I have been trying to introduce the whistle for recall to Harry today, we started off in the garden and he got the hang of it and came back, but then we took him out for a walk on the long line and he just ignored it completely, like he didn't hear it. I have googled whistles for Spaniels and it seems the Acme 210 and 210.5 seem to be recommended for Spaniels, mine is 211.5, is it likely it's not the right pitch for him?
Think it's more likely he chose not to listen :twisted: ;-) keep parctising with loads of praise so he really gets it and remember not to whistle for too long if it's clear he's not listening ;-) sure you know that but good luck.
I dont think the pitch has anything to do with it TBH, you'll be just fine with your 211.5 if you keep up the training.
The key thing with recall, or any training, is not to recall if you think there's a chance they won't obey the command, it only reinforces that they can choose to respond, or not. I've been practising with Miggin (cocker pup) in the garden now, and out on walks without any distractions, for a good couple of months. I wouldn't expect him to recall with distractions, and won't put him in that situation where he can learn not to. If something has his attention, I'll go and get his attention first, and then recall him, but I don't rely on the whistle to get his attention, if that makes sense? Everything at the moment is concentrating on short, sharp response, keeping it close by, after all, as someone once told me, if you can't control a dog on lead next to you, what hope have you got off lead and 50, 100 or even 300 yards away?
Our trainers advice for clicker training was as others have said to try indoors with no distractions, then with distractions, then outdoors the same before trying in the park. We followed this very quickly and so went onto the park in a couple of days and something bordering on a miracle happened, the first time at some distance i gave three short sharp whistles and Rolo came bouncing back, i think our look of excitement, praise and sheer excitement as well as the nice treat he got made him realise that this was a good thing and our trainer thinks that this in itself trained him by our reaction cos within that one real time he now recalls to three short sharp blows! We only use this if we think it is realistic to work, He ignored our P@H whistle but seems to like the Acme 210.5 whistle, but i do wonder what a tiny bit of pitch difference makes, as a human i cant see that it would.
I wouldn't say there is a right or wrong pitch whistle for any breed. The one the dog listens to is the right one. We have always used 211.5 for our springers. Our collie x liked the 210 whistle but when we had the 2 springer pups we used this whistle and they didn't respond as quick as to the 211.5. A friend of my husbands used to have 2 whistles, one pitch for each of his dogs so he could control them seperately when they were working together but I would think that this would take some getting used to by myself and the dogs.
