Okay, today I heard Ed say that a dog that is mouthy is afraid you are going to take it's prey item away. Which my dog does all the time. Always mouthy with his item. I am trying to calm him by petting him nicely. He is always mouthy with his toys though. He will release it if I tell him to, after a chew or two. He will also bring it to me and lay it down at my feet if I don't act like I'm interested. What's up? How concerned should I be about this issue?

I have the dvd, building drive and focus, if you do not have it, get it. I touches n this area.


9 times out of ten, dogs will not mouth if they are active with the prey.
This means, never leave the prey around for them to play with, and when you give the prey to them, make them run around in circles with you, praising them, yes, that's fine, has done in the dvd.

bring the dog into you, and get him to learn that coming into your arms when you have the prey means, you will not be taking te prey from him,

The best advcie I could give, would be do not at this point even try to train the OUT.

Not until the dog is not mouthing at all, and is calm in your arms.
If the dog is getting bored, just play tug with him while building drive, he can't mouth while playing tug, or else he will loose the prey.

best of luck, I'm no expert, but this stuff worked for me.

ted

Thanks Ted, I have watched the video this is why I was concerned...still, for some reason the lightbulb went off when you said it. I have kind of been all over the video and I do remember seeing that on there. LOL! I will put it in motion and see what happens.

cool, just make sure you don't let the dog run around and play with the prey to much.

this will promote mouthing.

I know the training style of Bernard Flinks is different than that of Ivan Balabanov but can anyone explain why it is that Bernard mentions not to out that often (i.e. 1 out of 10 times)and also not to teach the out early while Ivan's use of the out command is a crucial component of his style and taught very early on.

For those who have not watched Ivan's Obedience Without Conflict dvds, the out is critical for playing "the game". Once the dog outs, the reward (tug) is immediately offered back to the dog.

It just seems to me that they are saying different things but they both get good results. Does one style work better for a different type of dog?

I am hardly an expert, and I haven't seen Ivan's DVD, but have watched my Flinks DVD a number of times. I can make a few suggestions that seemed to help for my 3 yo dog, who used to be far more mouthy. One, as Ted said, play lots of tug. I keep pressure on the ball, sometimes holding the string while stroking the dog, but not trying to take it from him, as I want him to be confident. I never out him while we are playing, once he gets the ball, he has it, until the game is over. Of course if he lets me get the ball away, I put him back in drive. I also sometimes show him the ball, put him in a down stay, walk away, tease him a bit, and then release him to charge me. When he was younger. and mouthier, I would build drive, then when the dog caught the ball, I played tug and commanded "hold it". He soon learned to grip tight, and was rewarded by playing tug some more.

When we walk home from the park after a drive and focus session, I let him carry the ball, but I hold the string and keep gentle pressure on it. When I decide it is time to release, I have him out the ball.

I think it is important to only use the ball for defined excercises and very short periods of time. Probably a young dog can only maintain concentration for a short time.

I think that if he is bringng you the ball and dropping it at your feet, you are not building drive, you are playing fetch, and he is setting the rules. Maybe you should have a different toy for fetch all together.

Well after watching building drive and focus a couple more times, I employed Bernards extremely fast movement of the ball. This turned my dog on!! He really went drive crazy!! Then when he actually grabbed it (he is so fast, this happens more than I would like) I would grab the long lead and walk him in circles with the ball in his mouth. At this point he did not mouth the ball at all, however, now he is doing something different. Now after we run our little circle and I praise him up and down he will go lay down and then start mouthing the item because he sees me approaching him. Then when I am on top of him he will either mouth it until I out him or he will anticipate the out and drop it between his legs. Now, first of all, why is he laying down? (granted, we live in Arizona and it is around 100 degrees outside at 9 in the morning when we work, in the full sunshine) As soon as I take it from him he jumps up immediately and is back in full drive. Am I an idiot or is this dog saying it's freaking hot! Or should he stay in drive no matter how hot and tired he is? Okay, don't answer the "am I an idiot question", just the other questions, please, LOL!

Robbin, don't give him a chance to lay down with the prey item. He should either be running in a circle, in your arms or engaged with "the game." I have been working on the same problem with my pup. When he is in my arms he is a little mouthy. One solution that has worked well for me is putting a little pressure on the prey item (I use a tug with a string attached) It works best if you have someone else lightly popping the item while he is in your arms. I also did not want to encourage the out from this possition untill he has a calmer grip. It is good that he goes right back into drive when you animate the prey item. Who are you training with in AZ? I just moved out here a few weeks ago.

I had been using tennis balls on a string until I saw Eds video on not doing this. I am now in the market for an orbee?? and was wondering what size I should get for a 70 pound, 10 1/2 mo. old puppy. Can anyone help me with this. Also, I was wondering where one would find one of those things that you attach an item to (is it a stick or a whip?) and what they are called. Levi has really turned on his drive since I started using Bernard Flinks video and I want to have the right equipment.

I use the medium orbees mostly, but I do have a couple large ones.

You could try one of each and see which one Levi is more comfortable with. My Lab loves the large and the others like the medium and if you put both sizes out, they will pick their preference everytime.

Ed has a great leather bite rag on a line that I attached to my whip (my mal chewed the end off of it while I was traveling one day...... so I just attached the line to the end of the whip.