Yes she always shakes her toy and I have tried to stop it but if I hold on the string she just about shakes my arm out. She does have really good OB and her tracking is coming along nicely.

For my puppies
I will try what I learned in the Seminar as far as building a good clam grip. Do you have any suggestions to keep them from shaking toy when they are just around the house? They already shake the flirt pole at 4 months so I stopped playing with them all together till I figure it out. Thank you for your help

 Quote: lisa berry

Do you have any suggestions to keep them from shaking toy when they are just around the house?

Don't let 'em play with toys around the house?

A lot of folks, myself included, limit toys to times when the handler/trainer is directly involved, and don't allow "free play" with toys.

Implementing those sorts of rules may help prevent or minimize the head shaking with the pups. I really don't know, not having been in your shoes.

Lisa, I would have to say again, shaking wouldn't bother me one bit. As long as your dog has a good out, I don't see what the problem is.

Lisa,
I agree with Alex as far as shaking is not a problem. It's not, however the putting it down and chewing on it and picking it back up again is. If the dog is doing this then it probably began back in the ob/drive work and was not recognized as a problem. This putting the sleeve down and chewing on it I believe is the problem that you are going to have to deal with and it is dealt with by Bernhard I believe.
The best thing to do is to not let it start in the first place and then there won't be anything to fix. If your pup is mouthing or chewing or setting it down then they should lose it.

I see what you’re all saying. I'm not worried about my older dogs but want to start the pups off right.

It's hard to explain what happens but I will try....

It becomes an issue for me when the sleeve is slipped, she can never hold it she just wants to shake it. I out her and she looses it if she does that but it has never gotten better. I guess I'm not too worried about it in a trial but it's just annoying! She smacks me with the sleeve!

After all your advise I feel better and won't worry about it and just make sure I teach the puppies the correct way. I didn’t know I was going to do Schutzhund with my older dogs till this year.

Thank you for all your feedback, I feel much better about it.

First thing to look at is breed behavior. This is common in APBT and similiar breeds. i have seen it in airedales, and American Bulldogs, and smaller terriers.

You can find it in some GSD's and Malinois as well. It is not the preferred counter in dog sports these days. But, I wouldn't get too excited about it. You should be concerned with competing against your breed in the sport.

But, some simple things. Organize toy playing so that it is not encouraged. In this respect it could impact the retrieve if you use a motivational technique to train it (which I suggest you do) and it will especially impact it if the dog likes the dumbell a lot.

In regards to sleeve work, leave it to work on the schh field only. A good helper does a lot to educate proper countering and it is especially important in breeds like terriers and giant schnauzers.

Any carrying on the field needs to be done quickly so the dog has no chance to shake or ground the equipment. This is where good handling and an understanding of why we do what we do. carrying is not a necessity but it can help prevent inappropriate countering and a stress relief from working in what some people call aggression (I hate this term but bernhard uses it so I will here just because you recently attended one of his seminars).

The task becomes a bit more difficult with the smaller dogs as holding up a hard sleeve can be tough for them and they are closer to the ground to be able to quickly ground the equipment and shake it, shred, it etc. which must be prevented. In the worst cases we just don't carry equipment at all (worst case is difficult dog or difficult handler or combination of both).

Developing good habits on the sleeve is tough if they arrive on the field with issues already. It can go quite easily when the dogs show up with well developed prey drive and confidence in themselves and having learned to try (this is a whole subject in itself) but are naive to the sleeve.

I have had the same problem with Sydney in training to carry in a circle and back. I have found if we run fast in a straight line she has no problem carrying it high. So my trainer sets us up so we carry out and down before the shaking begins, or as soon as it begins. This has helped alot and sometimes we are able to turn it around and come back, but as soon as she starts to shake we "down-out"

When she was little she was "encouraged" to shake and play with toys...now they don't have any toys in the house that they freely play with.

My puppy has never been "encouraged" to shake anything, and never had toys to "freely" play with, and already carries the tug (@ 8 months) better then my older girl carries the sleeve(@ 21 months), but as he has gotten older (10 months now) seems to have lost interest completely in the tug in a training environment...almost as if he is not confident/secure.

Kristin Great you got on to this forum!!!

Typhoon was a little put off by the whip and let go of the tug all together. I have been playing with the flirt pole and cracking the whip and she seems more comfortable with the noise now. Kevin also showed me some ways to frustrate Typhoon to want to toy. It has been working well.

You need to put that awesome picture of Sydney flying into the sleeve on your signature!