losing grip strength? - Page 1

One of my dogs use to have a very very strong grip.  After a year of no training the  grip turned into nothing??? This dog had an amazing foundation and was trained very well with some of the best trainers!
 

The dog did get out of shape though a bit. Any idea what would cause a dog to lose strength in the grip? Trainers really noticed a huge diff  because the dog was noted for very strong grip.

Only time that strong grip comes out is when the dog gets real pissed.  So they can still bite hard just don't bother?

Lots of reasons for it--first off, make sure there's nothing about the bite object that's objectionable to the dog, or which is causing him discomfort such as the spine of a burdock boll might do. Once you're sure the bite objects aren't the problem, your next possibilities are:

Lack of conditioning.The dog's jaw and neck muscles are unlikely to be anywhere near as toned as they were when you were working him regularly.

or

He could have one or more bad molars--the back molars especially are very susceptible to what's known as a 'slab fracture', which is not visible to the eye and which isn't causing the dog continual pain, but when he tries to really clamp down on the sleeve or tug it brings discomfort, so he reduces the pressure he puts on the object. If your dog's breath is foul despite his teeth being clean and his gums not inflamed, chances are there's a slab fracture of a carnassial or back molar that is collecting bacteria and allowing necrosis of the tooth bed to slowly take set into the tissue.

or

Could have one or more enlarged lymph nodes located in the head and neck, making the bite uncomfortable for him.

or

The dog is simply getting old and developing arthritic changes elsewhere in his body that make him less enthusiatic about the work.

Whenever a dog shows a deviation in behavior, actions or activities which you can't immediately attribute to a cause, the first rule out needs to be a possible medical cause for the change. Tell your vet what behavior/action/activity change you're observing, so they have a place to start looking for rule-outs; once there's a clean bill of health received, you can move on to investigating training, social or event-related behavioral conflicts .

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I agree with hexe as well, the first thing I would have checked is the condition of the teeth. You can check to see if the gums are inflamed, a dog can have teeth that look fine by visual inspection, but in fact have rotten, black roots.  Usually enflamed gums is a sign of that.  Swollen lymph notes can also be connected to dental issues, so your dog could have both bad teeth and swollen lymph nodes, causing discomfort.  I had an old female that by the time she was 13, ony had one top and one bottom molar, on the left side, because all the other molars had to be pulled for fractures that had run their course and required the teeth to be removed.

How old is the dog and when was the last time it had a dental exam?

I´d check In this order:
Teeth
Spine and neck
Condition
Drives

Afterwards ( in case everything is fine, and I guess it will be fine ) you should start to train regularly again.
Even a good dog needs to train.

Did you train on the same ground as before?
The same helper?
The same equipment?
Did anything else change?
Maybe some obedience in the spare time?

Most possibly it´s simply lack of training ( a dog trained regularly will be in drive much faster (well known triggers) and for a longer period of time, and he will have simply more physical power ).

I guess your dog was a young adult when you stopped training ( 16 - 20 months ).
Older dogs  (3 years +) are more stable within their performance.

But after all, it´s just a guess...

Still using the same sleeve material the dog was trained on.  Some dogs trained on one sleeve material do not like biting something different.  Bites better on a hard sleeve or soft???  Try the dog on different sleeves with different covers.  Loss of confidence could also be a cause .. still bites when agitated thus loss of confidence when not agitated may be the cause.  Using a larger or smaller helper could change bite strength and maybe the dog will not bite hard with a friendly helper but will kill a strange one.  If the dog sees the biting as a game then perhaps not biting as hard when the dog sees the helper as an enemy ( or vice versa).  As suggested a physical reason such as pain.

the gums bleed but i had her checked !
 

should i have her checked again? i keep being told shes got nice teeth

the tips of all 4 k9s are worn down like most typical hard working dogs with a good bite but thats it, im thinking what if she really is in pain when she bites

but recently she took apart a cherry wood chair with her jaws like she snapped the armrest and tore chunks of wood right out of it, i did not think that was even possible for a dog, then she bit right into an oak table and reshaped it.  I am not upset about what she did more worried about her.  She only did it because i was sick and could not get out of bed.

does not matter what u put her on jacket, sleeve hidden sleeve whatever the bites are just nothing like the crushing bites they use to be unless you kick her then she will bite real hard to point where she will put holes into the hard sleeve or jacket. BUt shes got to be like SUPER pissed wired up. We dont do that because i control what goes on and i wanna figure out whats up with her.

Her neck muscles? way to strengthen them? swimming?

shes 5 shes had dental exam 1 month ago when she was sedated.  Her grip were insane until i took a break and she gained some weight at around 3??? then she bites like a show dog no offense but she was putting mals to shame then all of a sudden her bites turn into dobie bites.  Her bites are weaker than the bitches half her size?

She kills other animals though if she can if something gets in her yard even a stray/coon/coyote dog she will kill it before i can rescue the animal. I wanted to clean her teeth when i got her spayed the vet told me they were so nice and said i am wasting my money? Im worried maybe a spine thing? But still at 2 or 3 her grips were fine. HIps and elbows????? Great.

HER tail hangs down like a show dog though and draggs she cannot carry her tail up that high and she doesnt wag it that much or  even use her tail much.  She has been trained on every material you can think of.

Leather, suade, etcc... all sleeves and jacket types thin big small tight spandex kind lol

legs all kinds ring legs body suits also shes had a few live bites on people.  She is five now i guess i could just retire her? lots of drive and energy and her aggression increased much more past 2 years of non working her.

She came from an exceptional breeder father was a k9 and she had an amazing foundation with some of the best trainers ive ever seen. I worked my ass off (back then) to make sure she had proper training of a protection dog considering the thousands i spent on her goofy ass.  We were lucky we got to train with some of the best in the country.

"she bites like a show dog no offense but she was putting mals to shame then all of a sudden her bites turn into dobie bites."

Insulting Show dogs and Dobermanns in one sentence ?  You wish your bitch bit like either of my Dobermanns.  :-)

Thomas Barriano

You spayed her? 

Uh, I'd start there.