The clicker has more pull over their desire to perform, I think. If we whistle, its to get their attention, which is always a brief interim from what they were originally doing.
There is a behaviorist in my area that works with a lot of police dogs and he prefers to use the high whistles for training, its interesting, but I don't know how dedicated my shibas would be!!
I was thinking about the kind of whistle similar to a coaches (i can't whistle very loud)........ i saw Victoria Stlwell use one.......it seems it would be like a clicker but louder.......it would be good for a runaway shiba???
Don't worry about louder. Remember that a dogs hearing is 10000 times better than ours. Your dog can recognize your oncoming car from over a mile away.
I whistle to the dogs but I don't use a whistle. I like the sheepherd calls that are used with border collies in the old country, what a system! However, I am not smart enough to know what to do there but I like the idea of having different whistle sounds to get the dogs to come to me or away. I think that's pretty neat. Something to work on anyways when the dogs feel like paying attention.
One of the things our trainer stressed to us when using a clicker or other device for positive reinforcement is - never use it to call your dog. Your dog could be in the other room tearing through your bed, and by using the clicker to call them you're actually saying "Good dog!!!! That's an acceptable behavior!!!" - when in fact you had no idea what they were actually doing. I'm assuming you mean that the whistle would be used in place of a clicker? So I'm thinking the same rule would apply in that situation.
I think in the episode of "It's Me or the Dog" she usedthe whistle soley for recall as the dog had long forgotten it's name. [ owners never used the name properly & thus dog did not associate name with itself ] So Victoria instead used a whistle. I believe the reason she used the whistle instead of retraining the dog it's name was so that the owners would be able to recall the dog easier. I mean, if the dog forgot it's name the first time it could easily happen again since the owners did not train the dog to recognise it's name right the first time...
Which if you think about it really isn't a difficult task ~
I think you can replace your recall word with a whistle no problem. The only reason dogs think that a clicker means "that's an acceptable behaviour" is because you taught them to think that, so teaching them to come to a whistle is no different than teaching them to come to the word "come." Besides, a whistle and a clicker sound way more different than the different words in our language, but dogs can decipher totally different meanings between the words we say.
Whistles can be useful over long distances. Some whistles, for instance, the ones sold in the boating section, are meant to be heard for several miles by a human, so it's probably even further for a dog. It's a lot louder and more consistent than your voice could ever be. The downside is that you can lose a whistle, your whistle might sound the same as someone else's whistle, and someone else might hear your whistle and think you're in distress.
i bought a dog whistle for fun. the first time i blew it she went wild but nowadays she barely acknowledges it. although i never used any sort of training methods with it so i dont know how well they would respond to it as a training tool.
At 15, my dog went comletely deaf, so calling him wasn't really an option and whistles were out. Lesson learned; always use hand signals and sound together, so that, if in their older years, the hearing goes...they still know the "come" command!
I had taught him the come command as a pup with my hand outstretched and stopped using that as he became better at his recalls...luckily, I was able to re-introduce the hand commands (sit, down, stay, come) without much fuss. In my next go round, I will definately combine voice/hand commands on a more continuous basis throughout his life.
Karen, I have a question for you. I have trained both of my pups with both vocal and visual commands together, and they will do what I ask with either a visual command or a verbal command. (and sometimes a telepathic command if I have a treat in my hand!) However, as they both age, I know there is a possiblilty that they can lose sight or hearing. If they lose hearing (as in the case of your pup), if I clap my hand, are they able to feel the vibration, or will I need to physically touch them or be in their line of sight? That is something I have always wondered about.
With cody, I first began in the house w/ a foot stomp...he could feel the vibration and that would get his attention...unfortunately, clapping was out of his hearing range...but stomping worked every time and allowed me to work in retraining him on his hand commands.
Outside, I have to wave my arms in a very vigorous manner and he will stop and watch me..When I gave him the come command, he nearly always performed his recall. However, I noted that as he lost hearing and w/ age he was less inclined to go romping about in the brush or stray very far from where I was.
Cody has since also lost his eyesight, so I do help him outside sometimes, but like a human who may have limited or no sight, he has memerized where everything is, including steps. The only time he gets flustered is if I move a chair, table, or leave a door shut. Dogs are amzing creatures who do adapt to their bodily changes...sometimes better than us humans!
Not necessarily off topic! I loved training Cody and all my other dogs...However, not until Cody, did I ever fully realize the importance of hand commands and how important they would be later in his life...as I prepare for a new puppy I will definately use the postive training methods, voice command, and hand commands on a consistent basis. I'm not too fond of whistles because your dog could get a bit confused if you happen across other owners also using whistles...we have a lot of lab/retriever owners in our area who use them all the time. I prefer a unique sound/whistle that others can't replicate...a sound your dog will instantly recognize above all others.
As our off leash adventures have progressed to larger spanses of territory I've been alternating with a Widgeon call, a wounded rabbit call and a goose honker for the emergency recall (I just carry it with me in case, I doubt anyone else will be carrying these and hopefully I don't bring a bunch of ducks and geese to heel in addition to my shibas) but I always use the Obediance hand signal for recall by itself or with a verbal command. This last foray I was able to visually recall Beebe from over 150 feet easily. I don't know how you would be able to do that with a deaf and blind dog, perhaps taking them out in those situations wouldn't be the safest, but you can always keep a 25/50 foot training lead attached to them in case.
Wow thats an amazing accomplishment. I can only call Sasuke sometimes around the house, but he is getting better. Ninja will come when called most of the time but when we cant get her attention, My dad and I have to whistle to get her to come. We are also the only ones in my family who can produce the whistle. I thought of teaching this to Sasuke but my girlfriend cant whistle so it would not work in her favor as well as the other family members.
edit: has anyone had success with the clicker with the attached pointer for training?
Any whistle-like sounds get no more than a "say what" sort of look from Tosca and possibly a tilt of her head. I might try the clicker and pointer combination because, as long as she doesn't think it's a game, Tosca might benefit from the pointer's focusing aspect.
If by pointer, you may pen light, that works incredibly well as a recall tool. I have but to jingle the tiny chain the laser light comes attached to or make the clicky button sound when the button is pushed, and they come running from all directions with waggy tails ready for their reward of laser chase. That works way better actually than whistling or signals because they love chasing pen lights. No greater reward than some neurotic light chasing shibas.
The wand with the clicker must have been designed for people with the no-bend-ums or back problems.
Comments
There is a behaviorist in my area that works with a lot of police dogs and he prefers to use the high whistles for training, its interesting, but I don't know how dedicated my shibas would be!!
Sadly that means when it seems like our pooches can't hear us, they are actually ignoring us. Harumpf...
I think in the episode of "It's Me or the Dog" she usedthe whistle soley for recall as the dog had long forgotten it's name. [ owners never used the name properly & thus dog did not associate name with itself ] So Victoria instead used a whistle. I believe the reason she used the whistle instead of retraining the dog it's name was so that the owners would be able to recall the dog easier. I mean, if the dog forgot it's name the first time it could easily happen again since the owners did not train the dog to recognise it's name right the first time...
Which if you think about it really isn't a difficult task
Whistles can be useful over long distances. Some whistles, for instance, the ones sold in the boating section, are meant to be heard for several miles by a human, so it's probably even further for a dog. It's a lot louder and more consistent than your voice could ever be. The downside is that you can lose a whistle, your whistle might sound the same as someone else's whistle, and someone else might hear your whistle and think you're in distress.
At 15, my dog went comletely deaf, so calling him wasn't really an option and whistles were out. Lesson learned; always use hand signals and sound together, so that, if in their older years, the hearing goes...they still know the "come" command!
I had taught him the come command as a pup with my hand outstretched and stopped using that as he became better at his recalls...luckily, I was able to re-introduce the hand commands (sit, down, stay, come) without much fuss. In my next go round, I will definately combine voice/hand commands on a more continuous basis throughout his life.
(Sorry for the off topic post!)
Outside, I have to wave my arms in a very vigorous manner and he will stop and watch me..When I gave him the come command, he nearly always performed his recall. However, I noted that as he lost hearing and w/ age he was less inclined to go romping about in the brush or stray very far from where I was.
Cody has since also lost his eyesight, so I do help him outside sometimes, but like a human who may have limited or no sight, he has memerized where everything is, including steps. The only time he gets flustered is if I move a chair, table, or leave a door shut. Dogs are amzing creatures who do adapt to their bodily changes...sometimes better than us humans!
Not necessarily off topic! I loved training Cody and all my other dogs...However, not until Cody, did I ever fully realize the importance of hand commands and how important they would be later in his life...as I prepare for a new puppy I will definately use the postive training methods, voice command, and hand commands on a consistent basis. I'm not too fond of whistles because your dog could get a bit confused if you happen across other owners also using whistles...we have a lot of lab/retriever owners in our area who use them all the time. I prefer a unique sound/whistle that others can't replicate...a sound your dog will instantly recognize above all others.
edit: has anyone had success with the clicker with the attached pointer for training?
The wand with the clicker must have been designed for people with the no-bend-ums or back problems.