Whistle Work

With the days getting shorter and colder, I haven't had much time to do any outdoor training in a while. But Thanksgiving day brought beautiful weather here in Virginia so we enjoyed a pleasant training session in the yard.

I feel like, at four months old, her attention span is getting a little longer. I'm still keeping training sessions short and fun, but I am finding I can make more progress in one outing than I could a few weeks earlier.

Today we tried the whistle with the command 'Here' some more, and she's really getting it! Tried the command with the whistle, then mixed in some with just the whistle and she came running. I rewarded her with a treat and tons of praise each time.

Then I had Sandy come out with the other dogs to distract Winnie while I went to the far corner of the yard. Maybe 40-50 yards. In the midst of playing with Gromit, she STILL responded to the whistle! What a good girl! And at that distance, the verbal command becomes almost worthless. It's easy to see how the whistle would be much more effective in the field, in wind, or at greater distances. I think I'm going to like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!