I am still doing tracking and obedience. He does both well and I've gotten alot of compliments from both of our trainers and several other club members for getting a rottie that has virtually no working lines in his pedigree to the point that I have. I'm planning to put some tracking titles on him. Haven't decided on obedience. Not sure I want to go through the dumb bell work if he's not going to go through with all 3 phases. He is definitely showing avoidance. The instant they crack the whip he wigs out and comes to me. He still does alot of blinking if the wave anything over his head while he's on the sleever or tug or wedge. He also lets go immediately if they or I touch him at all while he's on any of the equipment. Although the last 2 sessions he did allow the helper to put his hand under his chin for a second and didn't let go. They've tried to go extremely slow with it, he just doesn't want to stand up to them. One of our members won the USRC championship a couple years ago and has been working rotties for a long time. He said that if he's not showing it by 19 months it's unlikely he's going to. But like I said, we're going to keep working on it and if he does come around for some reason, I'll see where I can go with him. I said from the beginning that I would learn with him and it doesn't really matter how far he gets. I'm hooked on the sport and I've gained a ton of valuable experience working him to this point.

 Quote: Anne Jones

Don't push her. Keep it a ton of fun for her. Quit when she still wants more.

If you're going to keep working on it, you may have to back way up. Don't use a whip until he's ready for it, and less personal pressure from the helper.

 Quote: Bob Scott

... Don't stand full frontal on the dog. Don't make strong eye contact with the dog.

IMHO, I don't think you can go wrong by reestabling threshholds. If nothing else, it would help you guys reevaluate his nerves and temperament

I'm still very much learning so I'm not sure I can explain correctly but our trainers both tell me all the time that his nerves and temperament are great. They tell me he's as clear headed as it gets. They also told from day one that the stigma with rotties is that they generally don't take pressure well so they gone really really slow with it. Any time they try any small bit of pressure at all, he wants nothing to do with it. The trainer who's specializes in protection told me basically he could make Marco do it but he'd create a dog that only I could be around and would ruin his great temperament so therefore wouldn't work in schutzhund. He doesn't want to do that and I certainly don't want that. So we're just working in prey for now and we'll continue to slowly try to introduce pressure and see if he eventually comes around.

Rotts can be very slow to mature and they can be more defense the prey if not handled correctly. I believe they are also more responsive/defensive to eye contact then some of the other breeds in protection.
Take it easy and let this dog have fun. Maturity will let you know if he's got it.

Bob, that's what we've been doing. He just never seems to make any improvements at all. We are still trying though.

Someone brought it up in a PM about prey training. Are you doing a lot of this? Your dog just may not like the pressure MANY trainers use in doing bite work. Coming to you when the whip is cracked tells me you may have such a dog. I wouldn't use the whip anywhere near him if that's the response. I think they are over used anyway. A dog that has the correct drives for bite work WANTS to be on the field in the worse way and I don't see the need to crank up a dog with the whip.
They can learn a ton of stuff, including bite work with nothing more then prey work. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and it seem to fit the bill here.

They didn't even try a whip with him until he was probably 15 months old or so. They only did prey work and waving their arm or stick over his head. the whip just turned him off the first time they tried. They tried it for a few more sessions to see if he'd get over it but it seemed to get worse so we went back to just prey work. As far as the prey work goes, he loves to tug with me. With them his first 2 or 3 bites he doesn't usually grip. He sort of punches with his mouth or does bite but let's go. Then he will bite but easily let's go. Especially if they try to touch him or if I come up and try to pet him. Its pretty much been this way from the time he started to understand the game.

It's quite possible that bite work isn't in the cards for him. In Schutzhund you can still title in tracking and/or obedience.
AKC has a number of activities you can do together. I'd just hate to see a good dog get wasted or even ruined trying to do something it may not have in it.
As long as you don't see any stress or avoidance then it can be fun but is sounds like your dog is showing more stress then would be expected.

Yeah, I said in a previous post that I am still planning to put some tracking titles on him. Doing his BH in October. Probably not going to do obedience titles past the BH simpliy because I don't want to go through the dumb bell work with him because his toy drive isn't all that high. No need to force train the dumb bells if he won't do it motivationally. That's my opinion anyway. His ball drive is interesting. He will play with a rubber ball on a string but he loses interest pretty quickly. However we discovered by accident that he's super crazy for a tennis ball. I know that's not the healthiest thing but it works and I never let him just have it. And I change to new ones a lot so he doesn't chew them up too much.

Kory;

Toy drive is not necessary for dumbbell training. I did it motivationally with food drive and markers. Her dumbbell work is more enthusiastic than some dogs who are taught with a forced retrieve.