I have a very dominant 2 1/2 year old GSD male who for last couple months (though not consistantly every weekend) has been worked at the local schutzhund club. He does fine in obediance, including recalls etc. Does fine around the members. He is not afraid to approach strangers. He is no social butterfly, He is content to sniff the person and then move on. So far so good. Now comes with working with the decoy.
once the decoy put the bite suite and sleeve it is like a switch has been flipped. My GSD works in 98 % defense but occasionally prey drive will show. The decoy has been trying to get the gsd to work more in prey rather then defense. Until now they have been not allowing him to have a bite. Yesterday the decoy allowed him to have a bite. The bite was a hard crushing bite accompanied with shaking and growls. Once the sleeve was slipped all focus switched to the decoy. Gsd still working in defense. He was allowed another bite into the sleeve I ran him (with his jaw shut tight on sleeve, no chewing or nervousness) back to the truck. I also noted that each of his bites into the sleeve were solid clamp downs, rear of jaw and no chewing . earlier but after 1st sleeve bite, another decoy whom was not wearing a sleeve or suite approched my gsd, close enough to allow him a sniff if hand. GSD sniffed his hand, then returned focus on original decoy. Also there is not backing up by the gsd, all movement is foward, no hackles up, but posture is not prey drive. reaction is same with my holding the lead or GSD placed on long line. The gsd is a big teddy bear with children as well as strangers comming into the home (that is after have formally been let into the home and instroduced to the gsd). I have requested that next club meeting we try another to decoy and see if this aggression is based a specific decoy. I am not sure what to read from all of this.

Can you describe more specifically how he was worked in the past sessions? What exactly was the helper doing to try to elicit prey from the dog?

in the past the helper user a long puppy tug, rolling the tug in from of the dog and trying to get him to grab the tug, but not permitting him a bite.He also fired the pistol a couple of times while the dog was on a long down. dod remained solid we did that a few sessions, then on the before last session, he allowed the dog a bite the dog carried the tug off the field. At home the dog is a fanatic about playing tug, even with the kidds

Did the helper create movement by doing runby's of the dog while keeping the prey active, or perhaps use a remote line to keep the prey moving, or did he get close to the dog, basically right in front of him to roll the tug on the ground? How did the dog react to this work - did he focus on the tug and actively try to get it or did he focus on the man and seem more interested in him than the tug? Any whip or stick, or anything threatening by the helper directed towards the dog?

he moved around and rolled tug in from just out of reach, focus was on man occasionaly on tug

check your pm's

Phillipe,

I am no expert, and cannot see the dog, but it does not sound to me as if the dog is working in defense.

What is it specifically that leads you to think that he is?

Matt,
The reason why I am am saying defense is because of his posture, including tail carriage, as well as growling. In addition the helpers all comment that he is in defense drive rather then prey drive. I am still learning much so I can not "read" the dog as well as the helpers. I do see that the gsd only moves forward as far as the line will allow and keeps the tension on the line but in the direction of the helper. I also see that his bite into the sleeve was a very violent bite and full clamp (that is a full bite) into the sleeve rather then a weak bite. The bite was followed by a violent shaking tugging as hard as he could and at the same time growling. I was under the impressiong that a dog working in defense tended to backup and that their bite was mostly done with the front of their jaw and was weak nearvy bite. To my prespective it would see that the gsd wants to take the fight to the helper and would hurt him if he could reach him. Another thing is he focuses on the helper rather then the sleeve. Anyway those are the reasoning for the subject heading

an update to last training session
The helper managed to get more prey drive out of the GSD. This was initiated by the helper tieing a line on the hard sleep and getting my gsd to grab the sleeve, once grabbed he would play tug with him. a very violent tug of war, including grows. this would last briefly. then would continue rolling the sleeve just out of reach, finally letting him bite into the tug again then having me run him off the field. the gsd carried the sleeve (no chewing, just a very hard visorgrip clamp down). He even carried the sleeve back into the vehicle. The helper reported that even though he was working more in prey he is still remaining primarily focused on the helper.
The only difference on my part was that kept telling the GSD "play" when we started the session with the helper. I always tell him let's play whenever he and I play retrieve or we play tug. Who knows but he did improve somewhat

Phillippe, I had the exact same problem when I started my dog on the helper. There was no fear involved at all. He just has a low defense threshold, which means it doesn't take as much pressure to put him in defense as some of the other dogs. So I had to pay close attention to how I praised him, timing it correctly, etc.

I would reccommend the helper go meet the dog before the session, let him sniff & become more comfortable. Then, I would tied the tug or soft sleeve to a long line & have the helper swing it around, so that the motion is all in the sleeve and not in the helper. You'll hold your dog like a post while the helper does all the work, making him miss bites on purpose to build that frustration towards the prey. The helper is far enough away so that there is no confrontation. You're talking to your dog during the session, encouraging him, patting his sides, keeping his stress level down, so he knows this is just a game and that you are on his side. Also, I feel it's important that the helper be a good actor when doing this kind of work.