Dog Whistle

Drew Grgich | Jan 20, 2009 Utilities

User rating: (9 votes, average: 3.78 out of 5)
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Ah – the joys of childhood. Your first time burning paper with the rays of our nearest star and a handy magnifying glass…your first time viewing the forbidden joys of an R-rated film. . . and your first time using a dog whistle to annoy the hackles off man’s best friend. Of course, nostalgia colors a man’s perception and what seemed cool when I was a boy is pretty boring now. Today, kids have much more exciting things to do with their idle time. They can throw a CD in the microwave, download things I’d never dare dream of from the Internet . . . but what’s this? They can use their iPhone or iPod Touch as a dog whistle to annoy canines? This I gotta see!

The mad genii at Augware have released their new app for the iPhone/iPod Touch upon an unsuspecting world and it is a fairly fun little application that does just what it sounds like — create a noise that only those with four legs and Alpo-breath can hear. This app, conveniently known as ‘Dog Whistle‘, is $.99 and is available for download now.

The interface of ‘Dog Whistle‘ is pretty simple. A large button at the top produces a sound when tapped. Two sliders let you choose the Frequency of the sound as well as the pattern. Frequencies range from approximately 1kHz all the way up to 20kHz. Patterns range from a single tone all the way to an oscillation that range from 200 to 1000 Hz. There’s a sound meter to let you know when sound is emitted — even it is beyond human auditory range and a ‘bark threshold’ setting that lets the device automatically emit sound when a threshold is reached.

I used the dog whistle I bought as a child to make my dog cock its ears when I blew the whistle. I’m pleased to report that Augware’s Dog Whistle had the same effect on my loving pooches who no doubt are still nursing a headache from the inaudible racket I was making. It is also fun to adjust the sound to just within human auditory limits to see how long it takes to annoy your cube mates.

Trainers could — in theory — use this app in coordination with standard training to get their charges to respond to auditory commands. For example, they could train the beast to perform a trick when one burst is made or sit with two bursts. 

In all, this app is definitely worth the shekels if one  either has canine interests at heart or for the sheer novelty factor. I found a new way to connect with both my dogs — who were on the whole not pleased — and my childhood. Now to throw some CDs in the microwave . . . .

Nothing beats a good slow beep.
Nothing beats a good slow beep.
Pure tones are for . . . well, purists.
Pure tones are for . . . well, purists.
Fast beeping is for giving your dogs a headache.
Fast beeping is for giving your dogs a headache.

A fast oscillation is for giving your co-workers a headache.
A fast oscillation is for giving your co-workers a headache.
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  • JC

    It doesn’t work. My dog didn’t even prick up an ear.

  • Ryan

    Nnnope, this one is a dud. Two of my dogs didn’t budge… :-|

  • Dave

    I am all for fun and games – but just yesterday I discovered something about this app that is highly alarming, and what very few people realize so far is that this app enables an ipod to become a device that isn’t actually as harmless as your posting would tend to imply. And please be clear. I’m not bitching at you for your post. I just want to shed some light on something that most people are still unaware of……

    Due to an incident which was triggered by a Dog Whistle App problem that occurred just yesterday, I went on a bit of an information search on Google and discovered some stuff about high-pitched sounds and the effects on humans.

    Apparently many people under the age of 20, have hearing that is so good that the sounds produced by this app can be heard by many of those in this age group. And although it’s not a directly relevant topic, there is a parallel available which I am going to come back to towards the end of this response, in that I also learned that there are many patented devices that are exclusively intended to be used to cause intense physical harm and disorientation to people and are being used as non-lethal weapons by police and military to control crowds, criminals, and terrorists.

    So yesterday, what happened was a typical small group of boys existed in a class my daughter was in, and one of them (doing what teenage boys do…) elected to show off to his friends by showing them what he had discovered – which was that the Dog Whistle app could cause a reaction in some people in the class. When the app was initiated and the sounds emitted, the effect caused my daughter a great deal of excruciating pain. And it wasn’t just her who was being affected. She was simply being affected the worst of all the girls around her that were also expressing the sound was hurting their ears.

    And then what further enabled the problem to go on unchecked, was that because the tones are inaudible to the teacher, the thoughtless teen who was perpetrating the attack was able to continue to pretend he was not the originator of the attack and over the course of the classroom period, he then continued to re-offend–all the while appearing nonchalant, and gaining peer points from other thoughtless friends around him who were giggling and mimicking the affected girls who were all whimpering because of the pain that was being dealt to them.

    If the sounds emitted by this app were merely annoying, that would be enough to keep the rating of this act to nothing more than a nuisance–which shouldn’t really cause all that much of a fuss–after all, boys will be boys. On the other hand, if something like this causes high levels of pain, then the act of causing it to happen then crosses over to the domain of intolerable behavior, and must be dealt with by all who are responsible. This includes the app writer, the cell phone companies, and the schools — all of whom have an undeniable part in correcting the situation. The app writer can immediately respond by ceasing the sale of the app, and writing software that the cell phone companies can run which will disable the app, and the schools and school boards should become active in putting a rule into place for this as an offence that can offer something like a 3-day suspension for the first offense because it very truly does fall under the category of being a weapon if it causes physical harm to others. (which is the reference to my information notation I mentioned above)

    The reason I have no choice other than to take up such an adamant position is that my daughter was still having headache effects from the incident late into the evening, which means the likelihood of that for other kids is probable as well . . . and we live in a society that doesn’t tolerate harmful acts to others.

    Although she indicated she is fine this morning, I hope that my addition to the posting allows people to realize there is an unforeseen problem here. In an office environment where an adult population means that age-related hearing loss diminishes the likelihood of a similarly painful event, perhaps then adult pranksters could use this app and not hurt someone, and maybe some would find it “fun to adjust the sound to just within human auditory limits to see how long it takes to annoy your cube mates”. But as long as anyone can be caused physical pain, this changes a cell phone into a device that is harmful enough that it has the capacity to act in a way similar to the non-lethal devices police and military are using.

    From the armchair of someone who is unaffected, this may seem like nothing more than a ranting complainer – but I still feel that my concern needs to be heard by the designer of this app, and have them stop selling it immediately, and to have the cell phone companies run software to debilitate the app. If kids (young or old) want a dog whistle, let them go out and buy one of the kind you blow through.

  • Chama

    Dave, I ended up here worried about the same thing with this app. One of my roommates was excited to show everyone last night, and the minute he turned it on I was in so much pain I couldn’t even see. It was in the higher frequencies meant for dog training. I’m 23 and this is affecting -me-. The even higher pitches I couldn’t fully hear, but I could feel the vibrations in the back of my head, and woke up this morning with a migraine and wanting to throw up. It’s been over 12 hours since he used the app and I feel absolutely terrible and have the after-effects of the ringing inside my head.
    I think the problem with this is the combination of the high pitches at a loud volume, being emitted by a device that uses electromagnetic waves (not a traditional whistle). It was just this sudden white, needling pain inside of my head that hasn’t gone away since, hopefully soon though.

    The app itself is a great idea, and I’m not the kind of person to just ruin anyone’s fun. :[ This really, really hurts some people though.

  • Annette Johnston

    This dog whistle really hurts people, babies too! – not just a little- ALOT!

    Almost a week ago, whilst I was preparing food in the kitchen, all of a sudden I felt extreme pain in my ears, I turned to the table where my neice and her baby sister were, and there was the baby covering her ears tightly with her wee hands and by the look on her face she was experiencing something very unpleasant too.
    Unknown to me My 12 year old niece triggered her iphone dog whistle.
    Six days later, my ears are still sore and in addition I’ve had headaches all week. I’m 51 years old.
    I feel this needs official complaint, BUT TO WHOM?

  • donovan

    this app is awesome! i annoy the heck out of people in high-school! me and a bunch of people at lunch turn all of ours on at once and get the whole lunchroom!!! i love it!!!!

  • Michael

    Dave,
    While I sympathize that some people will use an app like this for less than admirable purposes, your suggestion that because it can be used to cause harm, the app writer should therefore stop selling it is more than a little off base. What you’re suggesting is akin to saying “because baseball bats can be used to harm people, Louisville Slugger should stop making them.”

    A just response would be to punish the jerk of a kid playing with the app, educate the teaching staff, and leave the app author the heck alone.