What flips the switch and how to deal with it.

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ksylz
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Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:22 pm
Tell us about yourself: My pack consists of a GSD/Boxer mix, GSD/Coonhound/Lab mix, two cats now we are waiting on our third, a Dutch Shepherd!

What flips the switch and how to deal with it.

Post by ksylz »

Long post (advance warning) the other day I found guts(rabbit I think) in my yard, well the dogs found it first lol. It’s either a cat, hawk or some other bird of prey, that killed it. No biggie, Otto got a taste and then I got them all away and chucked the guts in the forest. My property boarders a state park. So we have deer, owl, eagles, hawks, snakes and who knows what else. Last night I took the dogs out and had a flashlight. No issues they didn’t see or hear anything. I thought I heard a cat but I think it was the big branches creaking. The dogs heard nothing so I attributed it to the branches.

This morning I get up take the dogs out and I bundle up hat, gloves, coat and flashlight. It’s gusty winds so the trees are creaking. The recycle men are in front of the next door neighbor and another truck is off in the distance. I can see the red and white lights blinking. We step one foot on the grass and Otto starts barking and pulling ( he wears a prong collar) he’s in full gonna-Get-the-bad-guy mode, toward the same spot where the guts were. (We had walked close to the tree line last night, no issues) there So I’m popping the collar and you would have thought I had a 1500lb
Great White on the end of the leash. He’s pissed at me that I won’t let him go. He’s on two feet whipping around acting like a k9. I’m telling him no, popping the collar and he’s snarling and snapping at me. Not being vicious to me but a let me go work you are really pissing me off mood. So I finally get him turned and he grabs ahold of my coat sleeve. He’s not letting go and I get it, he’s mad. I get him to let go and we get back in the house with the other dogs. I’m like WTH! I did make him listen to commands to sit down and stay once we got in the house to make sure he was paying attention to me. So I get ready for work and go to take them out again. This time I had the e-collar on also. Yeah, I know but I needed more control than the prong. I told him to heel, we all went out. He was on high alert but no barking and pulling. I toned him and he was paying attention to me but on the way to being distracted and that switch being flipped. We went back inside with out any explosions. So anyone or any K9 officers or people with former K9’s have any thoughts? I’ll be calling our trainer in a bit but I just wanted to know if you all had any “flip the switch” moments and what you did. Thanks for reading this novel!
Hawk’s Nest Pack Ksylz, Hawk, Freya, Otto, Monster and Binx
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Dutchringgirl
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Tell us about yourself: I am a mom of 6 life forces - 2 kids and 3 dogs 1 hamster. I live in Ct. I have trained Ringsport and Agility and have 2 DS, one 15 and 7 and a Basset Hound Cookie who is 2
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Re: What flips the switch and how to deal with it.

Post by Dutchringgirl »

this does not have anything to do with police K9, this is a DS. they are high prey drive dogs, it has nothing to do with the police k9, they are actually better trained than that. I used to help train them.

Your switch is the prey drive kicking in. A police k9 is highly trained to alert the officer but do nothing until the command is given, the drive is well controlled from years of intense training, not just a few yanks on the collar.

Get a good trainer and do tons and tons and tons more of recall work and obedience work. The prong and ecollar will help you but good solid training will prevent what you experienced.

I worked hours a day every day for my girls to stay until released with a high reward in front of them. Work with the trainer and work at home daily and that will help with situations like that.
Lisa, Thalie CGC & Sadie, Cookie the Basset, CT
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ksylz
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:22 pm
Tell us about yourself: My pack consists of a GSD/Boxer mix, GSD/Coonhound/Lab mix, two cats now we are waiting on our third, a Dutch Shepherd!

Re: What flips the switch and how to deal with it.

Post by ksylz »

Thank you, yes we are with a trainer one in one and doing obedience classes, beginner now and will be going into advanced beginner. There was definitely something he wanted in those woods. I did speak with my trainer and he also said it is just that breed. For as long as he has one we have a ton more training to do.
Hawk’s Nest Pack Ksylz, Hawk, Freya, Otto, Monster and Binx
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