I am concerned about some of the people that I train with having Sch 3 dogs that cannot take a normal stick hit. What is the sport coming to?

Hello Ed

I have spoken to you before, and the reason why I am writing you about this issue is that you keep it real. I am a helper and a good safe helper. This past weekend I was getting some dogs ready for a trial and I gave them nice hard, but FAIR stick hits and the dog came off the sleeve. The stick hits were not that hard and any damn way, this soft ass SchH 3 dog was supposed to endure a solid hit. At any rate, the first thing the lady said was that the dog was hit too hard and that I was not at nationals. I was like damn, how am I supposed to test the dog's HARDNESS? If his punk ass can't take a hit, I mean what is wrong here Ed? This is becoming a serious problem in our sport. My dog personally speaking can take whatever the decoy brings to him, but I am seeing a lot of soft dogs in the sport. I mean, if I do not test the dog, then what am I doing? It is like if you don't do it a certain way then the first thing the public says is that you are not a good helper, which I think is bullshit. What are your thoughts, and please as usual, be up front.

RBW