Silent dog whistles

[mrs_overall]

I've seen these advertised & was wondering what they are used for? Are they really inaudible to the human ear?

[bigmamma]

Not sure mrs_overall hun . I thought that a silent dog whistle was inaudible to a human but the one I bought isn't , even though it's a silent one .

[mrs_overall]

H bigmamma xx

Thanks for putting me straight on the silent bit.

I'm not a dog owner so I know diddly squat about these things. What are these whistles used for?

[bigmamma]

I use mine for recall with the Jack Russell at night because I can't shout . I suppose farmers use them for their dogs commands too .

[mrs_overall]

OK, many thanks for that xx

[bigmamma]

I think , as this is Animals and Nature , that someone who knows more will post for you too sweetie .:-) xxx

[fredpuli47]

Yes, I've had one of those. First time I tried it ,every dog in the village woke up or stopped what it was doing, except mine. Mine glanced up, saw who was whistling, thought 'It's only him again. Some new daft idea ", and continued as though nothing had happened! The only way I knew it made any whistle at all was the reaction of everyone else's dog.

[garner]

Lol fred, my sons dogs were the same.He kept at it for a week, but no joy.g.

[bigmamma]

Lol fredpuli . My labrador just looks at me and turns away as though I was born with the whistle in my mouth , but she is 7 years old , whereas the JRT is only 6 months and reacts to it .

[Schutzengel]

The silent dog whistles are mostly used in sheepdog trials, where the master and dog work together in steering, (usually 6 to 10 sheep), around a course where the dog gathers the sheep together then steers them through a series of gates, and eventually herding the sheep into a pen. The sheepdog is taught to respond to the whistled signals, such as left, right, away, forward, etc. Points are awarded for the responses, and points deducted for mistakes. The dogs used are normally border-collies. Amazing animals.

[mrs_overall]

Thanks for the info. xx

[lankeela]

Sorry but I have to disagree with what has been said about silent dog whistles being used to train/work sheepdogs. The type of whistle used for sheepdogs is not silent, but has a different range of sounds which the shepherd uses to signify different commands (listen to them here:

http://www.sheepdogwhistle.com/sounds3.html

whereas the silent dog whistle is used to merely get a dogs attention and whether or not it then obeys your commands depends on whether or not you have trained it.
It can also hurt the dogs ears if it is not used to high frequency sounds, or is particularly sound sensitive.

[mrs_overall]

Thanks xx