Would You and How?

[CeeCee]

So as Zeek and I were back at the vet this week, I had an opportunity to see Zeek's reaction to a perceived threat. Unfortunately, the perceived threat was the vet, but on the upside his reaction was not to bite. Instead he stood about 2 feet away from the vet, looked at her, and barked at her. (It wasn't a panic bark, but rather an alert bark.) [The trigger for Zeek's reaction was the vet calling my other dog, Lila, over to her and patting her leg.]

I had him muzzled so it gave me enough time not to panic, watch his reaction, and then figure out a way to bring him back to me without putting pressure on him and possibly causing him to go forward to the vet.

As I watched him, it reminded me of a Shutzhund trained dog and then I remembered that they have a command to out their dogs. That's exactly what I needed in that moment!

So here's my question...would you/have you trained your dog with an out command and if so how do you teach it? I'm doing some extra questioning of this as historically, Zeek has not been a confident dog, but that MAY be changing - I'm still observing this.

Thoughts? Things to consider before deciding to teach this command?

 

[Tosa]

I'm looking forward to see if somebody has experience here. My dog is fearful, but there are times and situations when she feels very confident. I can clearly recognize the difference and would love to see what can i do to have more control.

About Shutzhund - it is not recommended to do this kind of trainings with dogs that have no right temperament and are not 100% well balanced, so my Tosa is definitely not a good candidate!

 

[ruthcatrin]

I don't see any harm in training it? However one of the reasons why dogs with high protection instincts aren't as frequently found in the protection sports is because they will sometimes ignore such commands as their instincts over-ride them. Obviously thats not true for ALL such dogs, but its something to keep in mind.

 

[CeeCee]

Ruth and Tosa this is my exactly what has me pausing. I don't want to open a door that I am not 100% sure about walking through - at least not when it comes to protection.

 

[ruthcatrin]

We've had SOME success with Apollo with just "I see it" when he responds to threats. BUT, we've only used it at home in response to people in the driveway or walking by. I've not had the opportunity to try it in public (which I'm just as happy with). But he seems to understand that "I see it" allows him to step down a little from the HIGH alert. You may be able to do something like that on your own.

 

[Tosa]

I agree completely. Two most important things for me were to have her box and muzzle trained. I do not use either of those on daily basis, but you never know when you'll need it.

btw I like the way you reacted - it seems right to me.

 

[Hector]

I'm a bit confused, out meaning what here?

 

[Smokeycat]

I don't know if it's the same thing but I have a stand down command for Kryten, "I've got it". It basically tells him that I can handle the threat he perceives and he can relax. That said when he does find something/someone that he thinks is a true threat he doesn't listen and he doesn't have a really high protection drive like some of the dogs on here.

 

[ruthcatrin]

I'm a bit confused, out meaning what here?

IIRR "out" is a variation of "drop it", I believe its short for "get it out of your mouth!", and is used to tell the dog to release the threat (even if its just "release from barking").

 

[Hector]

IIRR "out" is a variation of "drop it", I believe its short for "get it out of your mouth!", and is used to tell the dog to release the threat (even if its just "release from barking").

Oh then I have no advice. The main thing here is know how well the dog will listen to you and disengage from the distraction or break away from it's current state of mind under stress.