My dog is about 2 and a half now and has never growled at me before. He is a very soft dog. He tracks well and bites pretty good also. I know I made a mistake by not training him in prey drive first; having realized my mistake I have been working diligently to correct it by using Bernards technique of building drive and focus. I guess I have a few questions. 1. When fininshed with the drive work how are you supposed to end it with the dog? I have allowed him to take it back to the vehicle where I take it from him. Is that incorrect? 2. Is the growling thing today from allowing him to take it back to the truck and then taking it from him? 3. Does his age (maturity level)have something to do with this also?

Michael
When does he growl at you? Is it when you are playing with him? or is he gaurding his toy and not wanting you to have it?

My Mal gets to carry her tug back to her crate or the vehicle and she usually drops it before she goes in since she knows the game is over and I take the tug. But she does not drop it anywhere else.

I would say that if he is growling to be protective and gaurding of his toy then it is an issue of dominance and you need to correct that now.

If he is growling while playing, mmmmmm, my Mal does it when she gets really jacked up and I do not correct that since her bite stays deep and she pulls harder. She does not growl loudly, just a low growl but her body language is telling me she is having a good time and is not pissed off at me.

Michael, We need a little clarification here. I thought you were talking about carrying the sleeve back to the car, but Carol brought up tug or toy.

Susan,
My Mal is a HRD dog that gets her tug as a reward. But let me just clarify, she will carry whatever is in her mouth at the time that we were working with, training with or playing with, back to her crate where ever it may be...

Michael It sounds like you have not been training for long with this dog????? I do know that you never take the tug or toy or sleeve, or suit from your dogs mouth after traing. The dog should be encouraged to carry the item for as long as they will carry. It is how the dog unloads..... When you take things out of there mouth you creat conflict. Don't let this phase become a battle of dominance. You are a team you have just put stress on the dog, eaven obedience is stress, that is why you want to free the dog up after OB. I say "FREE" and give him the ball, I will then walk the dog to the crate or kennel and wait for him to drop the ball then put him away. The bite is the reward, they are taught that the stress ends while holding the sleeve or the suit, this is teaching them how to win. Sooner or later if trained right the dog will learn that when in the fight the harder they bite and hang on they will win, rather than leting go and running. It is very complicated and a good trainer will explain it better than I. I do not take anything out of the mouth. Later when the dog has learned how to win then you can teach the out and then you can take thing from the dog. Never after bite work. Let the dog carry until they are satisfied and drop the suit or sleeve. sorry Im not better at my explanation.

Yes, I just was not sure whether he is talking about running with the sleeve after getting a bite and the sleeve is slipped by the helper or if he was talking about when it is just him working with the dog and a toy.

Correct me if i'm wrong, it is my under standing that until the dog has learned the command or game you should never take the tug, ball, sleeve, etc. from the dogs mouth. I was taught to use two tugs, or two balls to teach the "bring" "out" and grip at the same time. To avoid conflict, and to teach the dog I am the world, the game and that all his needs are met from me. I'm sure there are lots of different ways to get there. If you have a working dog and you fail in any of these areas it will show up in the dogs grips. I have watched the film grips,drive and focus. The video leaves some things for us to figure out. One thing Bernard is teaching when he put the dogs into drive, stops and puts the ball over his shoulder. This method teaches the dog as you do lots of reps that the faster the dog does whats expected the faster the dog gets the reward. whether your teaching the watch, fuss ,platz, etc. the faster the dog does whats expected the faster the reward, until the dog knows with out question whats expected and then you can lengthen the time between rewards. Training is so complicated, I never really thought about how much work it is until I tried to write about it. I wish you the best of luck Lance

Thanks for all the input. For clarification I was playing the same game that Bernard Flinks does on the grip, drive, and focus CD. The dog does want to guard the ball a lot by laying down on it and putting his foot on it, or chewing on it when he's down: however this is not the problem I was speaking of. It's when I let him run back to the truck with the ball in his mouth. It's at this point while he is in his crate that I tried to take it from him that he growled. Like I said this was the only time he ever has growled at me for any reason. I have been training this dog since he was 8 months old everyday except sunday. He is now about 2 and a half. Once again thanks for all the input I will consider all of it.