Training an adult dog using ultrasound whistle

[scherzo]

I took an adult dog (about 4 years old) from a rescue centre 6 months ago, where she'd been for 2.5 years. She's a great success and is, on the whole, very biddable, but training her is complicated by her relative lack of interest in food. I live in very rural countryside in France and on walks during the last 2 weeks, she's started to run off and ignore my calls/whistles to return, presumably to do with there being plenty of deer and wild board around at the moment, as the hunting season is over. Because she's a big dog and fast, she covers huge areas, so I bought an ultra-sound whistle, but I'm not sure how to train her to it, other than blowing it every time I give her anything to eat. Any advice?

[miss_morph]

Hi, i've never used an ultrasound whistle before but when i was training with a regular dog whistle i started by training my dog in the house with treats, or with play...so blow the whistle and when your dog comes to you reward with play, maybe a tug rope or squeeky ball. also i used to play hide and seek, which in a one bed house isn't hard but i'd hide in the bath tub for example then blow the whistle, if she came and found me i'd give her a high-'value' treat like fresh chicken, or a cube of cheese etc. once she has figured out that the whistle in the house means treats, take it out into the garden, then expand you distance to your requirements...the french countryside. hope this helps.
Sarah

[mick11]

Hi,
Try using a long line when you first go out into the countryside,there are lots of distracting smells to investigate. In my experience dogs respond well to whistles of any kind. Like any command make sure you are consistent and use it in conjunction with normal voice or hand commands.

Mick

[nick_j007]

Bonjour!

You will need to bring the dog away from such interesting stimulus and areas and go back to some basics using a very long line, the whistle (if it helps) and maybe feed your dog outside for each recall. No feeding in the home for a few weeks to change the perception of coming back to you
Do this in open grassland to begin with, and then gradually introduce distracting grounds.

Allowing the dog to ignore you and not having a line (method of reinforcing your recall) can be fatal, so crack on now and get on with it

With your environment and the dog's desire to hunt your recall with the dog will need to be damn good. That means you will need to practice a lot to get you and the dog looking good as a team. It can be done though so don't despair.

Good luck.

Dog Behaviour Blog - Nick Jones from Alpha Dog Behaviour: A long line...your saviour?