Anyone here whistle train?

BengaLover

Does anyone have any useful tips for training a dog with a whistle - for outdoors when we want her to recall. I bought a whistle that catches her attention every time, but unsure how to use it without confusing her.

Cherry Blossom

Blow the whistle, dog comes, give it a very high value reward that the dog doesn't get at any other time. You can start whistle training outdoors, start indoors with the dog sitting beside you. Blow the whistle and reward when the dog looks at you, once they 'get' it you can move on to getting the dog to come by using it around the house, when it works 100% of the time, then do the same thing in your garden until it works 100% of the time, then lots of safe enclosed spaces if possible.

Use the whistle to call the dog a lot when outside then let it carry on again, if you only use it when you want to put the dog on lead, they will wise up to it pretty quickly and it won't work.

tk123

+1 on adrenalinjunkie's advice. At training we were told to spend a good 2 weeks conditioning the dog to the whistle in the house/garden so whistle treat, whistle treat and build it up before trying it eg in the park. I conditioned him in the house/garden then practised on a long line in the park and then started using it when he was playing to call him back, give a treat and let him off to play again. I find it brilliant tbh - especially at the beach where it might be windy or he'll be that far out at sea he won't hear me lol!! It just snaps him out of whatever he's doing and he knows he'll get a treat and loads of praise for coming back - he usually comes charging back!