Training with whistle

[nater]

I was reading a book about training my new lab and it talks about getting him used to responding with a whistle. I looked around today and found a standard whistle and a silent whistle made by remington. Since I have never trained a dog before, what would be better? I would guess the silent whistle because it can be adjusted to a pitch they can hear, but I wanted to see what everyone thought first. Any help would be appreciated.

[Ufatz]

Most people use a standard whistlem, but there are a lot of variations on the market. Cabela's has a bunch of them, including a small Gonia clear police whistle I like. Once your dog is accustomed to a whistle he'll respond to either kind-silent or loud. Main thing is to get started early. It'll be no big deal.

[delmuts]

i think the big reason for using a whistle was so the dog could hear you. i had train my lab by whistling with my lips, which worked great til you had a windy day, or you just couldn't make much more than a squeek! i don't know of any one that has tried a silent one !

[LovenLifeGuy]

Two questions while the topic is on the table.

1) does the pitch of a silent whistle hurt a dogs ears?

2) can a rooster hear a whistle?

I was at cabelas the other day and the staff did not know the answer to either. So, at this point I will stick with my trusty lucky whistle.

I started early and have felt the whistle training has been pretty easy as long as they have the basic voice commands down. It's fun to watch also.

Thx, LovenLifeGuy

[Try Too Fish]

One thing to keep in mind if you hunt alot with other dogs that are whistle trained is they will all be keyed in on the whistle. I don't know what a good solution is. Different tones maybe!

Its kinda frustrating when another hunter blows the sit command for his dog and your dog sits too and etc!

Maybe others have a good solution for this!

[gspman]

LovenLifeGuy,

Generally speaking the answers are 1) No and 2) Yes.

[LovenLifeGuy]

Thanks gsp. I was not sure a rooster could hear a silent whistle or not.. thx

[nater]

That make sense that if they associate that pitch with certain things they will understand. I would like to train him on a whistle so I know he will hear the command in the field. I don't want to yell all the time! Hopefully by the time I get him in the field he will be a good listener.

So if the roosters did hear this whistle, do you just not go with it unless its a windy day when he can't hear you or what? I never thought about them hearing it...

[Ufatz]

Don't worry about the birds hearing your whistle-they hear you the minute you step into the field!! Most so-called silent whistles can actually be heard by some people. And always keep in mind that a dogs olfactory and auditory systems are estimated to be 1000 times more sensitive than yours.

Train your dog carefully; its way easier to do than some people would have you believe. And you COULD train your dog to respond to a clarinet if you wanted to. Or a bass drum. But either one would get in the way when your walking a field.