Hi everyone...Im new here, my name is Clare and I have a year old Retriever called Anna. She is such a sweetheart but at the moment we are having a few issues with RECALL! Now, she used to be really good, but now its like the word 'come' means less and less to her...she just kinda looks up at you as if to say "what? again..??" and then she wanders over at her leisure..often getting distracted along the way. Some days however she is REALLY good and she trots back straight away everytime. She doesnt seem to have any desire to runaway..she always keeps checks on where we are its just lately she is just so easily distracted and I now feel that if there were to be a BIG distraction such as another dog then I would have no chance which is not good! (she is the most playful silly dog in the world but others may not be!) We do live in rural countryside so other dogs are often few and far between but I obviously need her to have a good recall.
What I really want to know is..is it possible to train a really good recall with a whistle if your dog doesnt have a great recall with your call...Is a recall with a whistle just a replacement of your call?? so if they dont have one with your voice is it likely that they wont respond to the whistle either?
Ive been trying with the whistle for 2 days now..Ive divided up her daily food and have it in a bumbag, I blow the whisle-give her a handful. She is responding great at the moment, Im at the stage now where I can whislte and she can be anywhere in the house or garden and she will belt in to find me, I am gradually upping the distraction..like she can be digging inthe garden and she hears the whistle and woooooo she runs in at full speed to find me! yey! it seems to be going well..I just hope Im doing it right, any tips from anyone? how do I bring it outside into the open?? Im guessing with a long lead? any tips and advice would be great..I have two weeks off work to totally devote to this recall issue so hopefully at the end we will have a RELIABLE recall! fingers crossed anyway!
(oops sorry its so long!)

Long line would be best, yes - that way if she ignores you, you can stand on it (don't pick it up, or she'll associate you with it and when it's gone, she'll ignore you again!!) and walk along it to her, then bring her back to where you started.  Here's the method I'm using on my 2 yr old and very independant pair of dogs:

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/Lesson6.html

I haven't really stuck to the week-per-step thing, more just worked with each of my dogs at their particular level - for example, my dobe is ready for the long line now, but my rott X is not - still too distracted.  So she's still on the indoor distractions.

I'd make sure she always responds to you without ditractions before you try the whistle with them - if she ignores you at any point and gets away with it, it could knock your training back.  It's a problem I've had!!  You sound like you're doing well though - when she's quite reliable, I would make a list of places you can take her to generalise the whistle (that is, make her respons wherever she is - dogs aren't good at mentally transposing (right word??) commands from one situation to another by themselves, you have to train the same thing in different locations.  If you can find a spot liked by dog walkers, so much the better - even better if you can find several with different numbers of dogs.
I go to my nearest park for low-distraction training (the odd dog, and we know most of them - strange dogs are more interesting to my two), the next nearest for higher distraction (more strange dogs, squirrels), and we will be going to a beach called Botany bay for the final training - my dad informs me it is packed with dogs on a nice day :)

Make sure she has a strong association between the whistle and whatever reward you use - also you may have to up the reward in a more distracting place.  I can use cheerios indoors, but I have to use tinned ham outside.

Good luck!

Hi Nikita,

Thankyou so much for your response, the website is VERY helpful and it seems similar to what I have been doing, (havent had chance to read it fully..but will definately take a closer look!) After reading it quickly it seems I may be moving a little too fast with her..as today I gave in to temptation and tried her outside (on a longish lead) and I was delighted that she came back instantly, (wooohoooo!) even when she was very engrossed in some horsepoop and was about to roll (uurgh) but her ears pricked up at the whistle and she came troting back to me..!! A sentence in the website summed up what I want from Anna..

"When I call them, I want their bodies to be moving towards me before they have a chance to think about what it is that they are doing."

I think I will slow it down and work on the distractions inside the house before taking it outside again, I will do what you suggested and write a list of different places where we can practise with distractions..and then build them up..but so far I am totally thrilled with her progress, she totally has a complete reaction to the sound..lets hope it continues!!

Thanks again..I will get stuck into the website and read through all the stages!

Clare

oh just wanted to add..do you think its a good idea to use her actual food as a treat for coming back? I kinda thought it would be a good idea as I thought she will be more reliant on me and if she doesnt come back she will be sacrificing her daily food..(do dogs think like that??)