Training Notes

Hi Y’all!

Y’all asked me how to get your dog to stop or come to a whistle.

I was no longer responding correctly to the whistle commands. It was decided that I go back to square one and retrain.

Okay, you ask how do you train a dog to respond to a whistle?

Some of you want to be able to use a whistle to get your dog to return from a distance.  Some may want to do more advanced training. 

Somebody also asked about using an e collar.

I don’t have a link to send y'all to, so I put up this page…my Human has been working with horses and dogs since she was a little pup, ah, girl. She’s worked with a number of trainers. The first time she ever saw an e collar used was working with a field trial trainer of Labs.
My Human said you should NEVER use an e collar if you haven’t been taught by a professional trainer of hunting dogs because your timing must be precise. The object is to signal your dog even when he is working a distance from you.

She told me I’m too sensitive for an e collar. I do have a collar with audible signals that I often wear, especially when we are in new territory or when we’re hiking in hunting season.

But now let me get to what y’all want to know! How do I get my dog to respond to a whistle?

First, your dog needs to be trained in basic obedience. 

Does he know how to heel, sit, stay and come? Those commands are the very minimum he needs to respond to consistently before you start trying to train the whistle. 
If you live in a really cold climate, you probably should select a whistle without a pea so it doesn’t freeze in the winter.

Start off with your dog walking in heel position without pulling. Be sure he is paying attention, not sniffin’ or lookin’ around. This is when my Human likes to use the pier. It’s narrow, limiting my movements, and there are few distractions, unless the big birds have been poopin’ on the pier. You don’t want your lead too loose.

With your dog walking at heel, stop. If your dog’s been taking obedience class, he’ll sit when you stop so immediately blow the whistle and praise that butt on the ground. If you have enough hands, yes, you can use your clicker.

One short blast is usually used for this command.

If your dog doesn’t do an automatic sit when you stop, say “sit”, pulling up with the leash and immediately sounding the whistle,. If you keep repeating this exercise, after several days, or longer, depending on your dog, he’ll be sitting without the leash pull and verbal. During my retraining we practice at least twice a day during the cooler mornings and evenings. 

My Human likes short sessions, then moves on to something relaxing.

Got to be off now!  We’ll continue on page 2, but this is enough for today…you need to be getting your whistle and brushin’ up on basics.

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