Whistles & Dog Training

I’m curious how many of you utilize a whistle with your dogs, and if you do, what commands do you use?

I introduced a whistle (Acme 640, dual pitch) about a month ago, and I have to say that I really like it. I use two short blasts on the lower pitch for a recall to sit and one quick burst on the higher pitch to turn him and get him moving back towards me. He’s responded really well to it.

Had my English Setter Whistle trained. One blast for who, two for come, etc… What ever works for you and your dog. Really nice way to do it as I stinks listning to your buddies holler to get their dogs attention, and makes you look smarter and better trained then them. I found it to be pretty simple myself.

I used to, I do 1 blow means sit, stay, turn and look at me. 3 means come. Over the years I have tried to be more and more quiet in the field (pheasant hunting) and have kind of transitioned from the whistle to the beep/toner on his collar. 3 tones means you’re out to far, come back to me. I haven’t been too successful on the 1 tone sit with the collar though.

I still always carry the whistle on me, but it’s rare I use it. The only times I really use it are when we are hunting some thick cattails and my dog has gotten out a bit too far and can’t locate me.

????? wrote:

Really nice way to do it as I stinks listning to your buddies holler to get their dogs attention, and makes you look smarter and better trained then them.

Yeah, I figured it’s better than hollering. My wife really likes it, too, because it gets his attention.

????? wrote:

I found it to be pretty simple myself.

Agreed. He picked up on it really quickly.

Wanna be impressed? Check out some videos on sheep dog trials. Those handlers control their dogs with the pitch of a whistle. Something like 30 different commands from a handlers lips…crazy.

1 chirp…stop and pay attention
3 chirps…come
Everything else can be done with hand signals.

Absolutely train with a whistle!

Same commands as above

1 to sit
multiple to come

I like the idea of SIT. We started working on adding that tonight.

1 chirp = sit and look until I tell you what to do.
2 chirps = move the direction I’m pointing
trill = come to me.

I’m silent during pheasant hunting and use tone on the collar to have him get closer to me.

I use a whistle on a pretty basic level. Either a tooter a blast means you better come back. Whistle are nice in that they are emotionless. Pups go through that phase where they get a little oppositional, and with a whistle they can’t pick up on your own frustration or whatever your feeling at that moment. I’ve also become a fan of the tone button on my training collar and use it like a whistle, especially when I’m around spooky pheasants.