dog wont bite sleeve - Page 2

great you have a dog that can open doors. maybe you can tell the judge that and he will give you extra points. don't be so sure your dog will protect you, self-preservation is an instictive behaviour. if you want to do sch then you will more than likely need another dog that wants to do the work. his father being faro doesn't make any difference to me.

melba,

sounds like you have an awesome dog there.  personally, i love to see a dog spit out the sleeve and go right back after the helper.  i like to see the dog that is focused on the man instead of the sleeve.  unfortunately, these dogs donot do very well in competition......points wise.  they are truly serious dogs and geared more for real work than a sport situation.  if you have your heart set on competion with this dog, take a look at other types of sport.........french ring, begian ring, mondio or knpv.  this sort of dog might do well in a service position or personal protection.  the biggest mistake that people make with this sort of dog is to try to make him something that he isn't.  you can't force this kind into a box, if you know what i mean.  you must work with what they are in order to make them the best they can be.  also, good obedience is a must for this sort of dog.  he must be under control at all times or he becomes a liability.  i wish you the best with this dog.  don't give up on him and certainly do not get rid of him.  these dogs are often a one-person dog and become very very devoted.  you will love him more and more as time passes.  :)

pjp

Melba I agree so much with ziegenfarm!! Your dog sounds awesome and her last sentence rings true to me....

melba, sounds like you want more of a personal protection dog. if this is true, who do you need protected from. for me i like my dogs and i do the protecting. i would never want my dog to fight a bad guy. do you live in L.A. were the threat of riot is real?

i hear this all the time " my dog is real, not sleve oriented". this is generally a bunch of crap. these dogs 99 out of 100 are just nervous scared dogs and if really threated would run back to the car. why don't you go and have the dog tested by someone personally that has alot of experience working with good dogs. tell us what happens.

im a 26 year old female who lives alone with her 2 little boys. i weigh 125lbs. if someone wanted to do me harm, not necessarily even that, wrong place, wrong time, i like to know that i am being looked out for. when you need to protect your dog from bad guys, there is something wrong. that would be the dog that runs back to the car.

and when i can openly admit that i have 1 dog that is equipment oriented, why would i make up that the other isnt??

Melba,

If your dog will not bite a sleeve and has full commitment to bite (this is the part I would have to see to believe) You should find a decoy who can work the dog correctly.

By your own admission, you live in an area that does not have any training clubs. Don't take this the wrong way, but that usually means the people you are working with may not be the most knowlegable or experienced. So who are you training with and what is their experience? Are your working with some yahoo who wants to get in good with a cute single mom? I am not being flip. My girlfriend and I met this way. She had like 4 other guys telling her they had been in a bite suit before and would love to help her out. If you have a stable dog, even one on the civil side, and you can't get it to bite a sleeve, you have some serious training issues.

I am a straight shooter. I can't tell you how many people who say they have a "for real" dog, that will defend them with their life, that I could run off the field. I am not saying this is the case as I have not seen your dog. You could very well have a strong, stable, serious dog. If that is the case, the dog is not being worked correctly. This is not a good thing. I am not trying to burst your bubble. You said the dog already has a real bite. I don't want to see someone get hurt and you gettin sued. You have to send your babies to college someday.

Again, I have not seen your dog so I can't say for sure, but what your are saying brings up some red flags. My suggestion to you would be to find a club that has titled dogs and had success. Even if you have to take a weekend road trip, which would be fun for you and your dog. See what they have to say.

Good luck.

Hmm .. have trained a lot of canines.... the situation here is two fold !. the foundation and the training itself .. this may have been imprinted in the dog . i have found what one thinks one is training and what the dog is learning are two enitely differennt aspects. this depends on the helper and early bite work . 2. you may have a fantastic GSD .. what one would in a whole life time wish for .. could very well be the training ...[ also some dogs are more predisposed to defense than prey  but that sometimes is alright ]  overall .. one must get into the pyche and head of the canine and tailor the training from there on in  for thar particular canine ! could be a greeat dog . cannot give to you 30 years of training here .. work with someone [ if you can fine him/her] that is well versed in bitework .. you and the dog may be AOK 

Guys... thank you for all this wonderful pieces of information... I was also in the same case as melba was... but I followed your tips of not to let the dog do bitework untill a year of age... I noticed him now taking the sleeve (actually a tug toy of sort)  away as his prize, and then I turn my back away from the pup because he's not doing the OUT... he then drops the TUG and runs toward me as if wants to have more challenges... I followed tips to always let the pup win... but if he will not OUT  "I deprive him of attention till he comes back in front of me for attention" .. Am I doing it correctly... I have to make sure the dog will pass obedience first before doing bitework... but I never forget to enhance his prey drive...

im not sure what kind of imprinting he recieved before 8 months.

i do plan on trying to get to a club soon. the nearest one is a couple hours away. thats ok, if hes got it, i would like to know. if not, i still love him and i will try to find something he is good at.

i have had some of the local sherriffs k9 handlers look at him and they really liked him. not to say they do or do not know what they are looking at, thats all i can tell you about that.

it is probably operator error. just doing the best i can with what is available. im not above saying its my fault if im to blame.

i have yet to have any cute decoys trying to get in my pants. maybe i just havnt noticed, too busy. lol.

i will keep you posted on what i find out when we go. maybe i can gets some pics of my boys up too, as soon as i figure out how.

thank you all for the advice

Are you wearing the sleeve or have a helper?  not clear in your post/

interesting your dog has no drives to speak of.  i had  male once who had good drives but he was a loverboy to the family but would bite anyone who raised their voice or moved aggressively towards him.

never growled,barked or acted nervous about anything. i finally sold him to a lady needing a serious protection dogs and he performed great for her until he died.