It really does pay to train your dog...

[jbach]

and have a solid down/stay!
pbach and I were walking the dogs this afternoon. We have been working with Nikki on items with wheels and she has been doing really well. Plastic wheels really trigger her but bicyclists snuck up behind us from the opposite side of the street. Nikki noticed when they were about ten feet behind us on the opposite side and immediately growled/jumped before I noticed they were there. I issued an immediate leash correction and "knock it off" when the prong collar popped off. (I have the clip type) I yelled "down" and she dropped. Good girl! So I put the prong back on and we went on our way.
We walk to the back of the subdivision where the road dead ends. This is where we met the bicyclist again and the boxer that was running from it's owner off leash. The bicyclists couldn't have been enjoying their ride at this point. Great...now we have to deal with several stimuli at once. The boxer wasn't rushing our dogs and Nikki had been told to leave it for the bikes so there was no immediate danger. We put our dogs in a down to eliminate distractions with the owner trying to get the boxer, and I gave pbach Nikki's leash so I could try to help round up the boxer.
The boxer was retrieved by its owner, the bicyclists had left, and we were rewarded with applause by a neighbor and their guests with the neighbor saying, "I told you before your dogs were well trained, and the restraint displayed by your dogs today is awesome!"
So for those of you training your dogs, all of your efforts from months and years of training can pay off in as little as a couple of seconds.

[Brooke&Ryan]

Nice work, jbach!

Sounds like you had a ton of distractions at once. Sheesh!

We're working on down/stay right now in class with extreme distractions. Julius' weakness are wheels as well & so we've been working on it.

Thanks for showing us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!


Brooke

[Rottlva]

:) Good work! A trainer of mine once said " your training may one day save your dogs life".... I am a firm believer of that!

[Nico'sMom]

Its so great when all the work you do really pays off and you can see the results. I am always happy when some dog is misbehaving at the park and I can call Nico right back to me without a problem. Thumbs up!

[diddybopper04]

J and Pbach, I am so glad nothing awful happened when your prong collar failed. The downs on your dogs, and their immediate response is wonderful, but this is why I ALWAYS tell people to use another collar when you are using a prong, and attach the lead to BOTH COLLARS.

[Dave Brown]

Boy, I so can't wait for my training and energy to pay off like this, I know it will, patience, she's a puppy (motd).

[Luvs]

YAY!!!! What a GREAT JOB of training you guys have done!! You should be very proud!!

It's so nice to see all your hard work pay off. It's the icing on the cake when someone else notices and comments as well

WELL DONE!!!

[jas'smom]

This was really terrific!!! especially with all those distractions!!!!! Way to go

[spoteet]

Your dogs did great! I second the use of a second collar with a prong. I had one come apart and it was not the clip kind. The links just separated and if Sajan had not had on a second collar he would have went head first down a 20 ft very steep staircase.

You guys have done well training your dogs

[Patty1231]

Great advice! And great job, guys! I've just started working with Rocco on a "down" from out of nowhere. So far, it's just been structured down/stays in class and training. Good reminder that I need to step-up the training there!

[pbach]

Months ago I posted about "What is the purpose for teaching your dog to go to the down position from walking?" The responses received and training techniques were gladly accepted and worked on. I believe that with the help of our forum members we were able to teach Nikki this very important command. Here's the link if anyone is interested. Thanks to all for the idea about a 2nd collar - every time we're in a training session our instructors have instructed us to only use the one collar.

http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/showthread.php?t=34864

These quotes really hit home for me and helped me to realize the importance of the Down Command.

Originally Posted by DNeff

...Its a safety control command. And a handy one at that.

Originally Posted by Judi W

... I consider the down your most important command, more so than even the come. Down stops all motion which means if your dog is in a dangerous position it freezes until you can go and recover it. ...

Down means hit the dirt right now without hesitation.

DOWN MEANS HIT THE DIRT RIGHT NOW WITHOUT HESITATION

[spoteet]

Originally Posted by pbach

Thanks to all for the idea about a 2nd collar - every time we're in a training session our instructors have instructed us to only use the one collar.

Sajan always has on at least 2 collars I have seen some dogs at my DVG club have 3 on during the protection part.....their fursaver, a prong and the wide leather one for agitation.

Before Sajan's ear surgery I hadn't used his prong in a long time but he always has a choker of some kind on along with his e-collar. I think he'd feel under dressed if he only had one on

[Patty1231]

I've also started wearing a second collar on both dogs. I put their ID tags on it just in case.

[sophie's-mom]

That's AWESOME, bach's!!

I can only imagine the things that were going through your minds at that time!

That poor cyclist probably thought he was in a BAD DREAM and would wake up ANY MINUTE NOW!!

[airwalk]

That's great jbach, it's the best feeling isn't it?
Same here, I started training late (10mnts old) and it had gotten to a point where I wasn't sure if I could keep my doggy anylonger, very aggressive towards dogs and etc. Now only 4mnts lager, I can say I LOVE my dog to pieces, I couldn't ask for a better dog =) We're doing our second term of training and its only getter better! Before I started training, I though there was nothing that could be done to change my dog, boy was I wrong