Do people still use dog whistles?

[Chickenandrice]

We are hopefully getting a dog and I was just thinking about training it. I remember as a child our dog was trained really well to a dog whistle she came back instantly and it was really handy. I assumed we would do the same, but thinking about it I am just wondering if it’s not the done thing any more? I see people with clicker training things now?

I don't really know... mine are voice / hand signal (silent) trained. I find it suits their temperament (& mine).

I did have a rescue in the past, I trained her to a whistle simply because she had a history of disappearing. This worked well for her.

I'm not a fan of clicker training, it's great if you get it right and are experienced with dogs. But there is a high chance for a novice to miss the vital cues for it to be successful. It also depends on the level of training you want to achieve.
YlvaDog#3 (rescue) is a failed clicker dog ... I had to basically start training from scratch when I got her!

I walked past somebody who used one the other day. She blew it when she was passing me. Two things happened: her dog looked confused for a second and ran off; my eardrum felt like it was bursting.

It's the first time I've seen one in years.

I use a whistle (acme 211&1/2) and lots of people locally do. Whistle every time I feed her and she will always come back to it.
Working on a one whistle stop and sit now.
I am in awe of people who train without props. I also have a clicker for reinforcing good walking etc..
first dog as an adult. She is now 12 months old and fairly well trained. I would love to know how to train her to bark upon command and stay silent otherwise. She barked so rarely that I enthusiastically rewarded it. Bur would prefer she doesn’t bark, even briefly, at all visitors.

Whistle for recall given that it can be heard over large distances and also removes the emotion from your voice which is good when you panic that they are running away

I use a whistle but have trained him to recall to my voice as well in case I leave it at home! The whistle is really useful for if he's further away and my voice wouldn't carry, or say if it's windy, as the sound travels well.

It’s common out here in the countryside with people who have gundog breeds. Better than shouting, the sound carries better. You can also differentiate commands more easily, e.g you might not want your dog to come but to stop and stay put.

I use a whistle stops me sounding like a fish wife. To train from a puppy, use it to call in from the garden, reward with treat. Whistle always get my dog back.

@GunsAndShips

I walked past somebody who used one the other day. She blew it when she was passing me. Two things happened: her dog looked confused for a second and ran off; my eardrum felt like it was bursting.

It's the first time I've seen one in years.

That happened to me yesterday too, the bloke blew his whistle so much that the dog just ignored it. My dog however, was quite scared at the volume, so you need to know what you're doing.

Another Acme whistle user here. She will also recall to voice but we find it very useful in wide open spaces especially when it’s windy.

I think they’re quite common for gun dogs.

There’s a gorgeous I springer I often see walking near me and his owner uses one to absolutely no effect. Not the whistle though, he’s just a cheeky dog (a bit notorious for pinching other dogs balls and the like!)

Someone was recommending whistle to me recently.
I only walk the dog for a neighbour, but wanted to work on recall.
This dog doesn't care for doggy treats!
Irk.
The other owner swore that her dog like the whistle but never had treats to learn to come to the whistle, too.
Said deffo choose a whistle a person can hear, else you don't know if the dog is choosing to ignore you or the whistle went faulty.

Acme whistles are what we use and were also used by the gundog owners/trainers at training.

Yes, mine is whistle trained although normally we just use voice or hand commands. He has a verbal recall command as well as a hand signal for most things.

Whistles are especially useful for multiple reasons:

• they travel over a much longer distance than your voice.
• they're a distinctive sound for the dog to pick up on
• your emotions can carry in your voice which can have an impact on how effective the recall is.

As a dog walker, they're also a great way to recall multiple dogs at once. All my walking dogs are whistle-trained by me, though I don't always need to use it. But we often walk down the beach and they like to run, so it's a good way of getting them all back to me quickly when it's time to go!

We use a whistle. Very common in the countryside.

I always used one as a dog walker*, also developed a generic ‘heeeeeeYUH’ screech that brings any loose animal within about twenty miles thundering toward me 😂 you can’t just call multiple names out all day long

*on private land

I do, as I have too many dogs who can cover big distances and it's quicker than calling all the names. I do occasionally attract a random labrador or two as well though...

Clickers and whistles are usually used differently btw...

Whistles are most commonly used to recall instead of shouting, or to give other commands.

Clickers are to mark behaviour - basically it’s a quicker, more accurate way of saying, yes, that’s what I wanted you to do.

Thanks for the replies. I wondered if perhaps people had gone off using whistles due to the sheer number of dog owners around and lots of whistles which sound similar could confuse the dogs!

I imagine it depends on the type of training you need.

As pps said, probably used more for gun dogs and the sort of dog that's likely to be far away from you at times.

My small dog who never wander that far away has excellent recall, taught with just my voice and a lot of exciting games.

Clicker training is for training other things. Could never get on with it personally as I couldn't seem to co-ordinate the clicking and treating at the right time, at least I felt I wasn't, and it didn't seem to suit her either, which was probably my fault.

Anyway, I managed to train her very well without either a whistle or clicker.

My dogs are whistle trained for recall. I have lurchers, and they can be a very long way away very quickly, so you can either yell like a fishwife or use a whistle. When ds was little he also recalled to the whistle which was convenient in the woods or on the hills

My dog is whistle trained.
We walk most days with a working cocker and she got trained by association!

I think whistles are very sensible-if you are cross or anxious it will show in your voice but a whistle is neutral.

Lots of dog walkers in my area use them!

I use a whistle for recall and she comes back like a boomerang. Feel a bit of an idiot, with it round my neck, though

Ours is a rescue dog and must have been well whistle trained, I recommend it over hollering when you're not sure which direction they've gone. Plus I feel smug if someone appears and I have to recall him, he can be running full pelt then will do an amazing instant turn when he hears it. Sadly no training advice as someone else put the work in! Good luck

Sorry *rescue working dog, probably why he was trained using one

Our puppy came to us with recall to a whistle. It’s brilliant, I feel like an idiot saying come come, but we are training for both