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  1. #1
    Puppy breezygirl's Avatar
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    Whistle introduction

    Our pup Breeze is about 13 weeks now and doing really well with her "come", "sit", "heel" commands. Will start "stay" soon. I don't use treats when I train her but the kids do just to help out. I want to use a dog whistle for her "come" and "sit" commands and when would be a good time to introduce it? Should I wait or use it along with her learning her commands now. I want the whistle so she could hear me from far away or when we are at the beach and the kids could use it as well. Any help would be great. Thanks

  2. #2
    Best Friend Retriever emma_Dad's Avatar
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    You can start using it when ever. I taught hand signals first, then paired hand signal with whistle for sit/stay and recall. 1 blow for sit/stay, 3 for recall. Just curious what are you using as a reward if you're not doing treats. With labs being so highly food motivated, treats are the easiest way to learn different cues.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog beth101509's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by emma_Dad View Post
    You can start using it when ever. I taught hand signals first, then paired hand signal with whistle for sit/stay and recall. 1 blow for sit/stay, 3 for recall. Just curious what are you using as a reward if you're not doing treats. With labs being so highly food motivated, treats are the easiest way to learn different cues.
    I have wanted to train without treats as well because I found that since my dog is so food oriented, he will smell the food in my hand and will act like a nut to get it. He listens to the basic "sit", "come" with food but others like "stay" when I leave his line of sight, he will come running to get food. I don't give it him obviously and make him go back to his place but I can't get "down" or anything else because he is so fixated on the treat. How do you prevent that issue?
    “Don't allow your happiness to be interrupted by overly judgmental people. The problem is not you, because even if you do good all the time, they would still find a way to judge you wrongly.”
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  4. #4
    Best Friend Retriever emma_Dad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by beth101509 View Post
    I have wanted to train without treats as well because I found that since my dog is so food oriented, he will smell the food in my hand and will act like a nut to get it. He listens to the basic "sit", "come" with food but others like "stay" when I leave his line of sight, he will come running to get food. I don't give it him obviously and make him go back to his place but I can't get "down" or anything else because he is so fixated on the treat. How do you prevent that issue?
    First I would start off by not moving away. Stand right in front of him, while he's in his "down", We don't teach a "stay", we teach a down and don't get out of the "down" till I release you "free". So we started off my putting her in down, and rewarding for staying in the down position. Like a continues stream of treats for a few seconds then release, no more treats. ask for a down again, the dog is now more likely to want to stay in a down because it just got a bunch of treats for just laying there. do a few more reps of a contentious stream of treats till he gets the idea of o if i stay here I get a A LOT of treats. Then start spacing out the time between. say 5 seconds first, then 6 then 10 if he breaks the down/stay he's not ready for that duration. keep going till he will down/stay for 2 minute for one treat.

    Then you can start adding distance, start with just a foot, and always go back to him to treat, so that he doesn't break the down/stay to get the treat. Then add distance, then distance and duration. I found that it take time to add a bit of distance, but once they get the idea longer distance become easier. Then you start randomly reinforcing, so they never know when they are going to win to get the treat. The analogy is like a slot machine, you're going to keep playing the game for that one chance you win.

    Also, you might need to pick a new word since down might mean to him o lie down a second then run to get the treat. Does that make sense?

  5. #5
    Senior Dog beth101509's Avatar
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    Emma_Dad, I hadn't thought of it like that. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the tips. I will try this.
    “Don't allow your happiness to be interrupted by overly judgmental people. The problem is not you, because even if you do good all the time, they would still find a way to judge you wrongly.”
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  6. #6
    Puppy breezygirl's Avatar
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    Thanks for the replies. I should say I used the treats in the beginning to teach come etc and she picked it up quickly and now I don't need to use them but every now and then I will use them as a special reward. I appreciate the idea for "down" as I don't want stay to be a new command and want her to either be in "sit" or "down" and not move until I tell her so will try that. I will use the whistle once I am confident she understands voice and hand commands I guess. She is doing pretty well so far. Thanks

 



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