How to train this

:msniwonder:Well a couple months ago I came home from school and thought I heard someone in the house, as a result of this I took rex with me all over the house opened the doors and said check, and he smelled around. I was wondering how I could teach him to check the rooms in the house on command?

Just brainstorming:

You could plan out the route he'd take through the house, and then back-train it. Start with teaching him to go into the last room on command. Then teach him to go into the second-to-last room on command. Then chain those together into one command. Keep adding the earlier rooms, until he's got the whole route down.

Or you could teach him a hide and seek game, where you "hide" a treat in a room where he can see you do it, and release him to "find" the treat. Then put it in a different place, again where he can see you, and repeat. Then, when he can't see you, put it one of those two places and tell him to find it. He should check one place, and then if its not there, check the other.

Build up more and more hiding places, again over a certain route. You should probably be able to get him to search the entire house for the treat on command.


Actually, I'm pretty sure police and military canine units have trained the very behavior you want, but I don't know how. Research time!

you might try getting a friend to put scent on a handkerchief or piece of cloth and training your dog to target it or alert by sitting or scratching. start easy and close and have the some other cloths that just you have touched. give the stranger scented one a good rub on their hair, skin, shoes/feet, legs etc so that it's nice and smelly. once your dog will touch or discriminate between targets that smell different from you can start putting them a little further away or in other rooms alone and ask the dog to find them.

you can get this find or seek on verbal cue and go room to room just on the floor, then put them in the open closet etc. you should get to the point where you can point and cue find stranger or find burglar. kill intruder might be more scary for the person that is hiding in the house. :dogwink: training to find, naming the task and getting it on verbal, and using perhaps different friends scents and have them put the fabric in a plastic baggie so you don't get your scent on it.

just some thoughts on how I would do it and have heard a few friends training it. you could also have someone hide but it sort of depends on how your dog will react and if you want him to. if he might bite or attack and you want to perserve any strong response or not injure anyone then don't use a live person.

I had the same thought Snooks... I think it's a fine line and a tough one to define about how we can teach our dogs to differentiate between what's appropriate in this situation and what's not.

Originally Dave wanted Feeby to act a "guard dog" but then that also means she's going to BE a guard dog, not a house pet. And its hard to teach her to turn "off".... unless you're an animal behaviorist or expert trainer I think training for something like this might have potential drawbacks. Just my 2 cents. :msngrin:

dude when i hear someone in my house i run outside with my rottweiler and hide! xD

For guarding just have your trigger on and off practise submit as well control with large distractions. Not bite work but making your dog look menacing when it see's the person you wish them to be aggressive to. > watch him!! ok enough! (if unsure DONT do it or just have dog on a lead
i did similar for check where puppy goes and checks the rooms usually just to see if the other house mates are ok just a quick lick on hand each>> I did not have to much trouble with the search the whole place scent nose work. posted some stuff bout it in brain work for other ideas to tire your dog. So with searching have "finished" either if all of items are found or if there was none when puppy has been searching and comes back than new activity.. or "good find" when found working on getting Akamaru to speak everytime he fiinds what i have shown him a small sample of smell. only every other time at the moment after bringing it out of hiding place. will speak on cue if asked though or shown hand sign.