Category: Advanced Stuff ¤
  Author: Diana Hilliard ¤
   Title: Using a Whistle for a Great Recall ¤

I am having good success with both my Greyhound aka "Death to All Squirrels"
(who I can actualy run off lead in parks...he now does a bullet fast recall)
and with clients' dogs.  The latest is a bloodhound cross who is RULED by
her nose.  I must admit that even I (Polyanna reincarnate) had grave doubts
about this one...but it is working!!!

Teach a whistle recall.  Get a good ol' whistle, and starting in a very
small, boring area blow it (quietly if you are indoors!!) and offer the
treat.   Don't touch him, don't ask anything of him...just whistle + treat.
Extend the distance.  Increase distractions.  MAKE HASTE SLOWLY.  No clicker
here, just plain ol' Pavlovian Classical conditioning.  Whistle = treat.

When you are seeing that the whistle brings him running, you can start
looking for larger FENCED areas.  I'm suggesting six months (sorry, for the
confirmed miscreant, no short cuts) within fenced confines.  In a larger
area, show him you are "loaded" and let him run.  Don't even think of
calling him in until he winds down.  Then blast the whistle, and feed as he
zooms over.  

I have found it useful to keep "turbo-reinforcers" (someone coined this and
I love the term.  We're talking reinforcers that are better than A-list
reinforcers...leftover turkey, liver, squeakie furry toys, whatever) just
for these recalls.   

If he blows you off, LEAVE.  Hide behind a tree.  Hide IN a tree.  Leave the
fenced area, get in your car, and drive away. (It helps to have someone
keeping an eye on him)  Let him really really panic before you reappear.
Don't scare him a little, and then a little more, because that teaches him
that it isn't serious when you disappear.  We want to teach him that it is
the end of the world when you disappear!!  And if he doesn't keep an eye on
you, and run when he hears the whistle, there's NO TELLING what you might do!

Somewhere along the line you can add other dogs in the fenced area.  Work on
calling him away from the others.  Neat built-in here is that the other dogs
will probably learn really fast that you are good for treats when the
whistle blows.  Piss him off.  Feed the first ones there the treats...(evil
grin).  He gets one, eventually, but let him worry about being slow to the
trough!

When you finally go to off lead in an unfenced area, it helps to have other
dogs around that won't join him in vanishing over the horizon.  He will
probably stick with the pack, and it helps your confidence to have him
responding with the others.  You're almost there.  

When I walk Hunter, I keep my eyes open for environmental reinforcers...the
hole the didn't notice, the squirrel in the tree that he missed, a stick
that needs throwing, etc.  I whistle him in to offer him these things
too...Nice lots of variability here.  His effort could mean food, a game of
tag, a tug o war, a squirrel up a tree to bark at, a hole for the pair of us
to get down into and scratch around in (they seem to really love Dad or Mom
helping them investigate a good smelling hole!).  

I ALWAYS reward the recall, but I vary the reinforcer.  A "hard" recall
deserves a great reward.  I called Hunter off a cat (four feet and closing)
and gave him the usual size reward.  It should have been a jackpot!  The
next few recalls were sluggish, and it took a while to pull out of this slump.

The reason for the whistle is that this is a unique sound that will always
have one, and only one, meaning: "Get over there fast, you're gonna like
it!"  So don't shoot yourself in the foot.  This means you don't blast the
whistle unless you are pretty damn sure he will come (or that a cat is about
to become an ex-cat).  Don't whistle him in to leave.  Wait until he is
hanging around and interracting with you before slipping on the lead.
Sometimes put the lead on and then let him go.  Play with him on lead before
leaving, etc.  Don't give him any signal that he will learn means "game
over"...like patting your pocket for keys, etc.  He ain't stupid!!  Vary the
way the sessions end, so he will always gamble on coming back.

I will, later in the game, occasionally ask for a sit or give a pat before
rewarding the recall, but don't insist on this early.  The whistle only
means "get close to me".  All the rest falls into place, including being
able to "catch" him, but he needs to have lots of practice relaxing when he
is close to you.  For a long time he may well smell a trick. He's likely to
think "It can't just be take a snack break when you hear the whistle!  Too
easy.  Where's the catch?".  (ooh...a pun)

I often end the session with catch-me heeling.  I walk away, Hunter follows,
I click, and treat, and then we just do some "choose to heel" stuff...fast
lefts, rights, abouts, spurts of fast, super slows, etc.  I try to shake him
off, and he pushes me for clicks.  He thinks this stuff is a hoot.  It is a
nice way of easing back onto the lead.  Sometimes I turn him loose again,
sometimes we go on lead to an adjoining area and he is let loose
again..."doG knows what she's up to, better join in".  

It's working for us.  Let me know if it works for you!

Di

Diana Hilliard    hilliard@ican.net 
CLICK FOR JOY!!! Clicker Seminars.  
Your Canadian source for 
Clicker books & equipment by mail