Whistle training

Champdogs Information Exchange - Not logged in

Forum Breeders Help Search Register Login

Topic Other Boards / FAQ / Whistle training

By SaraW

Date 31.03.02 12:11 GMT

This may seem like a really silly question to those of you who use whistles BUT if you have more than one dog out at once do you use different tones of whistles ?? If not how does each dog know individually you are "talking" to it ?
Thanks, Sara :-)

By Leigh Date 31.03.02 12:26 GMT

Because we teach hand signals to go with the whistle work :-)

The dogs learn to glance at the handler when we blow a whistle and look for a hand signal. I can be running 4 dogs. They will all sit (LOL) when I blow a stop whistle. I can then direct/recall an individual dog or all the dogs. Sometime if they are all sitting close to each other or you want a set dog to do something, I say their name and then whistle or hand signal my requirements. I use the same whistle for all of them.

By SaraW

Date 31.03.02 12:37 GMT

Thanks Leigh - I couldn't imagine you having 5 or 6 diff whistles round your neck but couldn't work out how you did it otherwise :D

By SaraW

Date 31.03.02 12:44 GMT

OOoh - thought of something else ! I presume most whistles have the same pitch so what happens if say you and John were out with Bear and Flower and John blew his for Flower - would Bear look round too but realise it wasn't you so ignore it ?
I just had a vision of all the dogs coming to an abrupt halt on a shoot when someone blows a whistle LOL !!
Sorry about the questions but quite interested in this (been nosying at Metpols posts to you ;-)

) and wonder whether to go down this track.
Sara :-)

By John

Date 31.03.02 13:34 GMT

Its amazing how the dogs recognise the different styles of "Whistle Blowing" They rarely seem to get confused! In reality, the so called Stop Whistle is more a Look At Me Whistle, meaning, "I am going to want you to do something so pay attention!" The standard Acme Whistle comes in a variety of pitches numbered from 210 to 211.5 both with and without pea. Personally I use a 211.5 without pea!

Regards, John

By Leigh Date 31.03.02 15:48 GMT

You can buy different pitched whistles, although most of us use the same. The difference is that we all blow them slightly differently, even though we might use the same number of pips etc. I have had younger dogs respond to other peoples whistles, but as they get older they seem to hear the subtle differences. Bear might look to John, but the minute he saw it wasn't me, he would ignore him.

I honestly can't understand why people do not whistle train their dogs, even if they are only pets :-)

It is so easy to do and you never know when it could get you out of a tricky situation. Its also good fun!

Why don't you give it a go Sara, you don't have anything to lose :-)

By Karen.T (***)

Date 31.03.02 15:56 GMT

Leigh and John,

I to would be keen to learn whistle training it is something I have never tried so any tips you both have would be great.

Karen

By Leigh Date 31.03.02 16:50 GMT

Good for you Karen :-)

It all comes down to repetition. You can start very easily, buy a whistle :D
If you have any problem getting one, get back to me. Plastic whistles are best for two reasons. 1) if you bend down, a plastic whistle won't break your teeth when it hits you in the mouth .....lol 2) in winter it doesn't freeze to your lip ;-)

I would start very simply. When you call your dog for his meal, I would use his name and "come", then three short pips ...repeated if necessary,until he arrives. Then when you make him sit for his food, tell him "sit" and give him one pip. Make sure that he does sit first time~every time. Don't ask him, tell him. If you do this every time, eventually you won't have to give him the spoken command, just the whistle.

When I am doing heel work, everytime we get to the curb or whatever, I would tell him to sit, blow a sit/stop pip and push his butt down. He must do it first time~every time though.

The recall, again when you are training, assuming that your dog will already recall?.... sit him up. Call him by name and "come" and give him three pips. When he reaches you, tell him to "sit" and give him one pip and make him sit. Don't forget to praise him everytime he does it :-)

If your dog will not recall on a voice command. Put him on a long lead and sit him up in front of you, at the distance of the lead.Call his name and tell him to "come", whistle him three times and pull the lead into you. Again, when he reaches you. "Sit" command, one pip and make him do it. Don't forget to praise him, but keep him in the sit.

I think the hardest thing that people find in teaching whistle commands, is the ability to "speak" and blow a whistle at the same time. Practice makes perfect, and in the end you will be able to hold a full blown conversation with a whistle in your mouth, whistle your dog at the same time, not forgetting throwing in the odd hand signals for good measure.....lol The only real problem arises if you smoke .... blowing a ciggie doesn't have the same effect no matter how hard you blow it :rolleyes:

The other things is you will feel very self conscious walking along the road blowing a whistle at your dog, but in the end it becomes second nature :D And before you know it, everyone will be asking you where they can buy a *Magic Whistle*.

By SaraW

Date 31.03.02 17:56 GMT

Leigh - you make it sound so simple :D I'll have to write how many pips for each thing on my hand to start with LOL.
I think I am going to try this with Sam (20 months) - I want to spend quality time with him because of Phoe's arrival and he needs a refresher anyway as his standards and reactions are slipping since she came on the scene !
I am not sure what to do about Phoebie (10 weeks at present) though. I intend to take her to basic obedience classes ( and maybe ringcraft ) starting in a couple of weeks when injections finished because the socialisation etc will be good for her. Although the place I intend to take her appear to do seperate gundog classes I don't suppose they'd encourage one person to be pipping and tooting their way through a general class :P
Do you (and anyone else (John?) ) think I would be as well to lay off the whistle with her until we have completed these classes or to treat this as a complementary thing when practising at home ?? I'm worried about confusing her if she (by some miracle) gets good on the whistle at home but doesn't have it in the classes.
I hope I've made sense and you can see where I'm coming from
Sara :D

By Karen.T (***)

Date 31.03.02 18:04 GMT

Leigh,

Thank you for the info I shall be looking to get a whistle as soon as I can.

Wonder if whistle training works on children lol.

Karen

By het

Date 31.03.02 19:03 GMT

I know someone who uses a clicker with there school class - they know that when they hear a click they have to stop what they are doing and shut up!

By Claire B (****)

Date 04.04.02 09:17 GMT

Ah Leigh you make it all sound easy peasy ;-)

I have been dabbling in whistle training for a while now, although not knowing what pips to use I just made them up :rolleyes: I've never thought of using the whistle in the house though, that's a good idea. When out walking I have a plastic whistle (no idea what kind, bought it from a saddlery shop) 1 short pip tells my dogs to look at me then I usually wave my arm in the direction we are turning, 2 longer pips is my recall and they come flying back to me, Nell did advanced obedience so will come straight to my front and sit whereas Harris runs round me once then sits to my side. The whistle has quite a high pitched sound, do I need to use a different whistle if I want to teach things like sit and down or do I just chase the number/length of the pips ?? Excuse me if I sound like a numpty, talk about teach yourself, I've just blagged my way through it all in an attempt to do something useful with a gundog other than cheeky tricks!!

Is there a blumming good book an all this so I don't need to keep bending peoples lugs :D

By Leigh Date 04.04.02 09:33 GMT

It is easy Claire :-)

Like any kind of training it all comes down to repetition and association. If your dog already has a grounding in obedience, all well and good but if not, then you introduce the whistle as part of the on going learning curve. But you must make sure that the dog responds instantly to the command as you would with any form of training.

What type and tone of whistle you use is personal preference. I would stick with what you have as your dogs already respond to it :-)

As for the number of pips you use for each command,again pick a number that you are comfortable with.For training classes, we had a set pattern of whistle commands, just to make it easy for everyone to remember and so I could see where people were going wrong. We used:

1 pip for a stop/sit command.
2 pip's for a turn command, especially useful with hunting breeds when quartering.
3 pips for "get your butt back here pronto".
I also use .....a hardly blown continuous blast, for a "Hi Lost" or "Look There" command. In other words a way of indicating to the dog that he was in the area of a fall and that I want him to search that particular area. In an experienced dog, he will also instinctively turn into the wind and search when he hears this whistle.

All you need to do is work out what commands you wish to teach your dog to respond too and how many pips for each command. Then stick with your choice. They won't learn if you keep changing them, so make your choice and practise practise practise :D

By John

Date 04.04.02 19:04 GMT

As Leigh says, pick a number and stick with it. Dogs only really count in the range of, ONE, Two, MANY! Some of the clever ones might manage THREE but not that many. I think on a good day "The Flower" can remember the place of four dummies.
In retrievers we have a slightly easier life than Leigh with her HPR's. Because we done "Hunt" we don’t need turn commands so all that's needed are one pip for "STOP" (Look at me for instructions) and three pips for "RECALL" Another command quite a few retriever people are now using is three pairs of pips, (pip pip, , , pip pip, , , pip pip) (Come a little this way)
As far as whistles in obedience class are concerned, I never do it! Half of the dogs in class would start barking and the other half run for cover! In my gundog puppy class I expect the handlers to use the whistle for most of the time. I say "Most" of the time because I consider it so important that I would never use the whistle if I thought there was a chance of it being disobeyed!
A good plastic Acme whistle is possibly the best. Leigh says that they don’t freeze to your lips in winter but if you use Damson Gin anti freeze this is not a problem anyway! Don't be tempted with the silent dog whistles. I know the dog can hear it but the reassurance of ME hearing it is too me a big thing.

Regards, John

By SaraW

Date 10.04.02 17:36 GMT

Leigh and John,
Well I got a whistle yesterday (plastic ready for winter and frosty mornings ;-)

) and tried it out with Sam. After 3 or 4 goes of calling name and blowing 3 pips he seemed to have got the meaning of "get your butt back here" !!! I have only done the one pip sit close by so I know I can make him but we'll get the distance bit in time. Anyway - went to the woods today armed with whistle and we got to the one bit where selective deafness usually comes into force (fine everywhere else in the woods). It is a bracken area that he dives into and I lose sight of him - usually it takes 3 or 4 good shouts for him to appear and come back (too many nice smells I suppose). I gave 3 pips and he shot back to me at once !! Could be coincidence thinks I - but had a face like this :D anyway. Called at my Mums on the way home and Sam and her dog were in the garden playing - I gave my 3 pips and he came flying back in the house !! I know I shouldn't speak too soon and this could still all go horribly wrong on me but I'm so pleased. I know the breeder I got him from uses whistles as she trials hers and I didn't get him till he was 19 weeks so I wonder if some of this is in his memory ?
I'm wondering why I didn't go down this route earlier ! I am practising speaking whilst holding a whistle in my mouth but still sound like I have a lisp ;-)

BUT the fag and whistle bit is impossible :-(

Sara

By Leigh Date 11.04.02 14:26 GMT

Excellent Sara :-)

keep practicing, but remember that Sam has to do it "first time ~ everytime". If your breeder works her dogs then you can bet your life she has used it to call them for grub ;-)

To some degree it will be 'ingrained' but that doesn't mean that you won't still have to work hard to keep it up, its an on going thang.

:D Have fun!

Leigh

Sara....Ciggie in ~ Whistle out, Ciggie out ~ Whistle in

Topic Other Boards / FAQ / Whistle training