Our dogs are locked in prey. When we hit them with the stick they will not stop focusing on the sleeve that is laying on the ground. What should we do?

I did a training session yesterday, I walked my service dog along and came upon the query who stepped out unexpected. My service dog was barking, then the query who was wearing an exposed sleeve walked towards the dog using a whip as in your video tapes. When the dog launched initially, he bite on the sleeve and was given the sleeve. I kept the dog on a 6 foot leash, he "carried the sleeve" as in your tapes, I "outed" him, we stepped back out of reach of the sleeve, then the query stepped in with the whip again, leaving the sleeve laying on the ground. My dog would not retreat or try to hide behind me but he is obviously "locked in prey," as most of the time, he focused on the sleeve and "put up" with the whipping, occasionally looking toward the query, and taking a step toward him. Even when the query came around and pushed at me from behind, my dog mainly focused on the sleeve.

I know that the "best" thing for us would be to have your helper Kevin come here and assess the situation, however, we are a 10 officer police force without funds to pay for Kevin's expertise, we're fortunate enough to have this "new" k9 unit.

Do you have any suggestions?

1. Should we whip the dog until he takes his focus off the sleeve and either shows "fight" or "avoidance" and then deal with whichever comes?
2. Should I consider being content with a dog that only works in prey?

Steve