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I at this meeting of multiple clubs (Sch, FR, Mondio all on display) yesterday and saw something I had not seen before (in my very newb experience in clubs and seeing other dogs). A BIG Rott was doing some Schutzhund sleeve work. The decoy slipped the sleeve, the Rott sat down on top of it growling at the decoy, the handler stepped up and the Rott started getting really noisy at this point, the handler pulled up on the prong (pulled the Rott into a sit and kept lots of tension straight up in the air) and was making direct eye contact with the Rott, which at this point was obviously pissed and making eye contact right back.
The handler was telling the dog to platz, the Rott was not responding, just mad. Eventually the handler defused it by turning away and leading the dog around him then platzing, successfully.
As it turned out, the Rott had fanged himself on the sleeve (this was what I heard). I can't figure out whether the handler diffused the situation properly or not...the eye contact with the arm straight over the sitting Rott while applying all that tension up struck me as dicey...kind of hard to describe. Glad it worked out as that guy was not huge and that Rott was bigger than him and would easily have launched into the guy's face if it had wanted. I know it got real quiet in the facility (there was about 30-40 people there) when this was going down, it was tense.
So not to criticize the handler...I didn't know him, didn't know the dog, and am probably not describing the situation correctly...
but what are good ways to defuse dogs that hit a trigger like this? I don't know if the answer is the same for sport or service dogs. How should one react when a dog decides that it's not really happy with you? How do you posture yourself, how do you keep distance between you and the dog, what eye contact is best, etc.?
The handler was telling the dog to platz, the Rott was not responding, just mad. Eventually the handler defused it by turning away and leading the dog around him then platzing, successfully.
As it turned out, the Rott had fanged himself on the sleeve (this was what I heard). I can't figure out whether the handler diffused the situation properly or not...the eye contact with the arm straight over the sitting Rott while applying all that tension up struck me as dicey...kind of hard to describe. Glad it worked out as that guy was not huge and that Rott was bigger than him and would easily have launched into the guy's face if it had wanted. I know it got real quiet in the facility (there was about 30-40 people there) when this was going down, it was tense.
So not to criticize the handler...I didn't know him, didn't know the dog, and am probably not describing the situation correctly...
but what are good ways to defuse dogs that hit a trigger like this? I don't know if the answer is the same for sport or service dogs. How should one react when a dog decides that it's not really happy with you? How do you posture yourself, how do you keep distance between you and the dog, what eye contact is best, etc.?