How To Use Dog Whistle Training to Your Advantage

Dog Whistle Training

There are myriad philosophies regarding how it is best to train your dog. With the popularity of televisions shows like “The Dog Whisperer” and “It’s Me or The Dog” there is a greater emphasis being placed on understanding our furry companions rather than the harsher ideologies prevalent in the past. Before, human beings used physical, cruel punishment to cow their dogs into obedience. This is a method that utilizes negative reinforcement in order to force the animal into acquiescence. Now, people generally believe it is much kinder and simpler to use dog whistle training methods over many of the ways of old.

This form of training usually entails positive reinforcement. This means giving rewards when the dog does something correctly. These rewards help to give the whistle meaning. When the dog does something correctly, blow the whistle and give them a reward. This will make them learn what you want from them when you blow the whistle, and they will want to perform the act because they will learn that it means they are going to be rewarded. It has been asked whether or not the whistle is painful to dogs hearing, as having a whistle blown very near to our own ears can be hurtful.

Typically this is not the case. Naturally, the force with which a whistle is blown alters the volume, but the principle behind the dog whistle is that it produces an odd sound rather than a very loud one. It is a sound not often present in nature, which is why the dogs respond to the dog whistle, not because it is painful but rather because it is interesting and unusual.

Dog whistle training, as most other forms of dog training involve multiple repetitions to work. The dog must either be shown to do something correctly, or caught doing something wrong before the whistle is employed. The act must work in conjunction with the whistle so that the dog associates them together and either knows how to respond to the whistle, or begins to avoid the activity that brings the whistle.

The reason positive reinforcement works better is that it is easier to get a dog to do something rather than to attempt to break a bad habit. Bad habits usually require punishment more severe than hearing the whistle, and use of the whistle focuses more on initiating commands rather than acting as punishment. Dog whistles are a tremendous way to train a dog because their frequency doesn’t contribute to the noise pollution of an already voluminous world.

It also carries better than does a human voice, so the risk of being unheard by the dog is lessened, as is the strain of shouting. Not every dog can respond to every whistle, so if trying dog whistle training, it is wise to be aware of whether or not the breed you are trying to train has a slightly different hearing range than the whistle employs, because otherwise they may be hearing the same silence as their masters no matter how hard you blow.