"cshenk" wrote in message
...

Can you tell me how you trained him to back off on command?

I don't have issues there but am merely curious on the process. My dog
will just lickify an intruder to death (hehehe).


The protectiveness didn't really come out in him until he was about 18
months old, but it became especially apparent with my son. I never really
had as much trouble with him in that way, but then I'm not the one out
jogging with him at 10 p.m., and my son is his primary person. He adores my
son first, and I'm second - or at least it seems he's bonded more with my
son.

We did formal training with him, but the trickiest part was my son and I
getting on the same page with him, since my approach was a bit different
than my son's. My son actually worked with Remy on hand signals and taught
him several of those. With the proper hand signal Remy will stop barking or
wait. I found it worked better for me if I used a vocal command too. Pei
are stubborn, but when they get it - they really get it. They tend to be
quite confident dogs, so you do need to give them guidance.

When he gets too protective he positions himself right in front of you and
starts a particular vocalization that is different than his usual growly Pei
talk. His body language changes too. What works for us is to say his name
and then the word "chill." It's not conventional, but he will turn around
and look at you when you say his name, and then "chill" is the word my son
and I agreed on to always use. At first we would take hold of his collar
too and ask him to sit, but now he will just stop his "I'm the big bad wolf"
routine with "Remy" and then when he looks at you, say "chill." He will
just sit his butt down and wait.

It's not conventional, I'm sure, but it works for us. The big thing was to
take control of the situation and let Remy know the human is in control
before he decides he's going to take control himself and possibly attack.
He's never attacked man nor beast, and I don't want him to ever do so.

The formal training was to help us with the basics, particularly since it
had been so long since I'd had a dog, and my son had never had one. It
helped with the leash training and how to properly use the pinch collar -
stuff like that. It also helped us with the recall, which was harder with
this dog than my first, who was a breeze to train. Then again she was a
Lab-Sheepdog mix, who had the best of both breeds in her.

Again, I'm sure the pros here, like Dogman and S&S have better techniques
for backing off on command, but this is what works for us.