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.

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

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.