hes now 8 months lots and lots of prey drive loves to play bite and hangs on but keeps reajusting his bite and when i walk him wants to grab my arm stops when hes told and walks to heel
i now have a helper for him to bite he show no aggrestion while in the bite.he does not back off from any situation except my voice (no)ect.
what am i doing wrong

Sorry, but two sentences of background is just not enough to have a clue what is going on with the dog. It could be a million things; there are too many variables. Give us more info to work with.

i know sorry but dont know what info you need new to prey drive ect

Originally posted by scott anderson:
hes now 8 months lots and lots of prey drive loves to play bite and hangs on but keeps reajusting his bite Scott, even though he is working in prey and maybe showing lots of drive the fact he is readjusting the bite usually means he is worried and fear is working its erosion on confidence.

Is the dog biting full when he hits?

Lee is correct it could many reasons but the dog hitting the sleeve with full bite is a start and we can go from there maybe.

After reading your post for the 10th time…are you talking about the dog biting your arm or a puppy tug/sleeve and you are in it of your helper?

I guess my question is: Is your dog readjusting the bite on the helper?

You ask what your doing wrong! Tell us what the dog is doing wrong, in your openion. Ajusting the bite, Showing no agression. Why do you think your doing something wrong. Or what do you want the dog to do, that its not doing?

Ron

he bites the tug not useing a sleeve yet bites full pulls then lets go and rebites but not full bite or lets go and then jumps at the tug and bites again.he only seems to play bite no force.
bites helper as if playing with me.
i dont think the dog is getting it wrong but me not showing him what to do right.he is very happy when in play.do you think i should get vidoe to teach me first.i had a police ex dog and so know how he would bite.my new dog does not show any sign of aggrestion at all yet only with other dog at feed time.i feed first thing but plays ok all other times with bitch

I'm probably guessing wrong, but it sounds as tho this is YOU playing with the dog on the tug, not a helper? And it sounds like the dog is loose - he's not either back-tied to a pole or held by you while another person is working him?

If either of those is true, I would stop both practices. Those conditions are not going to teach him to bite correctly, and once a poor habit is developed, it is difficult to break. Work the dog with you holding him - you are a post and you give your helper a fixed circumference of a circle to work within unless he tells you to move. The helper, after making the dog crazy over the prey, gives a grip and immediately takes the dog to the end of the line. Now there is pulling from the helper in front and pulling from the line behind. If the dog shifts his grip, the helper is going to take off with the tug and he loses his prize. While keeping some moderate tension on the line, the helper can keep the tug alive by moving side to side before allowing the dog to win. You need a helper who is experienced and this will all work out fine. If you try to train him alone, without any experience or knowledge of the work, you're going to train some very bad habits.

thanks i started with me and understand what you are saying i will take pro advice and start again so i dont train bad habits.i work him to heel down stay bark on command but now need the help of pro to forward me dog.and teach me how to do it right.my ex dog was pre trained police work dog but i have alot to learn to teach me new dog.
thanks very much for you kind help and dont worry i love mey dog and will work hard to teach him correctly.

Right on Lee. I want to add a couple of things...

The helper should know how and when to release the tug. He or she should use the line tension to get a readjustment and then as soon as the dog readjust into a full bite, free the prey reward. As soon as the helper releases you should trot around a bit, letting your dog carry the tug. Don’t wait for him if it wants to stop and chew on the tug. If it chews it it looses it so keep a steady pace that is comfortable for your dog. Soon it will learn to hold on and keep it.

It does not need to be a long trot that makes him and you tired but just long enough for the helper to recover.

I like to see a possessive young dog so I use another tug to induce the dog to release the one in his mouth. You can condition this with an out command but I would hesitate on force out methods on a dog with bite troubles. In this way the dog will not be worried about you making him give up his reward and can focus fully on the task at hand…slamming sleeve and winning it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Good luck