Release command

[katm4110]

Any tips on getting Stella to release the tug when I want her to?

[Choochi]

LMAO! she HAS become a tug monster!!

I'm not sure if there is a vid of it out there but I like the basic premise of how Michael Ellis teaches outs.


Play tug, holding the toy firmly with both hands. After a few seconds of play, freeze and immobilize the toy. The dog may initially be confused, try to tug harder, stand there with the toy in their mouth and stare at you... key is patience and wait her out. Don't say any thing, don't try to elicit a response, just wait. The dog will eventually out of boredom or confusion release their grip, as soon as that happens, that's the magic cue for you to immediately re-animate yourself. Cheer "yes!" and immediately resume play. Move the toy away from the dog in a quick jerky movement just enough to initiate prey drive and make them lurch forward and grab the toy and re-engage in play with you. Continue to tug, act happy, then freeze and repeat the entire process.

It can be choppy and weird at first and different dogs respond differently but with enough patience they all get it. Once you are at a point where the dog will release when you have stopped play, you can add the "out" command. Judge your timing, but you want the verbal cue to be heard just a second before the dog releases on their own. Rinse repeat once again. Pretty soon the dog will be responding to your verbal "out" with nice clean quick outs as they know the sooner they do so the sooner the fun game will restart.

Taddaaa! I made it sound rather simple and your patience might really be tested, but this does work.Trust in your dog's ability to learn

[Christie M]

Exactly what Marta said.

This is the same method that Ivan Balabanov uses in his "Obedience without Conflict" DVD series. If you need a visual, you can join www.bowwowflix.com which is like NetFlix but for all dog related videos. The Ivan series is available for rent on there and you don't have to invest in actually buying them. Lots of the Michael Ellis videos are available on Leerburg.

[Choochi]

Exactly what Marta said.

This is the same method that Ivan Balabanov uses in his "Obedience without Conflict" DVD series. If you need a visual, you can join http://www.bowwowflix.com which is like NetFlix but for all dog related videos. The Ivan series is available for rent on there and you don't have to invest in actually buying them. Lots of the Michael Ellis videos are available on Leerburg.

The only difference I've found is that Ivan (at least in the DVD, I don't know if he's changed the method since the DVD was recorded what looks like a good many years ago) is that he was verbally reprimanding albeit mildly and using prong pops to get the dog to let go if they didn't do it on their own, then marking the action.

BowWowWow is great... too great! But I have found it takes for ever to be able to get any Ivan DVD, they must be either super popular or they don't have too many copies.

[katm4110]

Ok just did this by the 4th time she letting the tug go after 10 seconds of me stopping! The first couple tries were rough lol especially since she can almost pull me over.... not doing this on hard wood floors anymore! When do I want to start saying the out command?

[Choochi]

Ok just did this by the 4th time she letting the tug go after 10 seconds of me stopping! The first couple tries were rough lol especially since she can almost pull me over.... not doing this on hard wood floors anymore! When do I want to start saying the out command?

You don't want to name the behaviour until it is as perfect as you want it to be. Sounds like you should wait. Oh and if you want unfair advantage find a spot where you have traction and she doesn't

[katm4110]

[
You don't want to name the behaviour until it is as perfect as you want it to be. Sounds like you should wait. Oh and if you want unfair advantage find a spot where you have traction and she doesn't

Yeah I'm totally wearing shoes next time!

Not naming the behavior until she has it perfect makes so much sense. Is that some thing I should do with other commands as well? I'm such an asshole I want to wake her up to play tug again... I'm so excited about her commands.... it really blows my mind that she is able to pick this stuff up SO fast.

[leih merigian]

[
Not naming the behavior until she has it perfect makes so much sense. Is that some thing I should do with other commands as well?

YES!

Everyone is always in a great hurry to add verbal cues, but you're better off to wait until the behavior, whatever it is, looks exactly like you want it to look, before you start adding verbal cues.

In the case of outing, when you can stop the tug toy and she immediately releases it, and she'll do this every time, that's when you add the cue, as Choochi said, just before you stop the motion.

[bannerd]

A instant way of getting them to release is to take the metal hook on a collar and lightly rake it across their teeth. Usually I take a small collar and cut it about five inches so the dog cant see it. Make the dog sit and present the tug, then let him go at it. Start petting his head and then present the command "release, loose etc" once.. the dog should let it go. If not keep petting his head and just rake the teeth gently and they will let go instantly. At that moment praise the dog. This took my dog five minutes to figure out.

Some dogs when doing bite work get so worked up that they will not let go. Typically a bite stick is used to break the energy of the dog. The metal clip on the dog collar is crazy effective. Just don't let them see it or it will not work

[Choochi]

A instant way of getting them to release is to take the metal hook on a collar and lightly rake it across their teeth. Usually I take a small collar and cut it about five inches so the dog cant see it. Make the dog sit and present the tug, then let him go at it. Start petting his head and then present the command "release, loose etc" once.. the dog should let it go. If not keep petting his head and just rake the teeth gently and they will let go instantly. At that moment praise the dog. This took my dog five minutes to figure out.

Some dogs when doing bite work get so worked up that they will not let go. Typically a bite stick is used to break the energy of the dog. The metal clip on the dog collar is crazy effective. Just don't let them see it or it will not work

Who the hell taught you that as a method of teaching an out????

[LyonsFamily]

A instant way of getting them to release is to take the metal hook on a collar and lightly rake it across their teeth. Usually I take a small collar and cut it about five inches so the dog cant see it. Make the dog sit and present the tug, then let him go at it. Start petting his head and then present the command "release, loose etc" once.. the dog should let it go. If not keep petting his head and just rake the teeth gently and they will let go instantly. At that moment praise the dog. This took my dog five minutes to figure out.

Some dogs when doing bite work get so worked up that they will not let go. Typically a bite stick is used to break the energy of the dog. The metal clip on the dog collar is crazy effective. Just don't let them see it or it will not work

That sounds very odd. I would think, especially if you did this during bite work, that a dog is likely to bite the hand holding the collar ring, especially with an inexperienced person or dog. Perhaps this is a new training method, but I've never heard of that.

[katm4110]

I wouldn't get my hand that close to Stella's mouth when we're playing tug for anything!

[Marjolein]

I would never rub any steel thing on my dog's teeth It would damage them...

I do now a method where a young dog is forced to out by pressing your thumb on their tongue, this opens their mouth for a second and you get to pull out the toy. But, I only know the use of this method in an "out" without command, in order to keep drive high. We used to teach the SAR dogs to run after their next "victim" running away with their toy, without any pressure on releasing the toy to create more drive. If a dog would not release it's toy when seeing a person running off with the next (similar) toy, we used to do this thumb pressing thing. It only works with young dogs that do not know the trick too much, they will get the point after a couple of times and will release without command everytime the next vitim runs away with a toy. This creates drive for an "alive" =moving toy versus the "dead" toy in their mouth.

Long story, anyway, we never used a forced out like this thumb pressure to teach the out command, just used it as a way to out. Teaching out is best done like Marta subscribed, or, in an older dog that knows the command but needs to learn it applies ALWAYS you will correct the wrong (=holding on to toy) behaviour, and then reward straight after the release by continuing playing with the toy.