Ancol Variable Dog Training Whistle Adjustable Pitch

Ancol Obedia Variable Dog Training Whistle

A 6.5cm whistle from Ancol's Obedia training range with a twist-adjustable bar, so you set the pitch yourself rather than accepting whatever the factory chose. That matters because a whistle only works as a cue if it sounds the same every time, and because some dogs respond visibly better to one pitch than another — being able to hunt for that pitch is the whole argument for a variable whistle over a fixed one.

The other argument is range and consistency. Ancol's point is that a whistle carries further than a shouted name and does not change with the handler's temper or breath, which is exactly what a recall cue needs. A dog three fields away hears the same signal from a tired handler as from a fresh one.

Performance & Benefits

• Twist-adjustable bar sets the pitch, so you can tune the whistle to the dog and to your own hearing.
• Carries further than the human voice, and is often easier for a dog to pick out.
• Gives a consistent cue that does not shift with emotion or fatigue, unlike a spoken command.
• 6.5cm long — it lives on a lanyard or in a coat pocket without noticing.
• Useful for recall, the stop whistle and turn signals in gundog and general obedience work.
• Supplied in plastic-free packaging.

Suitable For

• Recall training, whether starting from scratch or rebuilding a recall that has failed.
• Gundog and field work where a stop and a turn need distinguishing.
• Handlers whose voice does not carry, and open ground where it will not.
• Multi-dog households, where each dog can be given its own pip pattern rather than its own pitch.
• Less good where several people will whistle the same dog and the setting is likely to get knocked — a fixed-pitch whistle is more reliable there. Ancol make a Constant Frequency Whistle for that, which we do not currently stock.

How to Use

• Set the pitch by twisting the bar, then test it outdoors rather than in a room — pitch carries differently in the open.
• Note or mark your setting so you can return to it if the bar is knocked.
• Charge the whistle first: whistle, then food, dozens of times at short range, before you ever use it to call a dog off something.
• Settle on a fixed pattern for each cue — for example multiple short pips for recall, one long blast to stop — and never vary it.
• Wipe clean with a soft damp cloth after use and store it dry.

Specification

• Length 6.5cm.
• Twist-adjustable pitch bar.
• Part of Ancol's Obedia training range.
• Ancol product code 177000.
• Plastic-free packaging.
• Ancol publish no frequency or pitch range in hertz, no material composition and no lanyard, so none of that is stated here. Some retail listings quote a frequency figure; Ancol do not, and we have not carried one over.

Care & Caution

• Small and hard — keep it out of reach of dogs and young children. It is a choking hazard, not a toy.
• Do not blow it close to a dog's ear, or to anybody else's.
• The pitch bar can be nudged out of position in a pocket. Check it against your noted setting before a training session; a changed pitch is a changed cue as far as the dog is concerned.
• Wipe clean with a soft damp cloth and store dry. Ancol do not state that it is dishwasher safe, so do not assume it is.