Comments on: Dog whistles: Should You Buy, Which is Best, and How to Train

By: Joy Metcalf

Joy Metcalf — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 22:17:21 +0000

In reply to Jason. Since my dog shies away at the whistle, this is somethiing I'm having a bit of trouble with. If I cue him with the whistle first, he stops dead in his tracks and is reluctant to come on the known command. If I cue him with 'COME" first, and then follow it with the whistle, again he stops in his tracks and i have to call him again. I've tried changing the pitch, but he is not a fan of the whistle at all.

By: Joy

Joy — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 17:03:11 +0000

While I don’t have either a gun dog or a lab, I found your article an excellent read. I have a 4 y.o. Sheltie that I got about a year ago, and though fairly well trained, his recall needs work. Within just a few minutes of using the whistle as you directed, he’s already responding better. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Can’t wait to see what else I can do with my herding/agility dog!

By: Ruthie

Ruthie — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 15:41:18 +0000

Hi Pippa,
I was so happy to start training my 20 month old lab to the whistle. I started him indoors, pairing the whistle with his coming toward me. He’s scared to death of it! When I blow it lightly, he runs and hides under the table!
I have tried associating it with positive things like cooked chicken. He just keeps hiding. Any thoughts? 🙂 I suppose patience and keeping at the positive associations are my best options, but I’d take some hints as well!
He has a good recall for a young dog, but as he gets bigger and stronger, I am thinking I want a recall tool that will break through his concentration and drive. Thank you!

By: When And How To Use Them Safely – Interesting Videos

When And How To Use Them Safely – Interesting Videos — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 07:55:44 +0000

[…] the same every time, your dog can get used to a very consistent, emotionless noise, according to Thelabradorsite.com. If you have a big family and multiple voices are telling the pup to “sit,” he can become […]

By: N Rorie

N Rorie — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 18:16:45 +0000

We recently acquired a black lab puppy, Bob, our first ever puppy. The week before we got him, we read your books cover to cover & from day one followed your tips & advice. I started formal puppy training classes last week & the trainer asked how many puppies I’d trained – Bob was that beautifully trained!
We’re very grateful to you indeed.

By: Pippa

Pippa — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:16:30 +0000

In reply to Geoff.

Hi Geoff, people often worry about confusion with other whistles, and although it can be a problem occasionally, for the most part dogs can tell which is their owner. We all blow slightly differently. Lots more on whistle training for gun dogs here http://totallygundogs.com/?s=whistle

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 10:38:43 +0000

Hi Pippa. Firstly thank you for the knowledge you’ve shared in your books and websites, they are immensely helpful and have given me the confidence to train a puppy from scratch.
I have a 10 week black lab which ultimately I would like to take rough and driven shooting. I’m about to invest in a whistle (probably acme 210.5) and have one concern and that is at the end of a drive there is a cacophony of whistle blowing from the various pickers and beaters as they work their dogs. How does a dog know which whistle to listen to and which to ignore if we assume that other handlers will also have an acme 210.5 for example?
Your thoughts on this would be most helpful.

By: Spela

Spela — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 19:28:39 +0000

Dear Pippa,
I am reading your posts regularly for some time now and find them very helpful and resourceful. I highly recommend your sites also to my dog loving friends.
With my Brittany spaniel Fija, I already train with my friend’s retriever club (started as a fun gundog activity), where I use three “retrieving” commands:
-come: two short pips; pip-pip
-sit: one long pip; peeeeeeep
-search: I use this when Fija gets really close to the dummy to let her know she needs to start searching (useful for blinds, mainly); short pip followed by decreasing sound.
-and verbal and hand commands for directions: “back”, “left”, “right”, the first one starts from heel position, while the other two start from Fija facing me.

Now I am starting a gundog course for HPRs to obtain breeding license and I got stuck at the point where I need to introduce new whistle commands.
The thing is that the instructors at HPRs’ and at “retrievers'” use same whistle commands for different tasks (descending sound means ‘search’ at “retrievers” while it means ‘down’ at HPRs). Besides, instructor at HPRs’ uses different type of whistle from that at “retrievers'” and I do not want to change the whistle nor the whistle commands.
I should also mention that I do not want to differ the two activities to the point where I need to change the whistle, I just want to add some new commands. I already have some other extra sport activities and I use the significant ritual and cue word so that she knows exactly what is the mission.

Since you are familiar with the whistle I use – acme 211.5 – and have very versatile work with your dogs I would really appreciate it if you could help me with some ideas for new extra whistle commands. I will need to teach Fija 2-3 new whistle commands:
-turning
-down (lie down with head touching the ground).
-and, I suppose, some kind of command to get Fija out of down position and fetch the shot bird/dummy. For now I only use verbal “get it” to get the ball. I have watched videos on quartering work with springer spaniels and they use whistle command (short blow) to cast, which I find really useful and would like to use for this purpose. Unfortunately, the short pip command is used at HPRs to change the directions. Luckily, I am at the phase of making up the new commands but the downside is, I have no ideas what kind of whistle commands I should use.

Looking forward to your reply!
With kindest regards from Slovenia,
Spela

By: Roddy

Roddy — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 02:00:11 +0000

In reply to Pippa. Go to tideridersports.com. they have an electronic whistle that may be what you're looking for.

By: Pippa

Pippa — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 14:08:21 +0000

In reply to nan.

Hi Nan, some kind of electronic whistle would be ideal wouldn’t it, but I can’t find anyone that makes one. A bell might work, or even an air horn though I think they are pretty loud.

I don’t normally like them (partly because they don’t identify the location of the person calling the dog) but perhaps in this situation a collar with a beeper or vibrator might be another solution. I’d be interested to know if you or anyone else thinks of a good solution. Good luck to your brother 🙂