The Whistle Will Become Your Best Friend For Recall

Often, we introduce recall and whistle commands too late in the dogs training cycle.

Starting pups and dogs very young on the whistle for the sit-stay, and recall pays huge dividends.

Yet we often do not take this opportunity. See videos at the bottom of the page.

Introduce the whistle as early as possible by associating exciting and pleasurable experiences.

Pups will readily respond to the recall whistle by seven or eight weeks old.

I have seen litters of seven-week-old pups literally scampering to the whistle in excitement.

When puppies associate experiences with the whistle in a positive manner, they will respond positively to their reward of affection, food, treats, or a game, always make the whistle something pleasurable.

The same is true of the “sit”. Pups can consistently comply with this whistle command by twelve weeks old. They will eagerly sit on the whistle when the reward is good and the commands are given consistently.

Start with the dog’s food bowl. Get someone to hold the pup 10 or 12 feet away, blow your normal recall and get the helper to release the pup. Extend this by getting your helper to hold the pup in another room and repeating the process, but this time with some really tasty treats in the bowl as well.

Make sure you have the whistle with you at all times and whistle, reward, and treat until the puppy is really happy to come back. Another great way of setting the whistle is to buy two whistles.

Position your dog in the middle of two people, close enough to touch, Get some treats, high-value ones like cheese or sausage. Blow two peeps on the whistle if he doesn’t respond blow again and either touch his ear or his muzzle, When the dog looks at you immediately say “good” “take it” and give a high-quality treat.

Then the person behind the dog does the same. “Good” is the same as a clicker and “take it” Is permission to take your treat. Gradually remove the treat completely when learning has occurred. 

I use and sell ACME whistles; they are the best on the market and are numbered. Therefore, if you lose your whistle you can order a replacement with exactly the same tone. It takes ten days to set a whistle on a dog. This will save you all that time and effort if you lose it. Click on PICTURE above to buy the whistles..

If you want in-depth on how to train a junior or adult dog Recall Training  and for pups Puppy Recall Training and the Acme Whistle