Any ideas for a non-voice operated 'whistle'?

LadyGascoyne

LadyGascoyne

Still Fig-uring it out...
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I'm sure most of you have seen my posts about my wonderful border collie, Rio, and his great relationship with my dad.

My dad has just gone into hospital for yet another cancer surgery and will lose his voice box and have to breathe through a tube.

One of his hardest goodbyes before going in was to Rio and I know it's because he doesn't think he will be able to call him.

Does anyone use or recommend a non-vocal whistle that doesn't rely on breath either? I know he'll be a long way of taking dog for walks but it will be a comfort to him to be able to summon him and know he hasn't lost that too.
 
I'd train him to recall to something else whilst your dad recuperates. A bell or a squeaker or something. The most important thing to remember is new signal - old signal and then phase out the old signal.

So for example bell -'Rio' or whistle-reward. It's the most basic form of classical conditioning, think Pavlov's dog, creating a link between two previously unrelated stimuli etc etc. Five seconds is usually the time it takes a dog to link behaviours.
 
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How close does the dog stay when being walked and is the environment noisy? are first things you need to think about.
If the dog stays close will a Kong squeaker tennis ball be loud enough? if the dog like tennis balls it can be rewarded with a non squeaky one. No batteries needed either.
If something a bit louder is needed how about a mobile electric doorbell? You could have a receiver in the garden too and your dad could call the dog is from the garden with it?
I will keep thinking
 
Thanks everyone, some really clever ideas here.

They are in the countryside so quite quiet. Rio will stay very close in busy areas but he does like to run when he's out walking.

Realistically, I think my dad will be a long way off going for a walk in the woods, but getting him to come inside from the garden would be good- it's a fair sized garden and he likes to play outside.

I'm thinking that if my dad is in the downstairs bedroom when he gets out of hospital, he might just want to see him for a cuddle while everyone else is out at work. Doorbell might be fantastic.

ETA, Rio has hand signals in place so you can get him to lie down, come, stay or run left or right from a distance so it's more about getting his attention and bringing him in when he can't see us.
 
There are some great vibrating collars designed for deaf dogs on the market that might work well with Rio. The vibration is not really strong and there is no shock, but some dogs can react negatively to them so it depends on Rio's character.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-Animals-Remote-Control-Vibration/dp/B004BR6SOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3omLPZt46z0

A quicker solution would be to use a squeaky toy or some kind of bell as suggested previously. I hope it works and that your dad is on the mend soon.
 
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