I have a questions for all you guru's out there.I just recieved my bite sleeve in the mail a little while ago and i'm wonder how i should introduce it to my GS Guardian. we've been doing agitation work with the tug, and my resources as to finding good and well experienced helpers are limited, actually i have no one with experience. Is it way out of the question for me to introduce him to the sleeve just to show him the purpose of it and once he has the concep on biting the sleeve give it to the helper and guide them on what to do through my experience and the video the first steps of bite training. the more reply's the better, thank you

You can introduce the sleeve to the dog by starting off like its another tug toy.

Daniel - the video that would be a better choice would be Preparing Your Dog for the Helper http://leerburg.com/310.htm

yeah i was thinking of getting that one, but i'm only 20 and don't have much of an income to speak off and they videos are a little out of my reach price wise so i was thinking which one of the two would be more useful to me. You think for defending our country they could pay us all a little more, at least enough to purchase a couple videos.

I have to agree with you there Daniel. I would check out a Schutzhund club better, to get a hands-on feel for everything.

I introduce the sleeve, and do prey work. As soon as you start defense work, you will need a decoy. Good luck.

I too had no good choices for helpers when I got my sleeve-I started my dog like it was a tug, and I had no issues with wearing it for him. He knew what to do.
It may not be the way for every dog, but it worked for me, and no, the dog never decided to bite my bare arm or get froggy with me about it. I kept the thing in the spirit of a big fat game of course, like someone else said-no defense at all. I did wave my free hand over his head though and did lots of yelling. Sometimes I would push my legs or feet on him, no actual kicking, but touching him with my feet and legs just to get him used to it.
Did I make a ton of mistakes? No doubt, but with limited options for training, you make do. I have seen clubs that wouldn't have done any worse than I did.
I also was able to talk some friends into being "helpers" (a few of them more than once!)and the dog really liked that. Some people make better prey objects (helpers?) than others, btw-better struggling and noises. It was a real confidence builder for the dog. Make sure they understand that the dog must win of course, and no hitting the dog and such. I'm not being funny, honestly you must tell people what to expect and explain how to wear and slip the sleeve and what types of "struggling" are best and appropriate.
I would NOT try this if your dog isn't all about the sleeve/prey and may switch to the helper/fight. You would be the one to know this or suspect it.
Go to a schutzhund club and watch them work their dogs if you have one nearby. Attending even one seminar is unvaluable-I say this from experience! Know your dog, buy a video if you can, (worth the money-especially if you don't have access to a club and real helpers!)and read any and all legit material you can get your hands on.

I was in the same situation....literally no helpers available. I started the dog on my own.....it was a game. O ver time it was clear that she needed to take it up a notch, but I was not the person to do it on, I needed a helper.

I went to the local University and posted a flyer in the Criminal Justice Department, and bam within a week I had 4 or 5 interested people. The only problem was each one of them was inexperienced in helping. At that point I had to learn as much as possible then teach it to the helpers......get the video, learn yourself, then teach others.....