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Instead the handler sharply tells the dog “No!” at the instant that it gets up from the down, in order to mark for the animal the exact moment where it went wrong. Then he strides calmly over to the dog and lays hold of it by the scruff of the neck forcefully but not violently, drags it bodily all the way back to the spot it was left to stay and mashes it back into the down, taking little care for the dog’s comfort or dignity in the process. He then lets go of the animal, turns on his heel and walks away again. During the entire procedure, he says only two words: “No!” when the dog gets up, and “Stay!” as he turns the animal loose after the correction.

The correction itself, while unpleasant for the animal, is not violent or vengeful. The handler depends upon persistence rather than retribution to convince the dog that it is in its best interests to stay where it is left. As many times as the dog breaks, the handler calmly and forcefully drags it back and mashes it down, a little more harshly each time. Eventually the animal will give up and hold the down stay in spite of the distractions we offer it, and then the handler goes to it and praises it.

For the long down the dog must be calm and rock-steady (and sound under gunfire). (Howard Glicksman’s V Igor von Noebachtal, Schutzhund III, FH.)
The handler uses a piece of food in the right hand to lead the animal into a stand.
2. Habituating the dog to gunshots

For a steady dog with good character, gunshots are not frightening or in any way a problem—certainly nothing it must be trained to withstand. However, in dog training it always pays to be careful. Once created, problems with sound sensitivity can be maddeningly persistent and even insurmountable.

Therefore, we take some trouble introducing a dog with even a very sound character to the gun, and definitely not in the context of a down stay where it has nothing to think about but the gunfire. Instead, we introduce the gun during play.

The handler brings his dog onto the field and begins to arouse it and play with it using a ball. When the animal is very excited, an assistant fires the gun several times from a distance of seventy-five to 100 yards. The handler watches his dog closely, and if the animal shows any sign of a startled response, he waves the assistant even farther away. Only when the dog shows absolutely no sensitivity to the sound of the gun will the assistant begin to advance, coming progressively closer to the dog as he shoots the gun. After just a few training sessions, he should be able to fire the shots just fifteen or twenty feet away while the handler keeps the animal preoccupied with vigorous play.

3. Combining gunshots with the down stay

Once the dog appears to be totally oblivious of the sound of the gun during play, we are ready to fire the gun over it during a down stay. However, to avoid any potential problem, in the beginning we take two precautions. First, the handler remains close to his dog and watches it for any sign of anxiety in response to the shots. Second, the assistant goes back out to 100 yards to fire the first few shots, advancing toward the dog only when the handler tells him to.

GOAL 5: The dog will stand on command.

It is important to teach the stand right from the beginning, rather than wait until the animal is two years old and ready to advance from Schutzhund II to Schutzhund III. Too often, we delay introducing the stand until the last few weeks before the dog’s first Schutzhund III appearance.

The choice of command is also a consideration. The two most obvious choices—“Stand!” or “Stay!”—are not ideal because they begin with the same sibilant consonant as “Sit!” and are therefore likely to be confused with it. Consequently, we use the command “Back!” for the stand.

Important Concepts for Meeting the Goal

1. Standing for food

2. Standing for the ball

3. Forcing the stand

1. Standing for food

At first we bring the dog to a stand only from the sit. The handler sits the animal and then, with a piece of food, he leads the dog forward one step from the sit, at the same time commanding “Back!” Once the dog is standing, he feeds it, steadying the animal if necessary with a hand on its loin and against its stifle.

Soon all that will be necessary to bring the dog to a stand will be a small gesture that leads the animal out of the sit or down. Over time, we then progressively “fade” the hand signal out, so that the animal stands in response to the voice command alone.

2. Standing for the ball

Of all the obedience skills, we make little use of prey motivation for rewarding the stand. This is because the stand is inherently less stable than either the sit or the down. All the dog needs to do to break the stand is to take a tiny step with one foot. Once it takes this step it is then natural for it to take another. In short, the stand easily turns into a walk!

Therefore, we try to keep the animal’s response to this command very calm and quiet. We do not incorporate prey arousal into the stand because any excitement or strong attraction toward the handler will pull at the dog irresistibly, making it take that first tiny step.

Therefore, we reward the dog for stands only with food, praise and petting, not the ball.

3. Forcing the stand

Polishing the dog’s stand with force is a ticklish proposition. Because of the animal’s previous schooling on the sit and down, it will tend to quickly do one or the other any time we “get after it” and the dog becomes confused. We must find a way to use force in such a way that it teaches the dog to freeze, to lock its feet into their tracks when it hears the “Back!” command.

We concentrate particularly on stopping forward motion—getting the animal to halt and stand instantly. For this purpose a slap of the handler’s foot broadside against the animal’s forechest works quite well. Leash corrections, on the other hand, usually do not work because the dog strongly associates them with the sit and the down.

During training for the stand exercise, the handler can use a flank strap in order to prevent the dog from sitting or lying down in response to a correction.

The handler runs the dog onto the field, plays with it a little and executes a sit or down or two. Then, with the ball in hand, he turns slowly in place or walks backward so that the dog, whose attention is riveted upon the ball, follows him. Abruptly the handler commands “Back!” and taps the animal gently on the chest with his foot in order to stop its forward progress. Any movement of the paws, fidgeting or creeping forward will be corrected with this same soft but smart rap of the foot.

If reflexive downing or sitting in response to the correction is a persistent problem, the handler can try using a flank strap, a cord tied snugly around the animal’s loin. The handler can prevent the animal from dropping its hindquarters when it is corrected by applying a gentle tug on the flank strap.

GOAL 6: The dog will finish quickly and precisely.

There are two possible types of finish. In the traditional Schutzhund finish the dog goes around its handler to the heel position. In recent years more and more Schutzhund dogs have been taught the military finish, in which the dog flips to its handler’s left side directly from the come-fore position.