Whistles beyond the basics

[Gloria Atwater]

Very interesting topic; now to learn to blow the damn thing.

 

And after that, you get to learn to blow it consistently. That's my bugaboo. In fact, I think if I work dogs this evening, I'll make a special point of just practicing whistles and making sure I'm not confusing poor Nick!

 

Tea, I can't whistle with my fingers unless there's a blade off grass between my thumbs. Also, I know where my hands have been and I don't want 'em in my mouth!

Cheers ~

 

Gloria

[abcollie]

This is great.

 

So, for those who think in whistles, does this mean that you mentally hear the commands as words OR that the whistles themselves just have the command meaning (to use language as an analogy--when you're learning a language, at first you "translate" the words of the new language into the language you know. As you get to know the new language better, you stop this translation and just understand--is whistling like that for you?).

 

Are there many clinics where the clinician focuses on the whistles? This seems like it would be very useful.

 

Alasdair has a really good whistle tape ... not sure if it's still around?

 

I think it gets to the point where you really aren't even "thinking" about it. Kind of like driving a car ... You don't think I must turn the steering wheel left/right ... it's automatic and you just do it. Same with whistling ... you don't think what the whistle is or when you need to whistle ... you just do it when the sheep require it.

 

I did read that learning to whistle was like learning a foreign language (language would be Anna's specialty) but I think it might even be harder. You FIRST have to learn how to blow the dang thing :@)

[Pippin's person]

Alasdair has a really good whistle tape ... not sure if it's still around?

 

I think it gets to the point where you really aren't even "thinking" about it. Kind of like driving a car ... You don't think I must turn the steering wheel left/right ... it's automatic and you just do it. Same with whistling ... you don't think what the whistle is or when you need to whistle ... you just do it when the sheep require it.

 

I did read that learning to whistle was like learning a foreign language (language would be Anna's specialty) but I think it might even be harder. You FIRST have to learn how to blow the dang thing :@)

 

 

Thanks, Candy. I had an interesting experience this week-end at a trial. I heard an unusual whistle and asked an Open handler near me what it was. She said that it must be a "steady" whistle because of the frequency with which it was being blown. I asked the whistling handler later and he described it as his "whatever the %#^*! you think you're doing, you better cut it out right now" whistle. I don't think there's a word for that in English....

[stockdogranch]

That's one of the many things that are so cool about using a whistle--you can get such nuance and variations of meaning through a whistle that seem impossible, at least to me, verbally. I don't have a whistle like the above, but have one that's not quite a slow down, but more of a "there/check in, because something else is coming/heads up" whistle,

A