The worst walk EVER!

[Mary P]

Hi Shirley,
I have no good advice to add - (although I did see whistles in pets at home - I could get one and post it??)
I just wanted to send sympathy for your awful experience! :shock:
Perhaps Morgan will have learned a lesson? :wink:
Good luck,                    

[PennyB]

I got one of the acme (210 1/2) gundog whistles to train my 2. You can get them online or buy them at any gun shop (cost about £4):

http://www.euroguns.co.uk/acatalog/Acme_whistles.html                    

[Mary]

Oh Shirley, that sounded horrendous :shock:   What a mixture of emotions too I bet?  Embarrassment, fear, relief :roll:

It's times like this that I'm grateful that Lottie steers clear of water :wink:                    

[Sheila]

:shock: ...Oh My Goodness, my heart was in my mouth reading that...what a fright for you.

I'm really worried about water near me, we have a fairly deep river that runs through all the open land.
Goldie always heads to it, I have to put her on the lead if I dont want her going in. I'm fairly certain that Lottie will follow her lead.

What frightens me is that a friends dog died in it a couple of years ago, she was a labrador too. It had rained a lot and the water was very high and fast running though.

Goldie got stuck once in a deep part and couldnt get out, luckily a friendly fellow dog walker got down the bank and pulled her out for me. I was very grateful to him.

They certainly cause us a few grey hairs dont they :roll:                    

[*Jay*]

Sorry Shirley - only just seen this :oops: That little adventure sounds absolutely horrific :shock:  Vegas loves water but thankfully not to the extent that Morgan does.....so far :wink:  I would think that whistle training would be the way forward - good luck with it! Hope you have both recovered.                    

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

Ive only just read this as well Shirley.  :shock: What an awful fright youve had.... I hope your both fully recovered.  after yesterdays ordeal                      

[Cob-Web]

Oh Shirley, how scary!

Hope you have all recovered from your ordeal....I don't imagine that the passers by will forget it in a hurry, either.

Your story reminded me of a similar incident that happened years ago when I was out walking with my friend and his golden retriever - in the same way, she got stuck in the mud left a low tide on the riverbank....and boy did she smell.

You would hope that a scare like that will put Morgan off trying it again; but from reading COL I get the impression the Cockers are not the type of dog that 'learn' from their mistakes if it prevents them doing something they enjoy!                    

[Anita]

OMG - I've just seen this Shirley and you must have had a real fright. It was more the mud than the water though.

The wistle training sounds like it might be worth giving a go. Use it only on walks and always give a treat might reinforce the good behaviour. I'm glad people were around to help with Cooper as well.

Phoebe also likes water but a firm no seems to do the trick - well 95% of the time anyway :roll:                    

[PennyB]

OMG - I've just seen this Shirley and you must have had a real fright. It was more the mud than the water though.  

The wistle training sounds like it might be worth giving a go. Use it only on walks and always give a treat might reinforce the good behaviour. I'm glad people were around to help with Cooper as well.  

Phoebe also likes water but a firm no seems to do the trick - well 95% of the time anyway :roll:

I thought that but you have to teach them in a safe environment 1st. Actually my dog trainer told me to 1st wear the whistle round my neck round the house and whistle every so often and don't say anything and give them a treat when they come. Works every time I go out as soon as Wilf hears it he comes running back.                    

[Pipers Mummy]

Oh Shirley, just read this thread with my heart in my mouth  :shock:   Thank goodness both of you are okay.

Hopefully some of the advice offered may assist you in preventing this from happening in the future.  Alternatively, if he got a fright it might make him think about going down there again???

Big hugs to you all.

It's so embarrassing being a Cocker owner sometimes isn't it? :oops:

Louise x                    

[Maria]

Oh Shirley! What ordeals these little cuties put us through at times.:shock:  Hope you have all recovered by now.
Just to add a note on whistles - we have had some success with Boysie using the Clickwhizz (or is it Whizzclick?), which is a combination of clicker and whistle. Boysie has developed a habit of picking up a scent and just disappearing in forests - ok when it's a squirrel or rabbit as they tend to find somewhere to hide, but scary when its deer and he just keeps following. Luckily he is very food motivated, and has now reached the stage where he will return on the whistle 9 times out of 10. The only thing is sometimes I've found it difficult to get a sound from the whistle (not sure if it's my incompetence or a fault with it), so we are now looking to get a 'proper' whistle. It's worth a try.The only other thing I can think of is keeping him on the lead, and when he tries going towards water (and you don't want him to) saying a firm 'no', but when you are happy for him to swim telling him it's ok.                    

[Andrea L]

Oh my... What a nightmare. That was a very scary walk indeed. Hope you all have recovered.                    

[Shirley]

Thanks again everyone, for the messages.

You are sooo right Louise, it is very embarassing being a cocker owner......at times!   :roll:  :wink:  

As this behaviour only became this bad over the past few months I know he is capable of doing as he's told so am going to try the whistle training.  It's such a shame for him not to be able to explore - until I know it's worked he'll be on lead all the time :? .

Thanks for the link Penny   .  I've just been on and got the 210 1/2 size.  What is the difference between the one I've ordered and the 210 or the 211? I actually ordered two as I'm very absent-minded and if I just got one I'm libel to lose it just as I'm starting to get somewhere.  :roll:  

We went for a walk round the town last night to avoid muck, sand and water   Plus the P&P was £3.50 whether you ordered 1 or 10 whistles  

Will let you know how we get on over the next couple of months  

Thanks again, everyone                      

[Laura]

I am still whistle training Brogan - he isn't food orientated at all so I use the whistle and treat him with a favourite game, toy, tug o war, off to play etc -  I am lucky enough to be able to use my fingers to whistle - Emma and Pickle have heard how ladylike I am!!  I am going to introduce the dog whistle again though as no-one else can whistle in our family.

I use the whistle at home all the time to call him for everything good -  I use it infrequently out on walks now as I don't want  it to lose effectiveness and for Brogan to learn to ignore it (which I did make the mistake of doing recently).   I also have our "Magic recall word"  and means something mega tasty and usually not allowed!!  And my does he run when he hears that word!!  I am hoping in the future to have it strong enough to use in an emergency - my kids are banned from using the command so that it does not lose effectiveness.  I am hoping to introduce a whistle for an emergency down as well - only works a couple of feet away and in the house at the moment.  I'm going to tell Brogan that he is really a collie that might help!!                    

[Juel]

Oh Shirley......how scary for you, my heart was in my mouth as i was reading about your nightmare......glad you're all ok now though((((((((hugs)))))) to you & your pooches :wink:

 We always say that our Harvey is an accident waiting to happen :? ,we took him training & at home he is quite good at recall but get him outdoors & like alot of you have said he "cops a deaf 'un" he isn't a greedy dog so treats are a waste of time so i think that i might try the whistle route.....it's sooooo embarrasing when he totally ignores me :oops:  i bet everyone thinks what a useless cocker owner i am :oops: .....if only they knew what cockers were like eeh!!!!!! love 'em though eeh!!! :wink:

Harvey sends a  :wink:  to Morgan :roll: !!  

luv
juels n Harveymonster xx