The main advantage of whistle training for many pet dog owners is that it offers them the chance of a fresh start with their training. Selective hearing In stage two we introducethe whistle not as a cue, not as a command, just as something that happens when he is running your way. This is essentially about learning a foreign language.

Your whistle won’t get a sore throat if you use it too often. If you don’t have a very powerful voice, a whistle will certainly help you. Pitch and consistency As with any new training, make sure you avoid distractions to begin with. That’s for good dogs. Now let’s look at naughty dogs, because whistle training is a great chance to start over Starting over with dog whistle training 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: The way he learns what the whistle means is by hearing the whistle when he is already running towards you. And many people will want to start with a verbal cue because they don’t want to be worrying about wearing a whistle in the house during those early weeks when a puppy is small. Mealtime whistles

I am going to tell you which whistles I prefer and why, but remember that this is a matter of personal preference. The main features you need in a dog whistle are 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. The whistle on the other hand, has no meaning to many dogs – at least not yet. But it is a new and interesting sound. And a chance for you to retrain your recall and get it right this time– we’ll look at that below. Will a whistle make my dog more obedient? As working gun dogs Labradors must be able to follow whistle signals at a distance, especially the stop and recall whistle signals. Before you start training your dog, its a good idea to get the hang of using the whistle and making a distinctive sound with it.

I have one hanging up with my car keys, another in my dog training bag, and a spare in my car. Which frequency whistle is best? Suitable for all dogs but especially preferred by Labradors and Retrievers. This is a lower pitch than the 210.5 whistle. Single frequency (4850 Hz) dog whistles, frequency varying +/- 20% on blowing. I think it is best to choose either a verbal cue, or a whistle cue and get the puppy responding well to that before teaching the other.

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There are benefits to using standard whistle commands though. If you really get into whistle training and decide to take your training further at some point, you may want to teach your dog more than just a recall. One question people sometimes ask me, is can a whistle harm a dog? Will it hurt his ears or harm his hearing?

Most of us don’t want to use punishment nowadays, and in any case, it is very difficult to punish a failed recall, so reinforcement is the way to go. You can find out much more about all this at the Dogsnet Training Center. ‘Get it’ and ‘Pair it’ first Always give the new cue first. So for example if you normally say ‘come’ when you want to recall your dog, and your new whistle recall signal is a string of pips, you’ll need to give the pips first followed by the word ‘come’. Try blowing a single blast both softly and loudly. Use your tongue to break up the sound and tap out a series of ‘pips’– its a bit like say ’t-t-t’ at the same time as you blow Dog whistle commands. If your dog is disobedient, buying a whistle is a great opportunity to start again with your training and get it right, I’ll briefly explain the stages you need to go through below. For a more in-depth whistle training, you might like to join one of my online dog training courses.People often ask me at what age whistle training can start. Should you teach a puppy a whistle recall first for example, or a verbal recall then a whistle? Through our passion and commitment to design and sell both our own top rated products as well as other leading brands; coupled with our pledge to provide outstanding customer service, it is our hope that customers will happily return to buy from Dog & Field for many years to come. You can hear it clearly too– I am not so keen on ‘silent’ whistles as I like to be able to hear what I am blowing Forget about commands. Just get your dog running after you and keep on surprising him with great rewards every time he reaches you. Get him running after you by acting silly, get his attention, whoop and wave your arms about, and run away from him. Keep those rewards coming. And stop giving him commands. Do this well away from any distractions. When you train dog to do anything to a whistle, there are five stages to work through. If your dog has got into bad habits (ignoring you)