Bite on command?

General discussions about training
Forum rules
Polite discussions allowed

Bite on command?

Postby rodney757 on Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:20 pm

I was wondering how many of you teach a command for your dog to bite. I am having a little trouble with my dog. When a goat turns around and stares at him, he will just stare back and won't move them that well. He is not afraid of bitting though. When a goat or sheep runs off from the flock, he has no problem bitting them to get them back in line. I was thinking that it would be useful to teach him to bite on command. That way when a goat or sheep turns to face him, I can give him the bite command, to git the goat turned around. If you taught your dog a command to bite, how did you go about teaching it?

Thoughts?

Thanks
rodney757
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:05 pm
Location: Eugene, OR

Re: Bite on command?

Postby Lane Campbell on Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:10 pm

I mostly work cattle, especially purchased calves that are not "dog-broke" so I have need for a controlled bite. Over the years
my started pups have needed pulling back as they want to bite all the time. But, with this said, my older dogs get to a point
they would rather face-up and wait out the cattle. I don't usually have that much patience so I start asking for a bite.

I begin pressing my walk-up command (walk-up, WALK-UP, HIT!) this usually will get my trained dogs excited and they will
sometimes go ahead and bite. I continue to do this and after a while most dogs figure it out and will bite on command.

I would suggest that I don't ever want a dog to bite unless he is walking straight into a cow and you have given the cow a
chance to move away. To me a dog that runs by and bites at a cow doesn't have much power, and I never want a body biter.
My exception would be when driving sticky cattle I do want a heel bite, but it should be low, and just in and out.

Just be careful what you wish for as these dogs will put their life on the line if you ask them. Remember a dog like a good
horse only has a limited number of trips in them and they all seem to wear out pretty darn quick. It seems like once a dog gets
about "fool proof" they are too old to be as much help. With this in mind I have changed my training ideas and start dogs
later and don't drill as much. They learn pretty darn well on the job. Just a few ideas from a limited mind.
Lane Campbell
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:46 am


Return to Training

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron