Side by Side Comparison of: Smarter Pet vs Acme

I have two retriever mixes who bark their heads off when they see squirrels in the backyard. (The squirrels taunt them, which doesn't help!) It's gotten so bad that neighbors complained, and it frustrates all of us. This whistle arrived yesterday, and it's already making such a huge difference that I just ordered two more for the other people in my household!It took a little experimentation to find the right frequency for my dogs, and I checked several online dog-training resources for tips on how best to use it before getting started. You can't just open this up, blow into it and expect your dog to read your mind. You have to set up a very clear association between your dog hearing the whistle and getting high-value treats and praise before actually introducing commands. I practiced a few dozen times with my dogs in the house (whistle, treat, whistle, treat, etc) before upping the difficulty by trying it outdoors, where there were more distractions.It's still a work in progress, but it used to take me 20 minutes to get them back in the house if they were barking at a squirrel. I just managed it in 30 seconds! As one of the websites I found in my research pointed out, the whistle never sounds happy or angry or frustrated -- it takes the emotion out of the command, which makes it easier for the dog to feel confident about how to respond. My dogs were never very good at recall to begin with, and this is already making a major difference.I was initially put off by the so-so and negative reviews, but it seemed like many of them were written by people who didn't use the whistle as part of a training program, or even on their own dogs. It won't get your neighbor's dogs to stop barking (unless you also bribe them with treats). Dogs need a reason to do or stop doing something. If used correctly, this whistle can help you give them that reason. It doesn't require a huge time commitment on your part, but it does require some. I've spent about 30 minutes total so far, and it was time well spent. Thank you, Smarter Pet!

I was skeptic to buy this as I really didn't think it would work. My neighbor has a yappy dog which they sit with on the patio on the other side of a hedge from my patio. Al you hear is "yap, yap, yap" then the word "no" from the neighbors wife. I don't know whats more annoying, the dog or the feeble attempt to stop it. "Yap, yap, yap....No." I have complained but they don't care. I tried this whistle as soon as it arrived and once I got the adjustable pitch right it does stop the dog from barking.This is the funny part, my neighbor can also hear the tone, as I can when I blow the whistle, so he knows when I am using it. He now thinks his dog is in pain when I blow the whistle, because it stops in mid bark, and he immediately takes the dog inside. So not only does the whistle work on barking dogs, it also works on pain in the butt neighbors. It's nice to have a nice quiet patio once more.

I originally bought this with multiple intentions in mind, I wanted to be able to stop my dog's barking rampages when someone's on the sidewalk or diving by, as well as to be able to call her to "come."Every time I get sick, the first thing to go is my voice, so training her to come on whistle was my first objective. Within 2 days she's got the hang of it and even when she's barking and distracted, she'll come when I whistle. Life is now so much easier with this small device around.Both the whistle and lanyard are extremely well put together, I have no concern that either will break. The lanyard is not adjustable and is much too long for me, the whistle comes down to my belly button when I'm using it, so it now stays in my pocket. My only possible concern is that one day I'll drop it and never find it.I did originally think that the whistle would come out of the snap enclosure, but that concern was unfounded. I've never seen any indication it would come lose after wearing it on the lanyard or even with it in my pocket jingling up against change, my cell phone, or keys.

My dogs have no problem hearing this from far away. I can blow it in when I'm in the back of the house (inside, with the door open) and the dogs can hear it clear on the other side of the property (outside). They immediately come running.One thing to keep in mind with reviews on this product is that **dog whistles are not magic**. A dog often needs to be *trained* to respond to the whistle- just like anything else. Just because a dog doesn't respond when you blow it, that doesn't mean (s)he can't hear it! If you are having a problem with the whistle, consult a qualified dog trainer. If you want your dog to come to you when you blow the whistle, train him/her by blowing the whistle and then asking your dog to come to you. Then praise your dog profusely for coming. Repeat. It won't take long before your dog comes to you with just the whistle. It took my dog ONE time before he understood. Well trained dogs will take to it faster, but all dogs can learn to respond to the whistle. My point is, just because a dog doesn't show interest at first, doesn't mean the whistle is defective. The problem is likely the training (or lack there of).My only complaint is the plastic that holds the whistle so you can remove it easily. This could have been better engineered. The rest of the whistle is of good quality. I don't know why they decided to use plastic there. It doesn't compromise the functionality of the whistle itself, but it's not as durable as I would have liked. I suspect that the plastic is going to break or warp/wear with use, causing it to not hold the whistle securely. Time will tell.

I say quiet followed by using this whistle, dog stops barking AND sits quietly. Tried it tonight aith a large german shepard and 2 boxers approaching. My dog growled which is his pre loud bark, I gave command QUIET with whistle blow and no problems with barking at all. This works like magic, other dogs cease barking when close to this sound. Thanks.

After conditioning my dog, it works perfectly. You have to blow into the whistle to find the sweet spot, blow to hard or not enough and the whistle may be ineffective. My dog returns every time I blow this whistle.

It's a whistle.....and it's loud. We use it to call our dog home. He likes to wander the neighborhood. He goes a block and a half sometimes and he hears this thing just fine

We have had these whistles before so knew it was a good product....if only my husband wouldn't lose them. Our package came very quickly - very happy with the service.

My border collie mix responds to this whistle better than to any call, or another dog whistle we own. It remains to be seen if he will come when in the middle of some exciting activity, but so far so good. Easy to handle.

Worked better than the more expensive ones.

I love this whistle! I've trained my dog to come back inside the house when I blow it! Great tool!

My Beagle pup responded to this first day out. It's the perfect pitch for her. She never fails to respond. Thank-you

Seems to work well. I'm still learning how to really benefit from its use but it gets my pups attention and that's the first step.

Did not get to get the full benefit from this device because the offender (dog with piercing bark) was adopted out shortly after receiving the whistle. What I appreciated most about the whistle was the email with detailed instructions. Before getting that email, I had been trying all kinds of other (ineffective) ways to adjust it's sound. Anyway, thank God it all worked out that I didn't need it any more.

This seems to work for some dogs, and not others. I tuned the sound to be somewhat like a tea kettle. Very shrill, and if I blow hard on it, I can start to feel the pressure on my ear drums. I am sure it is unpleasant to the dogs. Anyway, I went out back and blew it full volume at a larger dog behind the fence, and he stopped barking after just a few blasts that I timed to coincide with his barking. Just blew one constant, loud note while he barked. After about five of these 10-20 second blasts, he stopped barking - even when I continued to walk around my yard. However ... the little dog (puppy) in the next yard did NOT stop barking. He just kept on going. Maybe he would have stopped eventually, but I got tired of blowing before he got tired of barking. In fact, his owner came out and told him to shut up. Which is just as good, I guess. Maybe she heard the whistle and figured out what was going on? Anyway, at least half the barking has stopped.

I'm not going to lie. I've been known to sleep and Prime. This product came to my doorstep and I had to get on to my account to see if I actually ordered it. I did!!!! Don't sleep and Prime people!! Thankfully I have 4 dogs and it has been working wonders on them. Thank you Amazon!

It's kinda cheap product but surprisely works, only reason I got this is to control my dogs behaviour in our van when we go for dog walk, when our dogs sees people, other dogs or rabbits, she gets out of control barking, go crazy in the van, like tearing up our door panel, I blew up this whistle , WOW, she calmed down fast!!!! Thus, I'm deaf but seeing this action really works, when I see dog, people nearby, grab the whistle to be prepared, she starts getting rattled, I blow. My wife is deaf too, she laugh. So,, hopefully that would break her habit in the car rides. It does work for us. (so far).

I would put 5 stars, but some dogs dont shut up with this, i know you have to tune it, but its kinda hard to be tuning for different dogs and then re-tune back since some dogs react to a different tune. Lol. Our inside little loud stubborn dogs did improve though! I dont get home from work anymore to very loud DOGS. Thnx.

Works as advertised, however I wish I had purchased a bright color. I had the whistle in my "treats bag" and started running with my dog, The whistle fell out at some point and it took me a while to trace my steps and find it. Had it been a bright orange or yellow, it would have been much easier to find. The whistle is loud and with proper training, dog responds to call. I suggest putting the whistle on a lanyard.

Not a bad whistle, the Acme dog whistle can even be heard on a windy day. So rest assured that you can be heard on any type weather. No more lost loved ones!!!

My spaniel likes it, that's what counts!

Good dog whistle

I like it because it is loud and very high pitch. I don't like it because it hurts my ears if I blow too hard. I have to plug my ears before I use it. It's the high frequency that makes this a possible safety whistle too.

works great -- my dog responds when he's outside because it's high and loud.

It doesn't work that well or I am to far away from the dog...

My dogs ignore it, but I'm not going to blame the product.

Didn't work for me, most likely due to the level of hearing that my dog possesses.

It worked well for one of my doxies but not as well for the other. It only took a few times of deliveries coming to the front door with the new whistle to get their attention. The one doxie the was a little more resident still lessened barking just not as impactful as it was for my older dog

The dog responded the first few times I blew the whistle cause she was curious where the sound was coming from. After that I would blow the whistle and 0. Just goes to show you she is smarter then the master.

I had high hopes for this product but unfortunately it did not stop her barking. She would stop, look & then go back to sounding off. We have since resorted to a static correction collar which was our last choice but this has worked over all other methods tried. Whistle is nice & was as described, just didn't work for us.

Didn't come in the mail broken and whistle works so that's a good start.

average

It really didn't get my dogs attention.

Not the pitch needed. Ohterwise, well made/quality.

This product probably is working as intended, but when I tried using this in my apartment, it made my ears ring for an hour.The dog reacted to the whistle, but since I intended to use it to train him to stop barking in the house, it's pretty useless to me.

Doesn't do a whole lot. Our dog pretty much ignores it. We tried adjusting it but it didn't change the fact that our dog didn't respond to it. Maybe we are doing something wrong?

Not a fan, seems to bother my wife more than our dog... Don't get any ideas fellas.

I bought this hoping it would help with the barking. Packaging is just in a clear plastic bag. No instructions (really didn't need any) Nothing fancy--no biggie. I try it every time my shepherd barks, but it really doesn't have much of an affect on her. Thought it would be the miracle I was looking for, but it isn't. Wasn't expensive, so it's not a big issue with me. Always trying to find something to help with her barking--this just wasn't the answer.

Lower score since it doesn't "stop barking." This is a training tool to get an animal's attention. It's very good at that but does not scare anyone. I bought it to keep a coyote at bay. He still comes, just knows I'm there. It gets his attention (and the cat's and the dog's), that's all.

I would adjust it in many different ways but my dog looks at me and keep your whatever she was going whether it's good or bad. I'm sad that didn't work I was really hoping to train my dog with a dog whistle that she might respond to but she didn't. I guess she's too stubborn for a dog whistle.

Didn't work for what we needed it to, but the sellers refunded the purchase because it didn't work for us (satisfaction guaranteed). That was pretty awesome! Can still hear the dogs barking in the wee morning hours if anyone has other solutions!

After reading the reviews, I thought that this might work for our aging spaniel who seemed uninterested in responding to calls for her to come back.The only thing from which this whistle got a reaction was from my husband's laughter as I blew and blew and the dog did not even twitch in response. Now I keep it in my purse in case I ever need attention!

Emits a sound audible to humans- dog whistles are made to be audible to a dog's hearing range and just outside of humans'. This one is extremely low pitched even for a regular whistle.

i tried this on my cairn terrier, it scared him so bad he wouldnt come out form under bed. he will not come to the whistle why i bought it. no use to me.

It is so loud, I can hear it, but my dog doesn't even raise her head. I was told by her vet to use it for training her, as she has lost partial hearing. But she hears my hands clapping and responds better than this whistle. Not a good fit.

This tool did not work at all, I tried all different settings, looked at the instructions it came with, researched online, and read reviews on amazon to try to see if I was using it incorrectly. My dogs (I have two French Bulldogs) looked at me with cocked heads whenever I used it and then continued to go about their business doing whatever it was at the time I was trying to get them to stop doing. Even with the anti-loss cover and lanyard, it fell off while around my neck while we were outside on a walk. It was nearly $10 wasted :(

The dog whistle is very hard to find the correct pitch for the dog. The instructions tell you how to lock the pitch once you figure it out, but I have not yet been able to do this. I would not recommend this product.

It was a waste of money for me. I might as well be whispering to get my dogs attention. I suppose if you have one dog and are within 5 feet of the dog, it may work. I have six, free-range dogs who like to join the coyotes in a howlathon and it has no effect at all.

Nothing silent about this...I don't know if I am a dog or what, but I have yet to find a dog whistle that is silent or even quiet to the human ear. It gets the dog's attention but also everyone in the neighborhood.

This seemed to have no effect on my dogs. I'm pretty sure they heard it, because at first they turned and looked at me. I thought it would prevent their barking while in the back yard. But no, it did not. Would not recommend.

useless for my pomeranians....they could have cared less. i have 3 poms and when guests come over they bark for a few minutes. tried using this to train them-tried all together and all separate. worked on none of them.

Did not work for dog with recent hearing loss

Don't like this at all! Not loud enough for working my dog outside.

Doesn't work

This acts and sounds just like a regular whistle. My dog didn't even react. Snuck it into the dogpark and when I blew it, ONE dog out of 20 looked and came towards me. The rest didn't blink. Next time I will invest in a real dog whistle.

Had high hopes, but alas the whistle is terrible quality and arrived broken. It was so cheap that it wasn't worth returning but still very disappointing.

Blew the whistle with the dog sleeping on my lap....our dog never moved. There are likely better products available so I would take a pass on this one.