Teaching The “Release” To Bulldogs
I have trained several dogs to schutzhund titles (with excellent scores in the bitework phase, I might immodestly add) bowdown and one to a French ring title, all of which require that the dog stop biting the decoy on one command and either go into a “guard” (barking but not biting) or retreat to the owner’s side as quickly as possible (that would be the French way… ha ha ha!) cool
Biting the decoy is, without a doubt, the working dog’s biggest thrill. At least for the kind of dogs which should be doing the work. For them it is the ultimate; you would be hard pressed to find anything on earth which stimulates them more.
So how does one get an adult pit bull to release on one command, quickly and cleanly, and either return or guard? How do you reach through that “battle haze” and gain control? Is it possible to train this without force? ANY force? huh?
Absolutely. thumbsup I have trained all my bulldogs to release without correcting them in any physical way. One should remember that a bulldog has a hunting/baiting/fighting heritage. The uglier the battle is, the more zoned the dog has to become to survive. Pain must be met with harder struggle. To survive, a fighting dog must ignore pain – to back off when pain is applied is to die in the pit. Sad ↓
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