I think i can help you with tracking.............

West Herts Working Trials Society

Penny Bann, The Gate House, Crabb's Hill, Hatfield Peverel, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 2NZ 01245 382661 p.bann@hotmail.com

Schutzhund

Three Shires Sports Dog Club
Secretary: Margaret Nyrvana Jones
The Tudor Oaks,
Taylors Road, Baldock
SG5 4AZ
email: kaffirdog@yahoo.com

OK, I think he'd love it.

There have been one or two Giant Schnauzers in both sports in the UK.

There is a Schutzhund Trial scheduled at Three Shires on the weekend of 31 March why not go along and watch, tracking is usually on the first day.

Trial Secretary: Lynn Hodson, 2 Broad Green, Bayford Lane, Bayford, SG13 8PT
Tel: 0776 880 7690

There is also an Open Working Trial on the same weekend
at Wood Farm, Piccotts End, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

Contact Penny Bann as above.

You could go along to watch both on the same weekend and see which you prefer.

Re – swapping:

What do you offer a dog that has the highest value item in his possession and therefore doesn’t want to swap??

Just wondered….. in case I ever have another food guarder….

I plan on going to the Piccotts end day ...

A dog which is in possession of something that is of higher value than anything else you can offer requires patience.

This is the same with those who have had issues with their dogs not relinquishing the ball, those owners either have to give up or fight them for it, which just makes them more possessive.

You have to be more relentless than the dog.

If it is a food item it is going to get eaten so there is nothing you can do with a dog which is determined to eat it (unless you want to take the confrontational approach).

If it is an item like a ball then EVENTUALLY the dog will let it go.

You have the dog on a lead (so it cannot go anywhere) and you do NOTHING until it lets go, and then you have something that you can reward the dog with which must be thrown AWAY from the dropped article.

So you may use food and throw it on the floor away from the guarded item, then throw another bit a little further and then another further still

This buys you time to pick up the guarded item without conflict and give it BACK on the dog's return.

Why give it back?

Because you want the dog to understand that giving up an item does not mean it permanently disappears.

If a dog will not take food (I highly recommend it as it lowers drive and arousal) then you can throw another toy (preferably identical to that which has been guarded).

However the problem with this is, that it means the dog HAS something when it returns, you want the dog to learn that when the dog comes BACK to you, you will not punish it or try to take something away but you will GIVE it something.

Does this help?

If you can, watch the TD stake as the standard of work will be higher, the judge Jill Carruthers, is very nice.

Thanks

Well, that is what I did - employed patience to lower arousal and made the dog realise that he too had to be patient and calm. It took time but he never ever guarded food again.(The only thing he ever guarded was raw meaty bones.)

Well I am afraid that is not what you said in your first post.

I solved the problem 'a la Cesar'. Never feed an excited dog! I put that into practice - sometimes staying up to 2 o'clock in the night before feeding him. But it worked. Eventually he realised that any sign of excitement -pacing, barking, whining, drumming of feet meant no food.

Took a while but I won. To the point that if I just stood still next to him (perhaps waiting for the kettle to boil) he would drop the food and walk back a pace or two waiting to see what he should do next.

In my post there is nothing regarding

a) never feed an excited dog
b) staying up to 2 oclock before feeding the dog
c) any sign of excitement means no food

My dogs are ALWAYS excited when they know they are going to be fed, excitement itself is not an issue.

HTH

Excitement was an issue in his case. If I let him have the food when he was excited I could not approach the space where he was eating, he would guard - and bite. Once the excitement was removed - a la Cesar - by waiting - Cesar doesn't always use physical 'touch' but people who don't watch Dog Whisperer probably don't know this. Cesar uses patience in a lot of cases. Without physicality.