Sport Dog Guarding - Page 5

Susie,

You could be right, but we are dealt the cards we have.  My daughter's dog balances well and my wife's dogs have always balanced well, but of course there is one degree of separation there as well.  Looking over my notes on Paco from when I got him at a year old he didn't balance well then, his defence was non -existent, he was locked in solid prey, with no barking, just bouncing. 

What is his counter during the drive?  He blows Bob's comment about dog's going for a ride out of the water. 

Bob,

Why in the video is he guarding from the edge of the blind and in the pics he (and his son) look nice and centered?

Does Cruise do the one hop and settle in the bark or does he continue the hopping?

Looking at Axel's pedigree, Bob, I can see why Koos liked him so much! Lots of Tiekerhook dogs back there! 

Not sure Im getting this...

How can we expect to see the serious side of the dog when there is so much conflict created by the handler doing the helper work..especially the frontal approache?.  I assumed initially that this was not your dog, and was thinking to myself that the dog lacked the fight and confidence I would want to see in the guard and while on the bite.  I did like his grip which appeared calm and full.  However, perhaps we would see improvement in those areas if he were on a helper that was not his handler..perhaps not. 

I think my concern would be with working my own dog that the mindset of the dog in protection would not be what I want the dog to bring to the work.  I dont want conflict or play in the work.  I want intensity, dominance, fight etc.  How can I expect that of the dog if he must on one hand obey me in his daily life and in phase A and B.  Then I want him to fight me..I can see this confusing a dog especially one that is young.  So the dog now brings this less then optimal mindset to protection work and maybe it becomes habit and carries over to when he works on other decoys.

Undoubtedly my current dog would bite the sleeve if I wore it but the conflict would affect the strike, grip and intensity in the guard.  You would not see the same dog as you do when the decoy working her.

Probably went off on a tangent but just what came to mind..

Kim,

Not surprised you would like the decoy in the pic with Cruise.

He is our friend, Milo, from Slovakia and a very accomplished police dog trainer. He is also doing incredibly well with sport dogs.

We just finished training a couple of my dogs about 10:30pm. Great guy and great trainer!

I hope all is well!

-Steve

Hi Steve, good to hear from you.

 Milo/Cruise.....that's the look(s) that says...."turn the camera's off, this dog is serious .......and and so am I "  LOL

Sorry to off topic BZ, I am limited to my comments on this thread due to my ignorance (yet respect) of Sport work.

Having said that....I am watching, listening and attempting to learn more.

Kim

B:

      I would imagine after 2 days of Koos on the line you might tread lighlty also for a bit.But as I remember it did,nt last long. All thru the seminar his grips never changed. They were hard and fast.

Pirate: For you

'

This is my wife's dog that I did all the foundation obedience on, track imprinting, and helper work on.  Here he is working on Bill Kulla for the first time.  He was always in your face for the first bark and then settled into a nice guard with aggressive barking.  Looking for a video of him (we never video enough). 

Haz. it's possible, especially on weaker dogs.  But on the good dogs I have not seen that problem.

I posted a pic above of my wife's dog.  I did almost all of his helperwork.  Our other helper would do some of the blind work but he came too hard on the long attacks so I had to catch all of those.

I also worked this dog several times in trials.  Never affected him.  He worked the same regardless of who the helper was.  He was a powerhouse dog.  On his one of his SchH 3 trials, he ripped the sleeve off of the helpers arm on the longbite.  The helper couldn't hold on to the handle when the dog hit him that hard. 

I learned my lesson the hard way.  On my wife's first dog, I did all the helperwork on him and he went SChH 1 to SchH 3 in one summer.  All titles at fields other than his own and all different helpers doing his trial work.  His SchH1 was high 270's his SchH 2 was low 260's ( I never care about the 2 score - different topic) and his SchH 3 score was 288.  Then the other helpers in my club stepped in, told me I did a great job. blah blah blah, he needed to train with different helpers to bring out more aggression, I needed to quit working him etc.  So I stepped out and let them do all his helper work and I just helped with his ob and tracking.  He then flunked his next 3 trials in protection.  Costing him a HOT title at a national championship and the Universal Sieger Championship.  After the 3rd one, I had enough.  I took over his helper work.  Fixed what they messed up and he started passing trials again. 

I never saw his aggression get any better working with the other helpers.  What I did see change was not for the better and his scores (flunks) reflected that.  He was dirtier and was refusing to out.  

So now I do my own helperwork.  My daughter's dog, whose video I will be posting today.  Works on me most of the time.  I haven't worked him for the last month as she was traveling him and getting him ready for trial.  What I saw as I worked him after that month, I was not happy with.  There were many unwanted behaviors that had crept into his work.  When I worked him before he went to trial he scored a 90 in protection.  This trial after working on the other helpers, an 82. 

Until I find a helper in this region who can not only work dogs, but train them, my dogs' will have to be able to work on me.

Thanks for the extra (nice pictures) Bob

BZ - your wife's dog looks very formidable

Kim