Dog that doesnt bark during bitework...? - Page 1

It seems like most dogs will bark and growl like crazy when it comes to bitework. My dog doesnt make a sound once you get him out of the kennel. In the kennel he will bark wanting out. He will about pull your arm off trying to get to the sleeve, but never barks. Is there any way to teach them to bark during bitework? I have tryed teaching him to bark on command by making him sit and holding (His Favorite) the ball in front of him and enticing him to bark but he never will even as bad as he wants it.

Thank you for any help...Kelly

You just need to frustrate them to the point they will. Eventually, once he realizes that barking gets him closer the bite, it'll be easy from there. Maybe even try doing it from the kennel, if that's the only place he'll bark, and slowly transition that to outside on the field.

-Emily.

Alright...Thats sounds like a good idea. Thank you very much.

Sounds to me like he is stuck in prey drive.  I obviously can't say for sure but this is what is sounds like. 

If you hold off on the reward and allow the dog to make the attraction instead of the man making the attraction that should help. 

We had a similar problem with a dog in our club, he ws stuck in prey and his previous helper was always making the attraction, lots of movement, whipping, and making spitting noises, they dog never learned that he was the one who made the guy move and his bark was what brought the bite.  Good luck conveying that to a helper though if this is the problem, that is often harder than training the dog unless you have a very level headed helper!

I tried doing it a little from inside the kennel but he still want bark. He will only whine a little when he thinks im about to walk back into the house. But once he whines and I try to reward him by the time I get back to the kennel and unlatch it and give him the sleeve he dont know what he did right.

tie out all the dogs throughout the field

have the helper come out and use the wip

have him stay close to your dog but moving all around

your dog will evnetually feed off of the other dogs and bark and wen this happens your helper should present the sleeve for a bite

this is what they did for my dog and now he won't shut the mouth up

I would do this but he is the only workingline dog I have. Although I would LOVE to have more. Thank you though.

 As soon as the pup or dog makes ANY noise at all, be it a whimper, it should be rewarded. Also watching another dog who is barking can sometimes stimulate a bark or whine and that too should be rewarded. These people are working alone and they really need to get someone to help them who knows what to do. Working alone in Schutzhund, especially when one does not have any experience leads to failure. Poor training is WORSE than no training.

The helper does not necessarily have to be in the blind hiding, if he is showing suspicious behavior and not giving the attraction (Sorry Pat I disagree with moving all around and  using the whip, this does not teach the dog that he makes the movement of the man) the dog will eventually bark, but too much prey drive in a dog can lock him in that drive for a long time and then to get him into defense or aggression whatever you want to call it, you have to really piss him off which can be challenging in itself.  In my opinion, It is better to teach the dog in the beginning that the dog creates the movement of the man by barking.  And if the dog does not bark he does not get a bite.

Do you belong to a club?  If you do the tie out during protection can also help, by allowing your dog to watch the other dogs work during protection, and then drag him off the field with no bite, hopefully he will learn that the bark it was brings the bite.

I am not an expert, but I have been through this with club members and with my male who initially showed signs of locking in prey, we started right away with NO PREY jumping around and slapping the thigh and whip.  He must bring it to the man.

If a dog is well balanced in Prey and defense the jumping all around and making attraction is not a problem, but when you have a dog "Stuck" in prey with no barking and very little defense it can be a problem.

Before you say, he bites  the sleeve no problem, this does not mean that he is showing defense.  Is there a club within driving distance from you?  Best of luck to you!