A full mouth grip is a genetic trait that is promoted by several dog sports - Schutzhund and the Belgium Ring sports score the grip. The full grip is also a factor of a dogs nerves.

The Dutch KNPV does not score grip - even though a great many of the top Dutch trainers I have met wish they would. The French Ring also does not score the grip.

The following video demonstrates what happens when a dog does not have a full grip:

http://blutube.policeone.com/Clip-fs.aspx?key=5E1E72EAE53841E3&overrideCF=FullScreen&playTime=0

In this video from a police camera we see a police dog bouince off a suspect or get a weak grip several times which resulted in the suspect getting away again and again until the K9 officer brings the suspect to the ground.

A result of a dogs grips problem very easily could have resulted in the dog accidentally biting a backup officer. that didnt happen here but it very easily could have as you will see when you watch the video clip.

Sure convinced me!! Yikes! Puts a lot of people in jeopardy, almost including the home owner when the last guy went into the house's sunroom.

The music was a blast

I'm sending this link to Lear's trainer, who also believes in and is developing a strong solid grip. I think he'll enjoy it

That dog had a lot more problems than a lack of a full grip.

DFrost

Confusion being one of them.

I know this dog and handler personally. This was the dogs' first real street bite if I remember correctly. The Handler, Song Hill has been in the unit about 10 years now. He is usually pretty thorough in his training. The video is 2 years old and the dog is doing somewhat better now.

That dog was bought through a local vendor that did the breeding here. Personally, I wouldn't work that dog as it wouldn't pass my testing at the time it was purchased. The dogs father is pretty hard as I've had the opportunity to catch him once.

Most embarrassing video, thats for sure. The handler wasn't happy about that one being used for the air unit to enter a FLIR competition.

Howard

Howard - I honor you for your honesty on this. 99.99% of the trainers out there would not say what you said.

AND I LOVE YOUR LITTLE DOG - does it bite?

Ed

I appreciate that Ed. The problem with honesty is that it hurts people's feelings. When training my own dogs I always welcomed criticism. It made me work harder because working a PSD is no game.

The handlers that know me around here know that if they ask for my opinion on something its not going to be an ego inflater. If the dog is hot then I'll say so. If he's crapple, I'll say that also. I respect my fellow handlers and patrol officers too much to have them risk their lives on the performance of a poorly trained or substandard animal.

I've been labeled paranoid, anal, and wound-too-tight when it comes to training patrol dogs. I know first hand (as I'm sure you and a lot of others do) that when the S hits the fan it is no time to "hope" my dog will perform.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that a new dog has to learn the street and it takes time. There is a lot the handler and trainer can do to minimize the learning curve though. There are still going to be some screw ups but I like to eliminate as many of them I can if possible before the dog is put into service.

Deputy Hill is a good handler. A proper K9 prospect would serve him better though. Unfortunately, good dogs, vendors and funds require handlers to "make do".

The little Chi in the pic thinks he runs the place. How many times have you seen that? Big dogs and cats beware! It's funny to see big, bad German Shepherds run for the door when he charges them.

Howard

If the dog only bites with 4 teeth he has none left when something goes wrong. And he misses his entry

If he has a full grip he will have some teeth that will find home when something goes wrong.

excemple

4 days ago, in the opening competition of NVBK Belgium, my dog and i were ill(Coby wasn't feeling good in his skin and i had 39.5°C fever). I decided to start anyhow. Coby went on character and pulled himself trough. He lacked the force for a full grip; Normaly a grip average of 23/25 he now only had 16or17/25.. But he held on and we scored 311/400 (with 30 points lost on one excercise (my fault)) Yesterday his bite was up to level and we scored 316/400 with me trowing away 40 points)

Greetings

Johan

 Quote: Howard Knauf

.... Most embarrassing video, thats for sure. The handler wasn't happy about that one being used for the air unit to enter a FLIR competition.

Howard

Since the handler wasn't happy about the video, I won't pass the link to my trainer (forgot to do it anyway).

Hi Sandy,

Its out there anyway. A simple search would find it. As embarrassing as it is, the video is a stark reminder of how things can go wrong without proper training and/or a quality dog. I'm sure the Deputy has already become callous to the comments.

Howard