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Choose the Right Whistle for Your Gun Dog
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October 27, 2009
Choose the Right Whistle for Your Gun Dog
I’m partial to my whistle. It’s a hand-me down from my older brother, who bought it in 1986. It has tooted for two Labs, one Golden, and now for Pritchard. It’s an Acme whistle with a pea, and the human teeth marks on it prove it has seen some good times and bad. But I often wonder if I should be using something bigger or newer or just plain different.
To get an answer I called my friend Steve Snell, owner of Gun Dog Supply. Snell owns 13 dogs (a mix that includes retrievers, pointers, and brittanys) and keeps six whistles in his truck. “And I always have two whistles on me,” he says. “Because one day I actually shut my whistle in the gate of the pickup.” Here’s what he had to say about your choices:
Distance and Volume: You need to ask yourself in what type of situations you plan to use your whistle. A retriever trainer who will be working on long blinds needs a whistle that has the power to carry, such as a Roy Gonia. A flushing dog trainer doesn’t need a whistle that will cover insanely long distances. In those cases an oblong Acme whistle would work fine.
Pea or No Pea: A pea in a whistle allows you to trill, which can be a helpful command. Snell uses a trill when he wants his pointing dogs to quarter. But a pea can freeze if it gets wet in cold conditions, and then you have nothing to toot. Precisely why duck hunters working in extreme weather prefer a Fox 40—a pea-less whistle that has mega power. (It’s also the brand used by professional refs in the NFL and NBA.)
It’s Your Choice: Even though some whistles are better suited for different situations, Snell still feels there’s room for personal preference. There is no such thing as a magic whistle…just solid training.
Be Consistent: No matter what whistle you choose, to get the most out of it you must be consistent with your tones and know how to blow it. For most of us, we’ll never need more than three whistle commands.
So, I’m sticking with my old whistle. It’s got history and it works. How about you? Swear by a certain whistle? Any tips I left out? Let’s hear about it.
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Comments (11)
I have a newer acme whistle and some guys I was training with said it sounded like a Gonia. We blew them side by side and really couldn't tell the difference. I have used that whistle and one of the loud refs whistles and both hurt my ears which to me was not good. Don't need my ears ringing while we're working. lol I finally settled on a mega whistle with the Gonia in it It doesn't bother me at all and works great with my lab at short and long distances. I have heard a lot of the new pealess kinds of whistles at hunt tests this year. At a hunt test in Valley NE everybody was hearing them and saying they sounded great. But when I was working our own hunt test here in southwest Missouri I was out shooting flyers and it seemed to me that being out where the dog was a lot of dogs seemed to be ignoring them more. They just didn't sound as well out there. I worked a master and a senior test so these dogs weren't pups. This may sound weird but they just seemed to lack the authority. It got to where I would know how a dog was going to perform depending on the whistle if it had to be used. Only bad thing about my mega whistle is that during dove season I had it in my teeth when a dove flew over and when I mounted my double and fired it hit the whistle and gave me a fat lip. LOL Now I make sure to spit it out first.
It's the Acme Thunderer for me. Tried and true.
guncrazy74-- Interesting point about hearing those whistles from the dog's position and not inches away from your ear...also, very funny about the Mega whistle and dove season...sounds like something I'd do. -D
I carry an old Acme whistle that belonged to my mother. It's AT LEAST 60 years old and still going strong!
When is it too late to train a dog to come to you with a whistle? And what's the best way to accomplish that if they are already three year and inclined to wander?
smileycat- It's not too late to teach a dog to come to the whistle. But the whistle won't cure the wandering problem. That's more of basic obedience lesson that has to be reinforced first before you teach the whistle command.
Assuming your dog comes when called here's what I'd do. (I'd still put the dog on a check cord for the first few times.) Give the Here command and blow three short blasts immediately following your vocal command. Give the dog praise when it comes. Repeat. Repeat. Etc. Then I'd move to occasionally dropping the vocal command and just use the whistle blast. Mix in a few vocal Here's and then whistle to reinforce. And you should be on your way.
But, as stated, if the dog won't obey the Here command to start with I'd hold off on the whistle until you've cured the basic problem. Good luck. -D
I actually have two on my whistle lanyard, a plain Roy Gonia and a Gonia mega-whistle for when it's really windy or the dog is on a long retrieve, but to be honest I think they hear the regular whistle just fine even at a distance.
And when I duck hunt I just use a regular Gonia so I can have a little more room on the lanyard for calls.
I really just started using two whistles because well, all the trial guys were and it looked cool...
Interestingly enough I've never had the pea freeze up on me, even in conditions that froze up my calls and turned them into kazoos.
I have a Roy Gonia that I blew for four other dogs before Magnum.I do like the fact that it sounds like a hawks squeal to hold the bird but dont know if it ever held any for me.I still use it on windy days and will come in handy for much more training to come.Most of my training has been with a Acme 210.5 for Magnum though and it came in handy for the New York pheasant opener.Imagine twenty guys lined up working in a straight line spaced just far enough apart for their dogs to work in front of them.Now imagine them all blowing the same whistle pheasant flushing everywere hunters shooting, birds falling ,whistles blowing commands.My dog was just passed one year and with that Acme 210.5 quiet whistle he didnt miss a command. No one had that whistle and in the tall goldenrod fields of Carters WMU he flushed two birds and always knew were I was because this was a tone different from all other hunters.He for a young Springer did great I couldnt ask for more with all the seeming chaos around him to him and so did the quiet whistle.
I hunt with a Lab. I carry a Red Gonia and a car key on a leather thong which I put on when I get into my car to go hunting. Reason, I have been known to forget things. I regularly use a mag-a-whistle and use it all the time. I blow it softly when the dog is in close, and loadly when he is way the heck out there. Works good. When I forget the Mag-a-whistle, and am in the blind, or out in the field, you would be surprised how well that little red Gonia works. I haven't lost the car keys yet, but am sure some day it will happen.
I forgot to mention that I wear that red gonia whistle and the car key under my shirt.
I have been working with hunting labs since I was eleven. That's almost five decades. I bought a nickle plated Acme to train the first one. It's in a box of junk somewhere at the old family home back in Montana. Haven't used it for forty years. I'm a hunter not a field trial guy. I don't like stuff dangling around my neck when I'm hunting, especially for upland birds. It's bad enough having a goose call to deal with (and only ONE!) when I'm hunting over deeks. My dogs were/are trained to my voice commands, not some generic whistle noise that any other guy in the field might be blowing too. Of course, the dogs I use stay fairly close when we're hunting.
Speaking of whistles, when I was back in Montana pheasant hunting a few weeks ago, I ran into a couple of guys who were business associates of one of my crew. They both had whistles around their necks that I swear were big as my fist. Gad, who would want something like that clunking them between the lungs every step of the way! They declined to hunt with us, probably because I didn't have enough of the latest technocrap gear and I drive a rig that is ten years old. I can tell you that their dogs didn't do any better than my two gals. I already had a limit and it wasn't even afternoon.
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I have a newer acme whistle and some guys I was training with said it sounded like a Gonia. We blew them side by side and really couldn't tell the difference. I have used that whistle and one of the loud refs whistles and both hurt my ears which to me was not good. Don't need my ears ringing while we're working. lol I finally settled on a mega whistle with the Gonia in it It doesn't bother me at all and works great with my lab at short and long distances. I have heard a lot of the new pealess kinds of whistles at hunt tests this year. At a hunt test in Valley NE everybody was hearing them and saying they sounded great. But when I was working our own hunt test here in southwest Missouri I was out shooting flyers and it seemed to me that being out where the dog was a lot of dogs seemed to be ignoring them more. They just didn't sound as well out there. I worked a master and a senior test so these dogs weren't pups. This may sound weird but they just seemed to lack the authority. It got to where I would know how a dog was going to perform depending on the whistle if it had to be used. Only bad thing about my mega whistle is that during dove season I had it in my teeth when a dove flew over and when I mounted my double and fired it hit the whistle and gave me a fat lip. LOL Now I make sure to spit it out first.
smileycat- It's not too late to teach a dog to come to the whistle. But the whistle won't cure the wandering problem. That's more of basic obedience lesson that has to be reinforced first before you teach the whistle command.
Assuming your dog comes when called here's what I'd do. (I'd still put the dog on a check cord for the first few times.) Give the Here command and blow three short blasts immediately following your vocal command. Give the dog praise when it comes. Repeat. Repeat. Etc. Then I'd move to occasionally dropping the vocal command and just use the whistle blast. Mix in a few vocal Here's and then whistle to reinforce. And you should be on your way.
But, as stated, if the dog won't obey the Here command to start with I'd hold off on the whistle until you've cured the basic problem. Good luck. -D
It's the Acme Thunderer for me. Tried and true.
guncrazy74-- Interesting point about hearing those whistles from the dog's position and not inches away from your ear...also, very funny about the Mega whistle and dove season...sounds like something I'd do. -D
I carry an old Acme whistle that belonged to my mother. It's AT LEAST 60 years old and still going strong!
When is it too late to train a dog to come to you with a whistle? And what's the best way to accomplish that if they are already three year and inclined to wander?
I actually have two on my whistle lanyard, a plain Roy Gonia and a Gonia mega-whistle for when it's really windy or the dog is on a long retrieve, but to be honest I think they hear the regular whistle just fine even at a distance.
And when I duck hunt I just use a regular Gonia so I can have a little more room on the lanyard for calls.
I really just started using two whistles because well, all the trial guys were and it looked cool...
Interestingly enough I've never had the pea freeze up on me, even in conditions that froze up my calls and turned them into kazoos.
I have a Roy Gonia that I blew for four other dogs before Magnum.I do like the fact that it sounds like a hawks squeal to hold the bird but dont know if it ever held any for me.I still use it on windy days and will come in handy for much more training to come.Most of my training has been with a Acme 210.5 for Magnum though and it came in handy for the New York pheasant opener.Imagine twenty guys lined up working in a straight line spaced just far enough apart for their dogs to work in front of them.Now imagine them all blowing the same whistle pheasant flushing everywere hunters shooting, birds falling ,whistles blowing commands.My dog was just passed one year and with that Acme 210.5 quiet whistle he didnt miss a command. No one had that whistle and in the tall goldenrod fields of Carters WMU he flushed two birds and always knew were I was because this was a tone different from all other hunters.He for a young Springer did great I couldnt ask for more with all the seeming chaos around him to him and so did the quiet whistle.
I hunt with a Lab. I carry a Red Gonia and a car key on a leather thong which I put on when I get into my car to go hunting. Reason, I have been known to forget things. I regularly use a mag-a-whistle and use it all the time. I blow it softly when the dog is in close, and loadly when he is way the heck out there. Works good. When I forget the Mag-a-whistle, and am in the blind, or out in the field, you would be surprised how well that little red Gonia works. I haven't lost the car keys yet, but am sure some day it will happen.
I forgot to mention that I wear that red gonia whistle and the car key under my shirt.
I have been working with hunting labs since I was eleven. That's almost five decades. I bought a nickle plated Acme to train the first one. It's in a box of junk somewhere at the old family home back in Montana. Haven't used it for forty years. I'm a hunter not a field trial guy. I don't like stuff dangling around my neck when I'm hunting, especially for upland birds. It's bad enough having a goose call to deal with (and only ONE!) when I'm hunting over deeks. My dogs were/are trained to my voice commands, not some generic whistle noise that any other guy in the field might be blowing too. Of course, the dogs I use stay fairly close when we're hunting.
Speaking of whistles, when I was back in Montana pheasant hunting a few weeks ago, I ran into a couple of guys who were business associates of one of my crew. They both had whistles around their necks that I swear were big as my fist. Gad, who would want something like that clunking them between the lungs every step of the way! They declined to hunt with us, probably because I didn't have enough of the latest technocrap gear and I drive a rig that is ten years old. I can tell you that their dogs didn't do any better than my two gals. I already had a limit and it wasn't even afternoon.
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