Whistle Training tips – Multiple Dogs.
27 Jan 2009
I got an email the other day from a customer who bought one of my dog whistles:
It doesn’t work, he says. I tried it on all of my dogs and non of them would pay attention to it.
This is a common problem I hear. The trick is this. Train one dog at a time. In a home with a pack of dogs, a new sound can mean nothing more than the sound from the TV set. It’s just another sound. They have no reason to react because you have not made the sound of the whistle relate to a command.
Take one dog outside. If you have the dog trained to come, then have them sit/stay. Move to the other side of the yard and toot on the whistle, then call your dog. After several 10-15 minute sessions, the dog will come to the sound of the whistle. This style is called cross training.
Once you get dog #1 to learn that the sound of the whistle means something, move on to dog #2. Dog #1 should be able to help out, as he can show dog #2 what to do!
More FAQs about my whistles can be found here:
http://www.thedumbdog.com/whistle/whistle-faq-remington.htm