How to whistle with the Wolfwhistle
Great whistlers are not born overnight but usually within a night; with a bit of perseverance you should be able to produce some good tones after a bit of playing around with your whistling pendant! However before using the whistle with your dog we would recommend that you manage to produce consistent commands so you don't confuse your canine friend!
Have a look at the Youtube video (above) of the very lovely Henrik Nilsson giving a stellar presentation of how you are going to sound like!
And this is how to start:
Hold the Wolfwhistle by its tab and place it in your mouth, on top of your tongue, so that the semicircular part of the whistle is against the semicircle formed by your lips. Hold it relaxed but tightly with your lips, so that no air can come past! Neither lips nor tongue block the holes of the Wolfwhistle.
Relax your tongue so that it 'rests' on the bottom of your mouth. Blow gently (with tight lips) - At this point you will just hear a faint hissing sound!
Now, while you are blowing again, lift the back/base of your tongue so that is touches the 'straight' part of the whistle at the back of your mouth. This is the point when you will hear a tone! If not, play around with your tongue, always making sure that the little holes are not blocked.
Once you got 'the knack' you can let your tongue take a stroll over the 'straight' end of the whistle. That way you can vary the tones and make up melodies!
This sounds more complicated than it is! ...Basically, you pop the whistle in your mouth and play around a bit, preferably in the company of friends and a glass of wine (or in the car! But without the wine!), and before you know it, you will whistle for more!
Actually, image blowing over your bottom lip, making a sort of phew phew sound or like blowing over a coke bottle. You don't need lots of air or lots of lip pressure, just one crisp blow!
In fact, children find it quite easy to produce sounds in a matter of minutes, so there is no reason why grown ups should not be able to do it!! So no excuses!
I originally used the non-traditional Shepherd command Whey Wheeeeeet when I fed my dogs as puppies, and this has resulted in a bomb proof recall outdoors now that the dogs are grown up! Well, most of the time anyway! We will be uploading a youtube video of me showing how to whistle (oh, any make-up artists out there?)
For traditional Sheepdog commands click on the next page.
