What a really excellent article Shadowboxer - new owners will find that very helpful!

Well written. :smt023

Brilliant article, really clear!

Just wanted to add a tip my puppy-trainer gave me - that with a new rescue dog (ie, one you don't know what commands have been used), or if you have members of the family with different voices, it's a good idea to try using a whistle for recall. Use something like an ACME 210.5, or a 'sports' whistle, not a silent whistle (cos then you don't know if it's not working, or your dog's just ignoring you!). Start by just blowing 4-6 quick 'pips' in the house, whenever you put the dog's dinner down, or give your dog a treat.

This tip has been invaluable to me (Esau's now 9 months) as all my family have such different voices and when they get cross, commands start to get confusing . . "Esau Come" becomes "Oy! Esau, I said COME HERE! Get here, you daft animal" etc, etc . . The whistle is always exactly the same no matter who is with him or what mood they are in (or if even they have a terrible sore throat and can't speak, which happened to me the other week!).

You can even use the whistle to teach a 'sit-stay' or 'down-stay', although I haven't quite progressed that far, yet!!

Thank you Bodhi, Ozzysmon, and PONlady - your feedback is much appreciated

I quite agree PONlady that it is useful to teach recall to a whistle as well as to a verbal command. The whistle carries further than the voice and is consitent in tone - no panic/annoyance etc. as may be present in the human voice. Recall to a whistle can be taught in exactly the same way as suggested in the article, substituting the whistle for the voice. All behaviours (sit, drop, left, right, stand, go out, etc.) can be taught by varying the duration or number of times the whistle is blown