clicker really but with a whistle you don't have to be close by for them to hear you.

[cazza]

 Joling aside I think I will invest in a proper whistle.  I have a 'dog' whistle that is very faint to me and it's never worked.  Admitedly it was only used for a few days - but Ben was a 'clicker dog' then so the whistle had no effect.  

HI, Fern was and still is a 'clicker dog' I use the whistle along side of the clicker. It has definately worked on her recall.
I find the whistle is great when you can't find the dogs, they come running to you  But I still do most of my training with the clicker, both work for us
As I posted earlier even Jock comed to the whistle, I am also using cheese for the whistle cut up into very small pieces

[Neville]

Neville is now on day seven of 'whistle training' and I have been taking it slowly as advised, but last night he was being a pain in the garden, running in and out of the flower beds to try and get to the jack russel who lives next door (or course he can't get thorugh the fence). Nothing we did would stop him, so OH stayed outside and i went to get the whistle. Straight to my feet in a sit!  I couldn't believe it!

Couple more days in the garden and we might give it a go on the end of a verrrrry long lead on a walk at weekend. I'll let you know how we get on.  Thank you for this post.  It has given me the confidence to think i might be able to master the recall after all - the problem, of course, is me, not Neville!

Gook luck Michelle, hope the military operation goes well. Look forward to your next post.

On a different note, can anyone tell me how clicker training works? and can this be used with a whistle?

Neville's Mumx

[cazza]

On a different note, can anyone tell me how clicker training works? and can this be used with a whistle?

Neville's Mumx

This is a quote from Denise in one of my posts about clicker training, I found it useful so thought I'd re- post it for you

I tried with and without and clicker training was far faster in helping Paddy to "get it" about what I wanted.  Try searching for posts by "Top Barks" as he has great suggestions.  Are you going to a training class and if so, does it recommend clicker training?  Main thing is getting your technique right.  Timing is really important - e.g. teaching "sit", you MUST click just as bum hits ground, and offer the treat ASAP, ideally within two seconds, so that they quickly pick up exactly what it is you want them to do.  So if you're going to do it, get your treats set out where you can grab one quickly and get it into pup's mouth fast enough or work out how to click and treat using both hands.  Sometimes easy - e.g. training "sit" or "down", you'll be using the treat to "lure" your pup into sitting or going "down" but needs a little thought and practice e..g for training to walk on the lead, where you have clicker, treat and lead to juggle.

Quite a few books are recommended - I never got round to reading any of them, just practised what we were taught in the puppy training classes. 

Good luck.

Hope that helps

[amanol]

Hi. Just caught up with this thread and I see tha t I´m not the only one with a Cocker suffering from occasional deafness. But I´ve got to admit that Poppy´s recall is getting slightly better. I find the advice of the whistle great and I think I´ll go and buy one as soon as possible. I think it´s better than losing my voice trying to call Poppy from the other side of the park. I´ll have a go and tell you how it goes!

[CraftySam]

Neville is now on day seven of 'whistle training' and I have been taking it slowly as advised, but last night he was being a pain in the garden, running in and out of the flower beds to try and get to the jack russel who lives next door (or course he can't get thorugh the fence). Nothing we did would stop him, so OH stayed outside and i went to get the whistle. Straight to my feet in a sit!  I couldn't believe it!

Couple more days in the garden and we might give it a go on the end of a verrrrry long lead on a walk at weekend. I'll let you know how we get on.  Thank you for this post.  It has given me the confidence to think i might be able to master the recall after all - the problem, of course, is me, not Neville!

Gook luck Michelle, hope the military operation goes well. Look forward to your next post.

On a different note, can anyone tell me how clicker training works? and can this be used with a whistle?

Neville's Mumx

I'm so pleased its working for Neville too. Good luck when you give it a go at the weekend. Let us know how you get on.

On a different note, can anyone tell me how clicker training works? and can this be used with a whistle?

Neville's Mumx

This is a quote from Denise in one of my posts about clicker training, I found it useful so thought I'd re- post it for you

I tried with and without and clicker training was far faster in helping Paddy to "get it" about what I wanted.  Try searching for posts by "Top Barks" as he has great suggestions.  Are you going to a training class and if so, does it recommend clicker training?  Main thing is getting your technique right.  Timing is really important - e.g. teaching "sit", you MUST click just as bum hits ground, and offer the treat ASAP, ideally within two seconds, so that they quickly pick up exactly what it is you want them to do.  So if you're going to do it, get your treats set out where you can grab one quickly and get it into pup's mouth fast enough or work out how to click and treat using both hands.  Sometimes easy - e.g. training "sit" or "down", you'll be using the treat to "lure" your pup into sitting or going "down" but needs a little thought and practice e..g for training to walk on the lead, where you have clicker, treat and lead to juggle.

Quite a few books are recommended - I never got round to reading any of them, just practised what we were taught in the puppy training classes. 

Good luck.

Hope that helps

Very good advice. My trainer told me that the difference between a novice trainer and an experienced trainer is the speed at which they reward, the experienced one being the quickest.

I'm afraid I failed miserably at clicker training.  Its just too many things to juggle with my crutches or when I'm manouvering my chair.