In Schutzhund I would say that you are fine. Be careful but you shoudl be fine. In other sports I would say no because the helper/decoy is only around your dog for aggitaion and to work it. With Sch being such a scripted routine you should have no problems and I say this very loosely. Just be careful and keep an eye on your dog.

I would not let the interact just because. The dog has to have a certain mind set about the helper/decoy. If you break that it may confuse the dog. In Sammy case her husband works most of her dogs so there has to be a middle ground there. He helps feed them and take care of them. If your club helper does nothing but work your dog then just let him work your dog. I would shy away from any interaction after that.

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In Sammy case her husband works most of her dogs so there has to be a middle ground there. He helps feed them and take care of them.

Actually this is incorrect. My husband and I have absolutely nothing to do with each others dogs (except our pet Golden) We feed our own (working) dogs, we walk our own dogs, etc etc etc. In fact I don't think my husband has ever even petted (physically touched) any of my working dogs.. except during training, and vice versa.

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One of the dogs is a sport dog who probably won't go any further (not sure whether he'll ever take work seriously) but the other two are very "civil" dogs

Ya know... you can get sport dogs that are civil. It is not a case of one or the other.

You need to call my wife.....I have to feed and walk all of her dogs. Man I am getting the short end of the stick here.

good question.... i know at our club the master trainer wont let my husband heat hella our 2 yr old gsd.. however for my 7 yr old a.k.c gsd my husband was allowed to heat her (it was all just fun for her)
i can see why my husband was allowed to heat one dog and not the other as my a.k.c gsd has a much different mind set then my eckt deutcheshaferhund (real german shepard dog)

My husband is my decoy/helper 90% of the time...But like Sammy, we've had to structure our lives to accomodate this...This makes it easier for the dogs...We also do protection work off the ScH field...I've had several surgeries <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> and there's been months that my other half has had to feed, look after the dogs, let them out, play with them...Yet as soon as they see me...it's like a switch...They become 'my dogs' and they will alert with or without equipment and they will certainly bite--most are Ring dogs and one is an ScH dog (trained in suitwork as well)...They come in the house and they KNOW when it's time to work and time to turn it off...My husband doesn't give any PROGRAM commands to my dogs; nor corrects them...and we've never had a mishap in the house...Although my guys are considered kennel dogs...There are at least 2 dogs in the house every day and they are rotated...They are so balanced and well trained that they can discriminate between threats and non-threats, IOW normal living...It's never been a conflict...but certain things had to be structured from the 'get go'. In no way, would any of my dogs have a problem following my command/direction to bite...hubby or not! Yet, if I have to go away for a weekend the odd occasion...The dogs are good as 'gold' with my hubby...Like a few have said...it really depends on the individual dog.

my biggest problem with my hubby is he refuses to learn enough german to communicate with my dogs.( i have taught myself to speak the language but not fluently).. i have taught hella to have 2 different sets of commands so she clearly understands work time and fun time.

and for some reason he thinks he is going to bealbe to take hella thru her schH 1 in the spring.. and i keep telling him once he learns how to communicate with her then maybe..

Hey, Suzy! Does that two sets of commands thing work? I have heard a little bit about it and would like to try it with my akita pup, but nobody else around here seems to be doing it. Have you had success with it? And how did you work it?

i didnt always teach 2 sets of commands... i have been a house animal trainer for many years but when i got my most recent german gsd and thought i would like to now add to my bag of tools and try training for competetions (so far so good), my german girlfriend (who use to compete in schutzhund) told me she taught 2 sets of commands to all her working dogs... some commands remain the same of course weather your on the "uben platz" (practice field) or out just walking.... but many are different.. "platz" for example should be done in a blink of an eye... i use this for quick responce.... "liegen" (prounounced... lee gen) is for the house or go lay down but you dont have to do it quick and on the spot... "komme"... is just for follow me and "gehts auf side" (si-da) (get on the side) (if a bike is flying up the path) and on the field it is always "here" which is to come and sit directly infront of me....stand for on the field and halt for taking a walk and stopping at the corner of streets......
i havent had any trouble with her having seperate commands at all.... you teach the informal commands the same way you teach formal commands.... liegen you place them in a down while you say the word ect.... what i did have trouble with was when i did actually start and ask her to work while out walking for exercise time.... she would get very confused because when she was a younger puppy going for a walk was just to clear the brain, de-stress, sniff around, and play time... the club was for work.... that was the hardest thing to correct in her... (a horse back riding instructor i had once told me to keep seperate work time and play time for my horses so i thought the same would go for my dogs as well that is why at the begining i kept work time to only at the dog club)
now she will work while out just walking (it took time to teach her this was o.k and not to stress out) and in reverse i had to let her just have fun at the dog club and ask for no work... if i say "gassy" or "spazieren" (playing)... they know it is time to go for a walk or to play and if i tell them "arbeiten" (ar-bite or uben) then it is time to go to the dog club and work.. to help with this my dogs have their fur saver collars with dog tags for just going for a walk..... and then they have working collars with no tags for the dog club work.... i even have different prong collars for her... she has a very light weight ( 2 small dog prongs connected together) prong for walking and her medium weight prong for working as the small dog prong is not steardy enough for a proper correction when she sees the heater on the field and wants to do her bite work.
one member at our club( i dont like him anyway) said to my friend to first teach the formal commands.. then expand to the informal commands... i didnt do this... i taught the different commands from the get go and didnt have any trouble with her understanding what was what....

i should have added the biggest informal command that i had no choice to switch to.... the bei foose..... for informal it is "bei mir".. or just "bei" that means walk by my leg you dont have to look at me just be calm.. the "foose" is for the field and that means animate movment and dont take your eyes off me... i did use bei foose for informal but my gsd had trouble desiphering the difference... i would tell her "foose" on the field and she would walk real slow and not look at me..once i switched the commands she moved much better for me during practice....