T3 Whistle - Light with a Punch

Light with a Punch sounds like an ad for Mike’s Hard Lemonade. If you are a reader of my blog, you will know that is my favorite alcoholic drink. I don’t drink very much but when I go to trials, my drink of choice is Mike’s Hard Lemonade or Cranberry or Pink Lemonade.

However, this is not about my drink of choice but my whistle of choice. I like my Corian but also wanted to add another whistle to my arsenal. I had been using the Baby Brass Blaster with great results but it hung heavy on my neck. It is still a nice whistle though.

Bonnie Block uses a T2 whistle and I was very fascinated by it. It had nice pitch and the sound carried quite well. She had gotten when she was in the UK many years ago and no one sold the T2 anymore. It was light and had a good punch. I like having a whistle that I can do a good punch to it, for when I want to convey “some command” and REALLY MEAN IT. An example is when Roo is on the muscle on the lift and I want him to DOWN NOW.

I went home and started to look online for the T2 whistle. I soon discovered a new model had come out and it was the T3. I had just got the Corian from BorderCollics Anonymous and soon my new T3 whistle arrived.

I danced with delight.

It was lightweight and sturdy. It is almost as lightweight as the plastic whistles. It is medium in size and the air-hole was of proper size. I slipped it on my beaded lanyard that was made for me by Lani Dorman and went out to test it out.

I took Roo as my test subject. He can be on the muscle. I set up sheep to have a heavy draw and sent him. I did a couple of practice whistles in the house but soon realized that I should have done more. He didn’t take my come-bye whistles so I stopped him on with my voice. I repositioned the whistle and blew it a little softer and *poof* Roo, ran to the come-bye side and away we went. I did quarter flanks, half flanks and full flanks. I blew it soft and medium range. He did well.

For the true test, I had him push the sheep to the far corner and against the fence. I set it up so if I didn’t command Roo at the proper time, he might speed up along the fence and do a very fast fetch. I let him gain some momentum and as he turned his shoulder to gas up, I blew a hard, loud down.

Roo skid to a stop and water flew up all around him. He stopped in a large puddle of water and looked to me. I blew a tiny, soft walk up and he softly and carefully inched in and then brought them at a nice pace. For those of you that know Roo and how opinionated he can be, this was quite nice. He also never fought me on the whistle and was relaxed. That makes a big difference.

We did some more work and he was spot on and I was quite pleased. I had no issues hitting high notes as well as deep note. This whistle is made out of titanium and is made by Rob Drummond.

So now, my whistle line-up are the Corian and the T3. I am quite pleased with both of them and the excellent quality, pitch and ability to produce clear sounds. What I really like was the ability to reproduce the whistles so quickly with these whistles than having to practice for hours. Now I have a good arsenal of whistles, excellent dogs and the only handicap is I, the handler.

I would suggest a T3 whistle. It is a bit pricey but well worth the price. After all, if your dog doesn’t stop at the top when you whistle, what value is the whistle? I am glad that Bonnie showed me her T2 that sunny day. And no doubt Roo and Nan are happy that I got some whistles that are not harsh but convey true meaning to them.

You can order it from BorderCollics Anonymous

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 A question was raised if the sound could be heard at 600 yards...this is the reply from Rob
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I think a dog should hear the whistle fine at 600 yards.

A few years ago Marcus Bainbridge, former owner of Colliewobbles, told me a customer sent him a comment about the then new T-2 whistle he had purchased. This man was in Scotland. He said he had used the original Titan made over ten years ago and was disappointed with it since he couldn’t get enough sound out of it and he tended to over blow it. When the new version of the original Titan came out, it was suppose to be an improvement over the first Titan by having two different whistle holes. He again was disappointed with it. When I designed the T-2, I corrected the problem with the whistle holes to get greater sound with ease. This Scotsman told Marcus he thought this whistle was the best whistle he’d ever used and he purchased a couple more. He used these for work on the hill and said he’d use no other whistle. The T-2 sold very well in the UK & Europe which I think is a testament to how well they work. Obviously the T-3 follows the T-2 with a similar design and function