Developed by Augware LLC, FREE
I’d known for a long time that whistles are great for dog training, and I even bought a few over the years, but could never remember to carry it with me consistently enough for my dog, Eddie, to get used to it.
So I was thrilled to discover a virtual dog whistle that I could always have with me, on my iPhone! This, I thought, could be just the thing. I had visions of my dog running back to me at a silent signal instead of looking at me and running off into the distance, laughing…
The app installed fine, and it’s pretty intuitive to use. The frequency and pattern sliders could be better as it’s not always easy to nudge them just slightly. Nevertheless, I managed to create two distinct settings that – although outside of my own hearing range – Eddie seemed to respond to. My plan: to get him to associate one setting with bits of yummy steak, and the other with a spray of water (he hates water!)
The initial training, with setting #1 and the steak, went well. After just a couple of hours of on-and-off training, Eddie would race to me from anywhere in the house when the iPhone whistled for him.
Outdoor training was more challenging. The whistle worked well – but only as long as there wasn’t something more exciting on the other side of the park! It seems that even with an iPhone, lots of patience and repetition is needed if you want a well trained dog!
Thought I’d seen it all?! Sounds weird, but I’m actually going to give this app a try. My dog runs off a lot in the park too. Anyone else used this and met with success? Wonder if it would work for dogs that are a tad deaf … if they can’t hear your voice, they might hear a high pitched whistle?