I have both my dogs trained to the whistle. Each dog has its own whistle. This allows me to control them independently.
This may not look that impressive but believe me it takes a bit of work to get each dog to work positively to its own whistle and have the confidence to ignore any commands issued via the other whistle.
Basically you need to train the dog to know the pitch of its own whistle and disregard any commands for any other whistle. It is the disregarding part that is the difficult bit.
I start by training each dog to stop and recall to it's own whistle. This is one to one training.
I then work each dog to its own whistle while the other dog is walking at heel.
I then work the two dogs 180 degrees apart from each other. This allows me to control each dog without confusing or unsettling the other.
When both dogs have mastered this, I start recalling them individually while they are sitting together. I start from around 20 feet and gradually increase my distance. The videos show me recalling the dogs from around 60 yards. I could easily double this distance but I would not be able to capture it on film easily.
This is great work for the dogs and really gets them stimulated mentally.
I also work each dog individually using voice commands and I've recently started using foot signals and I've been experimenting with remote bleepers to issue commands. I'm constantly building new exercises into our daily routine.
I believe any dog can be trained to perform at this level. It simply takes patience and consistency.
