Does anyone else use a whistle for recall?

I have a purple one (it's an acme 211 1/2 but I bought it for the colour!) that I use for recall, mostly with Harry is he is away in a bush somewhere, if Cooper has gone a bit further away than I would like and for windy days.
I originally started with the whistle when Cooper was a pup so I could use it when I am on the horse and he can hear me.

As Harry responds well to the whistle (after quite a bit of training!) my mum also has a black one on her car keys for when she's walking him.

I use a paracord lanyard on mine around my neck as It's easy to find when I need it and the knotting helps to give it a bit of weight so it;s easy to pick up, I tried a lighter weight lanyard but kept loosing it around the back of my neck.
(The yellow lanyard is for sale if anyone is interested)

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Owner of:
Cooper- 2 year old Dalmatian
Darcey- 10 month old Dalmatian
Harry- 4 year old Springer
Becka - 16 year old Border Collie

Nags Equestrian -Handmade beta biothane synthetic bridles and dog equipment to your requirements.

I use a whistle for 2 reasons

1. Angus is a collie and on a lot of our walks he can range quite far from me so he can hear a whistle much easier than my voice (obviously I don't just let him run off and annoy other dogs/livestock/general members of the public etc - I always know where he is in relation to everything else round about but he loves to run and explore so when safe, I let him)

2. Angus is a collie and is prone to over-excitement at times when he goes deaf to my commands as he is so engrossed in what he is doing - at these times the whistle penetrates his consciousness much better than my voice so I can get him to listen to me.

yes i've trained Diesel to know that whistle = food, so he comes to it and gets a treat

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Yep I use a whistle too for all types of commands, but the main two are: one to return to me - instantly, another signal is given for my dogs to lie down, where they are, and not to move until I get to their sides and give them the "that'll do" signal.

I also use another sound to get the dogs to stop what they're doing, and look at me for instruction/direction, but I tend to rely on the recall and stop and drop.

Whistles are safer because:

1. You can't sound "angry"
2. Everyone has the same "voice"
3. The sound carriers further
4. No-one knows the name(s) of your dog(s)
5. It sounds more professional

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Remember, winners never quit and quitters never win!

Yes, and I have to disagree ^^ you can vary the sound an awful lot with a whistle. For example, for a stop with my dogs on lead, it's a soft 'peeeep', for my dog across the field that I want to stop, it's a 'PEEEEEEEEEEP', and if that fails, it's a 'PEEEEEEEEEEEEP' and take a step forward. And then there's shepherd's whistles, brilliant fun!

It really should have been the next step after the voice/hand signals, never got around to the whistle. Should really make an effort to introduce it at some point, they seem rather handy.

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Going to sound awfuly common, after dropping my whistle over the fields I quickly learnt the builders whistle ( 2 fingers n mouth )
Works really well for me,Loki stops dead when I do it, might not come back but stands still.
Comes in handy at concerts too

problem with a shepherds whistle is I'm still at the stage of I can get a note out of it - but not the same one with any consistency yet - so I'm still using an ordinary one. Will switch when I can use the shepherd's one without causing confusion

I was going to because my son can whistle loudly and Dougie comes running. I can't whistle so bought one of the acme ones, Dougie lies down immediately he hears it lol so because I wanted it for recall I haven't carried on ought to really

Yes i use a whistle as sassy likes to explore and she knows if ive got the whistle she has to come straight back also saves me shouting and losing my voice

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