Increasing the fight while playing with the tug - Page 3

Ace, you are right. I should never have pointed out all of the bad information that you received regarding that video. I won't make that mistake again, don't worry. We can disagree that is fine. I wasn't hiding just choosing not to post. There are times when I feel a PM is a better way to go than posting publicly. This is exactly one of the reasons I post less frequently. I just get tired of banging my head against the wall. You seem to have it all together and know exactly what you are doing. Good luck with your dogs.

BTW, I did reference it here publicly.  Sometimes it is just better to praise in public and protest in private.  I was being sincere when I PM'd you and offered some constructive criticism to you.  I was hoping to help you avoid a potentially dangerous situation, major liability and do what is the best for the dog.  If you prefer, post the video here and I will post my critique publicly.  Better yet start a new thread and see what some of the knowledgeable posters on here think, then I will add my comments for discussion.  I'd love to hear what a few people here think. 

I'm not going to comment on the video because I don't know the dog or where he is at on his training.  I don't care much for the agitator but to each his own.  My male Lucas is not a schutzund dog he is a trained police k9.  He is a stout dog hits like a ton of bricks very hard and firm bite.  When Lucas hits he comes at you flying but once he has the bite he will drop to all fours and move you where he wants.  I have yet to run into an agitator that could stop that, they could not pull him back up and bring the sleeve back up once he has you that's it until I give an out.  I am talking very experienced and talented agitators.  The first time they take the bite and they try to move him the most common response is Damn that's a stout SOB.  He means business when he works.  I know not every dog is the same so I can't say my approach with Lucas for the fight response will work for your dog.  Lucas has always been a VERY confidant boy.  When he was younger and his fight for the tug would be not as much as I wanted, I stopped letting him win every time.  If he wasn't tugging like I wanted I would win the game and it was over for a little bit, when his fight was up to where I thought it should be I let him win praised him and the game continued.  That worked well for mine, don't know if it will work for yours, or if it is even the right approach for yours.

Lol

. What Chaz isn't that the kind of advice that inevitably shows up here??

What video are you guys talking about?

Hi Pack and Deanna,
It was a video of one of Ace's dogs.  I guess it won't be posted here.  The video wasn't bad and the dog is fine.  My issue was the critique of the video on another forum.  That suddenly makes me the bad guy, for giving an honest evaluation. 

Jim


 

It's on Ace's first post.

I could be wrong, but I do not think the video on the first post in this thread is Ace's dog.  I think he posted that video as an example.  That is not the video that I am referring too. 

Gosh, there must be a lot of bad blood here or something, because when I asked Jim/Slamdunc for advice via a PM, he was very kind and helpful.  Without seeing a person's dog and how they interact a video doesn't give a full picture and I don't really think being cautious about giving advice is anything but thoughtful.

I have three that I am working, but my highest prey drive dog had that issue.  He was very confident, but would not hold the tug when I was on the other end....someone else, or another dog..he would win, but he always gave me the tug when I wanted him to fight.  I think it was a matter of respect and not knowing it was ok for him to keep it and fight for it.  What I did was start him again like a pup, tied the tug to a line, flirt pole to up his drive.  Also put away all his other toys, including the balls he prefers.  I made him miss a lot.  Then I went up the line and patted him when he held the tug..if it dropped he had to work extra hard to get it.  Then I moved it into my hand and gave it to him anytime he countered or pulled.  Then I made him work harder for it and eventually made him come into me.  Over about 2 weeks...he saw it was ok to come right into me (very important) and fight for it.  This is a dog that is the most likely to bite if someone bothers me, but the least likely to bite a non-threatening stranger or animal.  I don't think it was anything to do with his fight or prey, just that he needed to know it was ok to try and keep it away from me. 

When I did find a good club and helper/decoy, including one that listened to me about my dogs' temperaments and adjusted based on the individual dog,  I never had any issue with my dogs that was not picked up and worked on right away and it made things a lot easier.  When I had people that do dog training like it was paint by numbers is when I had problems.  (Thank God that is over.)  I think Slamdunc just does not want to make a critique publicly, and does not want to get into useless arguments on the PDB and does not want to give advice when he does not really know you or your dog.  I know he can speak for himself, but again, I have found his advice very valuable and found him to be very kind.  After all, he gets nothing out of answering, other than a headache.