I'll try to keep this short. I'd like to do protection with my dog. Genetically, he should be able to, or at least do enough to do a good Schutzhund routine. He'd be the only one in his family without an IPO,FH,Schh, etc. He's DDR and Czech, for those who will wonder. Anyway, a while back I posted about my BIG mistake bringing him to a trainer who upon first meeting him (I came for an evaluation, and he said he wanted to demonstrate something) he flanked him until he bit him. It was a defensive bite; there was no prey drive involved. I later found out that this guy is notorious for "ruining other people's dogs to make his look better, and sell you one of his." Upsetting, to say the least. I didn't know any better; that's why I took him to a supposed professional. He'd had absolutely no background work or prey-building. I just wanted to know if he could do it.

I took him to a group session today, and while tied to a wall, he climbed over a 5 ft board to avoid his turn to bite. He likes the trainer (only met him once before) if he's not wearing the agitation collar.

Later, after the other dogs were done with bitework, he was having a great time playing tug and ball with the trainer. He said Caleb is odd because he's not skittish or shy, but goes into total avoidance when any protection equipment is involved. He had 4 sessions with the previous guy before I pulled the plug when he wanted to bring out a table-eek! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> My question is-since this isn't a textbook case of bad nerves, because his fears/dislikes are specific, how long do I give it before I give up? It's very hard to describe how strange his behavior is-I wonder if I could get it on video. I know some of you are probably thinking I'm in denial, but others commented on it as well, saying they've never seen behavior like that in a dog who isn't nervous or skittish <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />. The trainer gave me some equipment to play with at home to get him used to it, but he has no problem with it unless he's on a leash and agitation collar, expected to bite. Not afraid of the equipment, stick, whip, at all. HELP???Please???

BTW- I failed miserably at keeping it short. I should probably say: He turned 2 last month (VERY slow to mature) and had the traumatic bitework at 15-16 mos. I didn't realize until now how immature he was then <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Jenni,

Are you taking your dog to a Schutzhund club or a protection dog trainer? There are plenty of good schutzhund clubs in the midwest who could give your dog an evaluation. The club I belong to is west of Chicago 160 miles.

Brad

A friend of mine has a black male GSD from DDR lines that had a similar problem. His dog was on a bite pillow when his wife picked up the shock collar remot to move it. He asked her to 'click' the dog (it makes a clicker sound) and she hit the wrong button and gave him a level 10 shock instead. After that, he wouldnt even look at the pillow or a sleeve. We got him over it by putting all his equipment on (agitation collar, etc.) that he had on at the time and letting him watch his dad work with another dog. It took about 3 sessions but finally jealousy and frustration won and when his dad FINALLY let him get to the pillow, he grabbed it. Im not saying this would work with every dog, but this dog was very owner posessive and for once we got it to work in our favor. Try taking your dog to a group session in a harness and see of that makes a differance. Let him just watch a few times before you even ask him to do anything. He has alot of bad mistakes that were made by that trainer at a forulative time in his life to overcome.

Thanks Brad and Ian. Brad, PM me and let me know where the club is, please.

The place I took him was recommended by a forum member, and this is the first time Caleb's been there, except for an evaluation, one-on-one. So, I don't want to give up yet, but I'm also not getting my hopes up. They train FR, Sch, protection, SAR-lots of things. A lot of different clubs meet there, so on any given day you could have a variety of people/dogs/club members there, from my understanding. I thought this might be beneficial to us because maybe exposure to different things could help me figure out just what to do with this mutt 'o mine. Any takes on chances of overcoming this? I can't believe that just a few sessions could've altered his behavior so much.