Two Decoys.. - Page 1

I've been working my male in a little ringsport. He's been doing good, but I've noticed that when it comes time to switch decoys he is VERY reluctant to make the transition. Even when the first decoy (decoy A) becomes neutral, and the secod decoy (decoy B) is actively aggressive. It takes a bit of effort to get him to completely concentrate on decoy B, if decoy A is anywhere on the field. Decoy B had to hit him with the stick a few times just to get him to engage. This male has nerves of steel, so I doubt it's anything like that. Is there another way to get him to make a smooth transition between decoy A and B, and perhaps even a decoy C, without having to have the active decoy come up and smack him? Or is it just a matter of practice?

The scenario;

We were merely practicing, and I forget why, but we changed to a different decoy. The first decoy walked off, probably.. 20-30 ft. The new decoy came up, threatened to hit the dog, but he was almost completely oblivious, still barking at the other decoy! I had the new decoy come up and hit him with the stick, and it took a few times for him to realize this was the new guy to bite. He paid attention to the new decoy, but at the end of the session, when I was about to leave the field to put him up, he gave a last bark and glance at the first decoy. This is the second time it has happened.

-Emily.

How old is your dog, how much control do you have, you didn't say if you gave the bite command to your dog? It sounds as if you don't have a sure enough send on your dog to move to multiple decoys yet. The first couple times my dog hesitated switching decoys too but I worked direction with a tug at home on sends until he picked up on the direction my arm pointed means "look at what I am pointing at and go".

My dog is 2 and a half, andI have decent control. He outs fairly cleanly, and on command. He will heel during protection as well, though it's alot sloppier than without a decoy on the field. When the other decoy came up, I pointed to him, encouraging him to "pachen" continuously. And it's not that I want to move to multiple decoys, but if we have to make a switch in the middle of a session, I want him to realize the threat is now from the decoy, instead of him yearning towards the other.

Thanks, Emily.

When I did this with my dog he seemed very eager to engage decoy 2 when the decoy was "assaulting" me.  Have you tried this?

When we worked with 2 decoys I didn't give him an "aus" command, I called his name (as if calling him for help while the decoy was assaulting me). 

Here's a video

Nevermind I thought you were working on redirectionals. 

Are you just getting him used to working on other decoys besides the "regular" one?  If you are I'd start by not having decoy a on the field at all while decoy b works him.  Once he's alright with being on either or any of them then I'd try working with them both on the field and leave the "regular" decoy to bite last.

JMO

Hmm, I thought she meant the same. Maybe I was wrong too. If your just bringing in a "new" decoy to work your dog, not multiple attackers and your dogs not having the new guy...that's not good news. Please give more info.

I dont' think it's necessarily bad, I just think...if he's not used to working on "strange" decoys (other than the one he's used to).  Then throwing more than one deocy on the field at the same time is just too much too soon.  He's young, it might just be that you are  throwing too much at him at once.

JMO

This is not uncommon. I have seen it more in bull breeds (and I have my theroies but that is a different discussion)

My guess is it probably has something to do with the way each individual decoy works the dog. If one is more play/prey and a dog is not ready for stronger work, this could be the reason. In the same vein, if the dog likes more of a threat or fight he may choose the decoy that works that way. Every dog is different and needs to be worked differently.

Choosing decoys isn't really a huge deal in ring sport becasue you only have one decoy on a field at a time (unless you plan on going to Mondio) I don't like it , don't think is is a good thing at all and would fix it as soon as possible.

It is an easy fix. The dog does not get an opporunity to bite the favorite decoy fo awhile. If he wants to be choosy then he doesn;t get to work. Start by keeping the favorite decoy totally off the field. When he learns to like the other one, then bring him out on the sidelines. When you can do this, bring the other decoy on the field, but no bite, then progress to re-directional bites from decoy to decoy.

This can be a "sport specific" problem as well. Ring sport trainers are usually used to dogs that are so prey driven, this is never a problem so they don't know how to fix it. Another fix would be to work with different clubs with different decoys but then you have egos and politics to contend with so do that carefully.

I wouldn't worry to much, it should be an easy fix. I have however seen a bulldog that struggled with this his whole career. He was a very good dog. Interestingly enough, his foundation work was in ring sport.

I'm about as confused as you all are. I'll try and get a video up on the computer, but don't count on it. Lol. It's not that he is choosey about the helper. There are about.. 5 helpers, maybe, in the club.  He works well with them all, and he will work well with them on the field. Unless someone works him first, and we need a switch. Then he still pays attention to the other guy. Perhaps if he was nervy, I would worry. But this dog is tough. The first decoy that worked him was somewhat new, and it was the first time he worked my dog. I think it was the first time the other decoy worked him as well, so it wasn't a matter of being choosey. This happened once more when we were working his guard, and the decoy wanted to switch because another one wanted to show him how to do it. Like this time, he showed more interest in the first decoy, than the new one. Also, I actually had planned on doing mondio. But now i'm leaning more towards PSA, but I still don't want this to be a problem. Training this sunday, i'll work on it, and have the guy start attacking me, and see what happens.

-Emily.

Maybe, just maybe, he is so wound up and high in drive he is still focused on the first decoy or sees the first decoy as a threat still especially since that was the decoy that got him high in drive in protection.  That would be my guess!  Sounds rather simple to me.

Vickie

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