Whistles

We start all our dogs on voice and for some this is all you will ever need. Whistles have some advantages over voice, for example they give us the ability to communicate at distance. We can blow a command with the same tone when the dog is far away as by our side. If we had to shout, we might sound angry. Sensitive dogs often benefit from whistle commands for this reason as you can convey volume without sounding harsh.

You can whistle just with your mouth or learn to use your fingers. We like to use a metal whistle as it is reliable once learned and leaves our hands free. If you are just learning to use a whistle, wait until you can blow it consistently before you put your dog onto it as this will avoid them getting confused.

We tend to wait till our dogs are reasonably competent and are on their sides, with a stop and walk on before we add whistle commands. When deciding what whistles to use, it is worth thinking about what will suit your dog. If you have a dog that is very sharp in the way it moves, you probably don’t want to add sharp whistles, softer slower whistles might be better. These sharp whistle commands might be better for a dog that is quite steady as they will encourage faster movement.

We can add subtlety to the commands down the line to communicate half flanks versus full, different degrees of steady, or a stop on feet versus a lie down etc.

If you are training a dog and looking for more help, please check out our Sheepdog School sheepdogschool.co.uk

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