Posted by TiberiusRex
on August 20, 2009, 11:58 am
192.149.125.249
First, let's read this:
http://members7.boardhost.com/k9ps/msg/1250722218.html
"The dog figures out the threat versus the source "you".
A young Woman with a male dog is the easiest thing in the world to get riled up because he FEELS the need to protect her."
OH BOY! We had a short, dirty lesson to work more on the OFF (of which, i'm still too quiet. Have to learn to yell and PROJECT!!!)
A casual observer was noticing the tenseness/anticipation in Rex as we walked back over to the backtie spot and on a whim suggested that we hold that calm "off" for a few minutes rather than that 30 seconds to a minute we'd been doing. In that time, HB isn't a threat, so Rex should not treat him like a threat.
With the line drawn on the ground, HB stayed laying in the dirt, remaining a nonthreatening object. I walked away a couple yards away and sat with the onlookers.
What did we notice? 
Once I was gone, he stopped being tense and relaxed. HB was literally a foot away and kept poking towards him, playing in the dirt, barking, wheeling and cajoling, but Rex was turned off. Once I wasn't there, and didn't need to be protected, he settled the hell down! He looked casually at HB a few times, but then would look back over at me, waiting for the next job to do.
It reminded me of the thread (the pictures, more specifically) a while back on prey guarding.
It was interesting to me to see the direct correlation that he was protecting ME from HB. A pretty satisfying/safe feeling for sure. 
We did the on/off a few times, and inbetween, I walked Rex up to observers and greeted and let them pet him to keep up the socialization aspect.
Then worked on HB being able to walk around Rex while he was offleash in a downstay. That took some mindreading and concentration, lemme tell ya!
By the end of the night, we loaded Rex up into HB's dog trailer, and HB was able to stand 2-3 feet away without Rex being edgey. At one point, he even put his hand up to the grate, to no reaction. I can attest that this dog HATES HIS GUTS 
, so the fact that he's listening and learning to trust when I say "everything's okay" is amazing and shows soooooooo much trust.
WOOOOOOOOOOO! I was so damn proud.
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