sooooooooooooooo EXCITED!!! tomorrow we get to go to a club for some training...i get to meet and greet, and me and Ace get to have some bite work
Ace has only had one other experience with a helper about a month ago and did amazing at his bite work. the helper said he had a full mouth grip (duh), shows signs of great confidence, was very "drivey" and should advance into more of just the tug game. Ace is about 8 months old and i don't want to push anything on him (made a few mistakes when he was younger and i dont want to repeat)
SO i'm just currious as to what extent should i allow him to "advance". at all cost i want to make him feel like he is the biggest boy on the field, but i don't want to allow ANYONE (even me) to ruin the confidence he already has.

so what should i tell them i would like to work on newbie question I know. I'm learning that not all handlers or decoys are good dog readers and have quite a bit of hope that this club has some great decoys! What should i watch out for, what would be some good signs of a good decoy?

How exciting Stephanie! I personally do not allow a helper to work my dog without first observing him/her work other dogs. I generally try to go to the club to watch and if I like what I see, I bring my dog back another time.

A good helper does not need to be told what to work on. They should be able to do a general evaluation of your dog be it with a tug or sleeve and based on that evaluation, get a game plan together (with the assistance of the training director etc if there is one) for how to build on the skills the dog already has.

If it was me and this was an entirely new club to me I would go tomorrow and leave my dog in the car and watch the helper work other dogs before bringing Ace out. If you like what you see with how the helper/club works dogs I would bring Ace out, tell them what you have done, what worked and what didn't and see what they think.

Have fun!

That's great advice from Ingrid.

Don't forget lots of water, your solar shade and your crate fan.

Oh, and nothing is more telling than the resident club dogs.

Do you like what you see from the dogs being worked?

Is the training director able and willing to explain "why" and not just "how?"

"how to judge a good decoy from a bad one"

All the club dogs are wearing neck braces.....

 Quote: will rambeau

"how to judge a good decoy from a bad one"

All the club dogs are wearing neck braces.....

You're so bad - I like that in a person. lol

When I found my club, I 'stalked' them for a few weeks before bringing my dog. I liked how they related not just to the dogs, but to each other and to me and my daughter. I waited until I felt comfortable with them before even bringing my dog with us.

I would suggest just hanging out with them 3-4 times and get a feel for the entire cub as a whole. Listen in to as many conversations (regarding training - not personal lol) as you can. That way, you can get a better idea on the club's philosophy as a whole. That will also give you a chance to relax and study the helper's interaction with individual dogs and handlers. I would watch several times if possible, one day/weekend may not give you a full enough picture.

I hope this turns out to be a perfect fit for you. I know I really enjoy my weekends now that I have found a awesome club.

I am so thankfull for all the advice! I have been "stalking" them on fb for a while. Watching their comment, pictures' training info, their website, and have been emailing back and forth for a few weeks. So I'm bringing ace (and my dad who is now interested in the sport too). I will leave him in the car till I watch and "spy" out the other dogs and handler convo. They also aloe the police k9's attend for continuing education
To so the least I feel like a kid going to a theme park! I'll be taking pictures, asking lots of questions, and soaking up as much info as possible.
Thanks again for all your feedback. I hope and pray for the best

Have fun, can't wait to hear how it goes!

so the bad news first...
the head trainer/decoy/president wasn't able to make it..bummer.
the good news...
i got to do mini interviews with ALL the people who were still there working on OB with out the presence of the club head hancho! which was pretty cool. EvERYone was VERY nice and welcoming and the second in charge of OB training told me next time we can stay with them after training in their spare bedroom. It's a 2.5-3 hour treck up there and the drive home was tough.
I got to see about 4 young dogs (under 18 months) all working on OB and then they played with the puppies with a little rag work at the very end. they were so encouraging to one another and esspecially to the dogs. I got a BUNCH of great pointers on my OB so it was a great experiance. and Ace even got to do a bit of puppy prey drive tug work. Because as we all know...you can't let a wl puppy see another puppy having fun and not let him enjoy too
I was so proud of ace with all of his OB and even in the simple playtime tug work.
There was NO stress, NO snotty people, and best of all...they were all there to enjoy their dogs. It was GREAT! oh and it turns out the head guy in charge is a Police officer in the k-9 unit who has also titled his dogs up to schIII. so i really think i'm in the right place! I'm so very very excited.
Oh and did i mention two of the gals there were leerburg fans as well! they encourage marker training, positive reinforcment, and were very open to disscuss all the whys and hows of their training. so next time i'll be bringing ace up we'll have even more fun!!
here's some pics of ace having fun oh i'm the short haired gal in the pics. aka string bean

Sounds like you found a great club, congrats! How often are you planning on making the trip to train?

And Ace is quite the handsome guy!