some stuff you can do in yr work break -vid

[x11]

my new advanced belgium sleeve arrived so let pup out for a play. he has started barking for tug, he does not bark much generally without a decoy.

anyway just sharing;

http://youtu.be/_57ZLkEJ-y0

[Castlemaid]

The previous post was spam so I deleted it.

Nice boy you have! I really like him. How old again? 11 months or so? Nice obedience base and engagmment. Happy to play and work with you. Calm bites, not hectic trashing or chewing. You've done well with him! He is getting the idea of barking for the sleeve - watch as he gets older and he starts to take protection more seriously, doing a hold-and-bark on you may start to conflict him. I was the same with Gryff: when he was younger and the bite work was all fun and games, we had tons of fun doing this kind of stuff with a wedge. Then he matured, he was starting to work in defense, and if I wanted to play with him and get him to do a H&B on me, I could see the confusion in his eyes, really conflicted, very worried - he just did not feel right barking at me. So I stopped playing doing H&B myself, just not fair to put him in that mental confusion.

I don't know if you are open to some input, I know that you are pretty good at taking what you feel will help and not getting upset about the rest. I think your boy has a lot of natural talent and potential and has a natural, genetic calm bite, and so I wouldn't accept anything but full bites - most of the bites on that wedge are shallow. He is very calm in his work, so should be easy to get him to understand to go for a full bite. Freeze and lock up at the shallow bites, and as soon as he re-adjusts, let him win, or start up the tug game again then let him win.

Very athletic boy too! Takes a lot of body awareness and self control to be able to run up an obstacle like that and stop and balance on top like that until released. He seems like such a fun dog!

[x11]

hey thanks for the comments - that is exactly the type of practical feedback i truly value - not being in a position to train with others who have actually done it makes it very difficult to be aware of the unintended things i am teaching my dog.

first time thru it for dog and handler and running completely blind is not a good combo but thats what it is. so yr comments are most welcome. that vid was kinda ad-hoc thing i lieterally did in my lunch break when dogs would normally be in mid-snooze.

the grip i know is shallow - the dog does not come mostly from stock selected for classy grips. it took awhile for me even to actually see what a nice grip looks like, i certainly did not know how to reward it so genetic propensity for frontal grip + handler that could not see the difference has set the dog backwards in that dept. wether i can bring it round or not i do not know but i certainly will give it a shot.

i feel obligated to bring my dog to it's potential as best i can to honor the effforts and trust of those that have truly preserved the breed, i hope i can do those people and my dog at least some justice.

thanks for yr comments - you have jump started my slide to be happy with mediocrity.