Flute or Whistle Recommendation?

Suzie · Post by **Suzie** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:54 pm

Ok so... Recently my 5 month old puppy, Willow, has shared her disgust with the pitch of the standard C flute and the D whistle I have. She's perfectly fine with the piano ranges which is quite odd but hates even the lowest register of the C flute. Do you [anyone!] think a low D whistle or flute would be suitable in range that wouldn't bother her? I don't know much about dogs but I THINK she dislikes the sound of the flute... Sometimes she barks and sometimes she howls (around a middle E natural LOL!) but doesn't do it all the time and never during my piano time... Maybe I'll just lock her up in the other room in her kennel when I decide to play =)

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:01 pm

Some pets (and some people) just don't care for the sound of whistle, or flute, or both.

I don't think you're likely to have much luck in changing your pet's behavior by changing the flute or whistle that you are playing.

For the sake of her ears--and yours!!!--she should probably be in another part of the house when you are playing.

Curiosity: does the puppy react the same way to recordings of flute or whistle? If not, it may not be the sound that she is reacting to, so much as she may be finding the physical appearance of you playing to be disturbing. (Or, perhaps, simply that you're paying attention to something besides her...

)

Best wishes.

--James

Suzie · Post by **Suzie** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:21 pm

Thanks! She's fine listening to recordings of flutes and whistles, etc. and doesn't show any jealousy towards anything (including the piano, rabbits, other dogs, etc.) but just does this when I play flute and whistle... Odd!

Carey · Post by **Carey** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:34 pm

Neither of my two dogs mind my whistles, but one of the two leaves when I play a flute, after giving me a bothered look. The other just sleeps nearby regardless. This dog also doesn't like me making puffing noises with my lips either.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:15 pm

I had a dog when growing up that used to howl at my sax playing. Is your dog leaving the room or joining in with your playing? Maybe he thinks it's a duet...otherwise, if the sound was really bothering him, he'd run off to another room.

Eric

Suzie · Post by **Suzie** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:26 pm

She hangs out around me and does it... I don't think she's ever run away (if so it was when she was really little (8-12weeks)) but she usually just hands around the area where I am and does it. The first time she did a HORRIBLE howl and I thought she hurt herself somehow and it was like a bloodcurdling scream! LOL She does that VERY rarely but will synch a middle E sometimes lol! I was thinking that a reason for liking the piano would be because there's 2 parts vs the one part on flute/whistle. *shrug* Thanks for the input!

dontf · Post by **dontf** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:36 pm

my dogs come to me and howl when i [rarely] play on a button accordian or harmonica, the wooen flutes don't seem to bother them. maybe you could borrow a wooden flute or low D whistle and try it out to see if you get the same reaction.Don

david_h · Post by **david_h** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:05 am

Our previous dog really hated the whistle, it was not fair to play it while the old boy was in the house. So I decided to try to condition the new pup to it by practising whilst waiting for him to ask to go out after being fed. Seemed to work, he would sometimes sit on my lap.

Now he is older he tends to go out of the room once I get into the second octave on the whistle. It could be the high pitch, but sometimes he comes over and sits at my feet when I pick the flute up, then wanders off when I go into the second octave.

Maybe he only likes single octave tunes, but I suspect he has worked out the difference between noodling through a few song tunes when I have a short break and settling down for serious practice so no for attention from me.

There again, a flute does look a lot like stick, which round here mean attention and fun.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:55 pm

One of my dogs would leave the room when I played my flute; the other would lie at my feet. (The first dog is no longer with us, alas

) Anyway, when I play my pipes, the "Flute OK" dog stalks out and flings herself onto the floor outside the room with a big dramatic sigh -- usually just as the cat comes tearing in from wherever to drape herself across my left knee while I play (I've decided the pipes spark an atavistic memory in her -- perhaps of the night she was conceived?).

This cat's also fine with the whistle, even the Eb whistle. Every other cat I've had, however, hated whistle in any key as well as flute above, say, second A and expressed this opinion by howling nonstop.

FWIW, previous observations also reveal that roosters will wake up and crow at a tinwhistle, too, especially when played in the middle of the night ... but hens don't seem bothered by it.

Conclusion: I'm glad most of the people I've played for aren't so direct in their lack of appreciation!

Suzie · Post by **Suzie** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:44 pm

Ok, I did a test today during an ADD moment! I WAS taking photos of a flute but then grabbed the whistle and messed with it a little bit facing in a different direction of the puppy and she didn't mind it. A few minutes later she came over and then protested a little bit. I decided to try to get her familiar with the junky whistle itself (probably a BAD idea but just experimenting with her for now!) and I was thinking if I can get her comfortable around the whistle (in case she finds it threatening visually or something) then maybe she'll warm up to it? Photos below... Thanks for the input! -Suzie