Lynton Crosby and dogs....

What is it about Lynton Crosby - the evil mastermind behind the Tory election campaign – and dog whistles? Today in the Guardian it is mentioned again:

But, guided by the advice of his Australian election strategist, Lynton Crosby,Mr Howard is recycling populist themes with strong tabloid appeal - "dog whistle issues" - to which certain voters respond in Crosby-speak.

What does it mean? According to Jim Swenson at the Environmental Earth Science Archive:

The only secret about it is that dogs can hear sounds of higher pitch than people can. So we make an ordinary whistle with a very high pitch.

If you are training your dog, any whistle is a good thing. A whistle is simpler for a dog to notice than words. To him it's a distinct, clear, simple, special barking with no words. Like barking, it is either there or it's not. The dog only needs to interpret the occasion of the whistle-blow, not the vowels and consonants and sentences people keep hoping the dog will understand.

Dogs aren't very good at hearing vowels and constants, let alone sentences. It just isn't built into their brains yet.

Truly chilling. Lynton Crosby considers us mere dirty muts to be manipulated. Moreover is Howard about to ditch vowels and consonants and sentences in favour of whistling?