Defensive dog training is the most misunderstood area of
protection training. This is evident by going to any Schutzhund trial or looking
at half of the Police Service dogs in this country.
This training video is intended to help new (and old) trainers
alike. Many experienced trainers get caught up in traditional sport dog training,
which is weak in the defensive areas of training. This video will help all
trainers recognize and get a dog started in the training of its defensive drive.
The goal of the training is to bring a young dog further along in its fight
drive development.
I constantly hear people say that "I have taken my dog
through bite development and it bites like heck but it will not even bark when
a stranger comes to our door or walks on the property." They want to know
what's wrong. The problem is that their dog understands biting but it does
not understand aggression and fighting. There in is the core problem to a great
many dogs.
In bite development, the dogs learn to bite equipment. We
teach them that the tug, the sleeve and/or the bite suit are all prey items.
The focus of the work is to teach the dog to bite its' prey with confidence.
When a dog is mature enough to begin defensive training we will teach the dog
that the helper is not just the motor behind the prey but rather a fighting
partner. In fact, the helper is someone that can hurt the dog and it should
forever approach protection work in a different light.
The goal of defense is to teach the dog
to handle stress. We teach the dog that "it can make things happen if it switches gears
and raises the INTENSITY and forward movement in its' bite work." The dog
learns that real aggression has the ability to make things happen. When this
starts to happen we see self confidence go way up in the dog. With this comes
a noticeable difference in the intensity and power of the dog. The tape goes
into detail on how to maintain that power later in grip development.
Defensive work is intended to be stressful on young dogs,
prey work is not. Trainers need to have a clear cut understanding of how to
train in prey and how to recognize all of the subtle signs of avoidance before
they attempt defensive work. I do not recommend this training be attempted
until the handler and helper understand all of the work in my tape title The
First Steps of Bite Training.
There is a lot of information packed into this 2 hour training
video. In fact there is so much information that it's going to be impossible
to get everything out of the video by only viewing it once or twice. I am sure
that people will be going back to it again and again.
Read more.