Whistling Dixie...

How do you teach a dog to come when called?

I really did know this answer when I'd gotten Charlie. I'd just forgotten that I did this. I mean, I'd been calling dogs with a whistle from my own lips for so many years I've never even thought about it.
The year I married my husband, he had hound puppies that he wanted me to train for handling. The pups didn't have names and I couldn't help but want to play with them.
I found that a whistle got their attention.

Years later with Morris and other hounds that I raised, I'd do the same.

Dixie excels at coming to a whistle. She has never ignored it. Not ever.

I left the cord at home, but took a rope anyway [in case I have to put one of the rascals on a leash].
I let Dixie loose and Charlie followed. The idea is to let the big dog help the little dog figure out how to come when I called or whistled. Unconsciously I used the whistle anyway. When Charlie isn't paying attention, a sharp whistle brings his head up to find the source.

Charlie was learning two things. Come on the whistle and pay attention to where Dixie was and what she was doing.

Charlie could learn by example. After all, Dixie learned by following my jack russell, Morris.

Rich had a huge concern about Charlie being so small and Dixie being so huge.
Dixie has a very gentle temperament. She is also good with commands and will 'leave it be' if I ask her to.

Here Dixie is with Charlie after he tumbled. He squeaked and she came over to investigate. Finding nothing wrong with the wee one, she trotted off and Charlie followed.

I spent most of my time letting the dogs explore. When they got so far away, I'd simply whistle.

Dixie would turn around and trot to me then sit. Charlie would come on the run. Dixie's 'treat' for this simple command is lots of petting and cooing about how good she is. Charlie got his 'loving up' too. He wagged and wiggled and tried to avoid getting stepped on by Dixie.

Charlie learned a bit more about the creek. He seems to be saying to Dixie, "It is so unfair for you to have such long legs! That water would be up to my chest!"

Here is an example of calling the dogs with a whistle. Both dogs had been sniffing the interesting leaves and rocks when I whistled.

Charlie has to run while Dixie only ambles. But it is a fine sight to see. Both dogs coming without hesitation.

We will have many more short hikes where Dixie teaches Charlie to come and follow. Charlie's confidence is growing like he is.

He is adventurous and has a huge heart.

The whistle really does work. It works so much better than shouting a name at a dog all of the time.
And Dixie is a good training tool to have. She enjoys the outings too. No one loses this way.

Big Dog
Little Dog

Small Dog Training

I've been researching and looking for puppy socialization classes and small dog training classes. As I said before, I thought this would be good for Charlie.

Small dogs present with a bigger challenge than large dogs to train. I did okay with Morris but I think I could have done a better job.
Charlie may be smaller than Morris.

Most classes that are what I am looking for are one hour away from home. That means a fairly long drive. It appears they may be a puppy class held at a local vet's office but I haven't seen any updates on classes since 2014. Hmmm, that does not look promising either.

So I took Charlie on his first solo hike yesterday. Since he is so small, I figured the woods would present a huge problem for him. But I also figured if he felt lost he'd respond by coming to me faster than he did in the yard.

I thought it best to see if he would learn to come to my whistle and when I call his name.

Charlie's aptitude was rather surprising.

You can see that I had to hold the camera on the ground to catch a shot of him. By my boot imprint you can see just how small he really is.

I was reading that to train a small dog like Charlie, a person must get down on their level. Uh-oh! Well, I can do that. I want Charlie to always come when called, always. I want to teach him also not to jump on people. Even though he is tiny and cute, jumping on people is just poor manners.

So I let Charlie become distracted by something and then ran ahead on the trail and whistled. He saw that I'd moved away and came on the run.

However since he is part mini dachshund, he does have a nose. When something too interesting distracted him, he couldn't help himself.

Look at those raccoon tracks in comparison to Charlie's size! He was fascinated by the smells and followed the tracks.

Soon the cold wind and the icy snow was making him shiver. Well, I think that is why he was trembling.
So I decided to see if he'd travel in my sling camera bag. I'd stuck a towel in the bottom of it and had taken out the camera holder.

Apparently this was satisfactory to Charlie as long as he could see out and chew a bit on the edge of the bag.

After about 10 minutes in the bag he was ready to rock and roll again in the woods.

I figured he'd wimp out over large logs. However I was very wrong. He scrambled up onto the log and walked it like a tight rope until he decided to leap off.

His balance and dexterity are amazing for such a small creature.

When we got to the gravel road, I put him on a leash. He doesn't like being constrained. I walked with him on a loose lead and when he decided to fight it, I stopped and waited until he figured it out.
It took a lot more time, but in the end I think it will be worth it.

We also did a 'come when called' exercise on the road. I let him loose and then ran like the devil while whistling loud.
Charlie is fast! He came on the run, even while temporarily distracted by an mystical oak leaf that fluttered before him.

I kneeled on the road and praised him and pet him.

I picked him up to walk the rest of the way home with him. I figured he'd had enough of the outdoors.
No, Charlie struggled and wanted down.
He walked from the mailbox to the lower end of the driveway on his leash.

I try to keep things short for him as puppies don't have a huge attention span. But the walk in the woods was excellent exercise and training at the same time.

I see an independence streak in him which is fine. He is a bit mischievous also. But he has caught on to potty training rather quickly. Yesterday he only had one mishap. That really was my fault for not paying attention.

Adventures with Charlie. This coming year should prove to be interesting!