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Agree with Kat.  Now, I have only had one encounter with a not-so-nice dog, but this type of "git it" training worked for me.  I taught mine to chase a friend's dog as a playful thing so he doesn't run from it.  He will put his head down and chase it wherever it goes with no direction from me and never let's the dog get behind him.  When I did this on trail one time when some jerk sent his dog after us, I turned the horse toward it and told him to "git it!" and he ran towards it. Don't know if it would work everytime, but he seems to think it's a game instead of a fearful thing.

 

Stacy

k s swigart <katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Karen L. said:
>
> > How do you teach a horse to attack a dog to defend itself,
> > especially when you take your dogs riding with you and
>  have
> > taught your horse to tolerate dogs?
>
> When my horses are loose, any dog is fair game. I did not teach them
> this, I think they just learned it by being out to pasture up against
> the Cleveland National Forest where coyotes, bob cats and the occasional
> mountain lion were regular visitors.
>
> However, under saddle, I teach them to take cues from their rider. So
> if a dog runs up or along or underfoot that I want the horse to ignore,
> I half halt the horse to remind it that it is supposed to be paying
> attention to me. If I want the horse to chase the dog (or whatever
> else), I point the horse toward the dog and say "Git 'em" and push it
> forward.
>
> If you are smart, you start out teaching the horse this by pointing it
> at something that you are absolutely sure will run away. This gives the
> horse confidence. You repeat this exercise until the horse has learned
> that "git 'em" means "find it and chase it until I tell you to
>  stop
> chasing it." A half halt means "pay attention to me no matter what other
> things are out there to distract you."
>
> In my experience, "seek and destroy," is much easier to teach a horse
> than "pay no attention to that monster." So if you have successfully
> taught the latter, teaching the former is duck soup. Although,
> interestingly enough, it can also be easier to teach the latter if the
> horse has already learned the former (since the former teaches the horse
> confidence).
>
> kat
> Orange County, Calif.
>
>
>
>
>
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