Quote: Ariane Gauthier

.... The coach thinks I am nuts

See? That means "doing it correctly."



(But you have to work up to it as a distraction)

I've practiced running counter-clockwise around my girl when she's in a down stay. After reading this thread, I tried running the other way (clockwise) and she broke her stay.

Opps! One more thing for us to work on; one step at a time. Walking first and then slowly moving up to running.

Yep...,.walk, skip, run,jump around, over etc etc. Also like Bob mentioned....walking away...coming back, walk past & away again. I walk down the field stop & stand with my back to them, turn around & stand there...walk back & go past them, turn around & then turn & walk further away....etc.etc.etc. My dogs NEVER know what I will do next & they know to lay there until I release them. They would sit there all day with total focus on me until I release them.

I even go hid behind a tree or a car in the lot..go sit in my truck...drive down the driveway..stop & drive back. Anything you can think of. Be the FOOL. Who cares...you dog will be the one to hold a down no matter what goes on around them.

But like we have said...BABY steps. It takes a good amount of time to get this solid.

Also I NEVER release them from standing in the same spot or your body facing them in the same position. If you do they will start to key on that spot & position of your body & anticipate the release.

Yep, my dogs think I'm crazy! But I have their FULL attention always.

Keep training! Have fun with it.

Excellant suggestions Anne. I'm going to start doing this but I'll keep a log as well so I know how far we've come and how far we have to go.

 Quote: Kristin Muntz

^-- I tried this last night (the, um, dancing around a dog in a stay) Poor guy got VERY confused at first. Clearly I need to act the fool more often

You might want to start out with a slow dance. Going right into a jitterbug just may be to much for the dog. Soooooly build with "any" distractions.

 Quote: Debbie Martin

I've practiced running counter-clockwise around my girl when she's in a down stay. After reading this thread, I tried running the other way (clockwise) and she broke her stay.

Opps! One more thing for us to work on; one step at a time. Walking first and then slowly moving up to running.

Sorry to laugh at that but dogs can be so situational. Some more then others.
First, great that you realized what you did wrong. Just remember to add every distraction and changes in distraction slowly. That even means when your circling the clock in a different direction.
Remember that "slowly" the first time you decide to jump over the dog,DON'T! You need to just STEP over the dog till it easily accepts that.

Laugh away Bob. I know I did.

Stepping over her is not a problem. Because of her size, I can't have her getting up as someone steps over her or it would be a catastrophe!

I taught her as a pup to stay down if someone steps over her, but if they say "move!" she needs to "move!" and right away.

Anne said;
"I even go hid behind a tree or a car in the lot..go sit in my truck...drive down the driveway..stop & drive back. Anything you can think of. Be the FOOL. Who cares...you dog will be the one to hold a down no matter what goes on around them."


In AKC obedience at the mid and upper levels of obedience you'll have to even leave the building. It's a 3min sit and 5min down with the handler out of sight. In addition to that your in a 40ft square ring with as many as 11 other dogs next to your dog. The ones on each side will be about 2ft away.
In Schutzhund you will be hiding behind another blind for often 10-12 mins while your dog watches the other dog on the field doing it's ob routine. That will include the retrieve by the other dog.
None of this is hard to get to as long as the handler is consistent....ly random in the proofing stage. LOL!