Check out the grip on Dr. Helmut Raiser's dog. Tell me if that grip deserved a 90. http://www.schaeferhunde-sportinfo.de/BSP/BSP2005Teiln_01.htm

Dang! That just sucks! I've seen police dogs bite better than that! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Maybe he was getting ready to out just as Mr.Cameraman snapped his Polaroid <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Just a thought... LOL

We’re talking about one bad grip here. All the pictures are from the same situation. We don’t know how it happened. The text above the picture indicates the helper made a mistake. We don’t know what the helper did. There is absolutely no way you can say anything from just looking at these pictures. The person judging is one of the toughest in Germany. I think we can assume that he did notice this grip and still gave the dog 90.

It looks like the helper rolled his arm into his body and didn't give a good presentation. But, I'm a newbie. Looks like a good way to break the dogs teeth.

Tracy and Kristin,
It is very easy to be critical of helpers and dogs and world class trainers.
Especially based on a such a briedf moment in time in a one dimensional photo. But, it would do you well to realize that the whole picture of schutzhund is to TAKE away points based on the dogs TOTAL performance. It takes eyes, ears, and an extensive knowledge of the sport and the animals to judge a performance well.
I can tell you that the judges selected to be the protection judge (usually the chief judge of the SV) knows what they are doing. They also will pull a poor decoy in a heart beat.
Criticising the judging and decoys ad infinitum will make your experience in the sport very very unsatisfying.
I won't say they don't make mistakes. They do but not all that frequently. It is difficult to be out on that field either as a judge or as a competitor.
As a side note.....my friends dog took fourth place at the BSP (his helper showed the dog). Hella is a super bitch but the photos don't do her performance justice. I'm glad the judge didn't base his total score on the escape grip photo.

I see three completely different photos, which says to me that the dog maintained the bite that way. It isn't just three separate pictures of the exact same moment in time. Maybe the helper presented the sleeve awkwardly or something, causing the dog to only be able to grab on with his front teeth. Maybe just after these photos, he readjusted on the sleeve properly. We don't know, but these particular pictures do not show a 90 point bite.

I’d say its impossible to readjust from that grip without letting go. The dog makes a better impression hanging on just by its front teeth, not to mention the point deduction from coming off the sleeve. We don’t know if it was the dogs fault, the helpers or both. Even if it was the dogs fault, or just plain bad luck, that grip would not make it impossible to get 90 points. All these pictures show the same part of the protection exercise. Even with a maximum deduction of points it would still only be a deduction in this small part of the whole routine. A good score in the other parts would make 90 points perfectly possible.

Definately do not judge from photos. This dog could of had a really hard entry and in trying to catch him the decoy could of caused this very easily. Putting all your faith that points come from the bite is a big mistake. When a dog believes that countering might cause him to lose the sleeve entirely they often will maintain the initial crappy bite.

PS. Last year this dog achieved 96 points in protection and won the event, so I think its possible that it did the other parts well, although we won‘t know until we see it.