Dog Community

Strauss doing protection work!

Xeph

Posted : 3/26/2007 2:15:14 PM

For the first time in a month, I got to go back down to Madison and train, and as usual, it was a blast

Strauss is no longer in puppy circle, and is working with Matt (He does the helper work with the younger/greener dogs) on the sleeve. I got video today of Mouse in action ^_^ [linkhttp://www.fluffyrat.net/wildfyre/strauss.mov]http://www.fluffyrat.net/wildfyre/strauss.mov[/link] Matt says he's a bit unsure and nervy (I use the word "Tweaky";), but his grips are getting better and fuller. I walked him into the building and he saw Matt with just the protection pants on (No sleeve on his arm or anything) and Strauss set right to barking. Surprised me really. I'd expect him to bark at Matt if he was wearing a sleeve, but wasn't really expecting him to bark at a "naked" helper. I think SchH is good for me too, as I find myself more readily engaging myself in conversations, rather than waiting for a conversation to come to me (I get very nervous in social situations, and tend to just wait for somebody to approach me first). It's quite a trip ^_^
I know I need to be a bit better of a pole, but it was my first week back after having busted up my ankle, and I was wearing a brace. I'm still getting used to it. If you do have any suggestions on my posture though, it'd be helpful. The blasted 12 year old at the club can "be a pole" and only use one hand on his dog LOL I also don't usually run like such a girl...I'm getting used to that brace, and my limp :-p The WBAY Pet Expo is next weekend, so no schutzhund, but after that I'll be back at it, and we'll be training at the Miller's place in Spring Green. *Shameless plug* Those of you in Wisconsin that are near enough to come, the WBAY Pet Expo is March 30 - April 1, and Strauss and I are likely to be the only GSD there representing the club in demos. Stop by and say hello to us! It's being held at Shopko Hall/Brown County Memorial Arena in Green Bay

dasher

Posted : 3/26/2007 5:53:03 PM

Very cool video!! Neat to see Strauss in action [

] Can't offer any advice as I don't do bite work with Dasher (now that would be something to see!![

]) but I think you guys look great!!

Mic Foster

Posted : 3/27/2007 7:09:58 AM

Hey,
Can you email me the video as an attachment. For some reason I can't access it.

[email=mfoster@petathleticclub.com]mfoster@petathleticclub.com[/email]

Thanks

tashakota

Posted : 3/27/2007 12:57:32 PM

Cool! Looks good from my uneducated eyes.

Xeph

Posted : 3/27/2007 3:26:25 PM

I'll be sure to send it tonight Mic :-)

Some people are having trouble viewing it, others aren't o.o

Thanks for the lookies you guys ^_^ I gotta tell you, that was only a 2 minute session, and when you're out there with that dog pulling, it feels like a LOT longer! I have to give big Kudos to Matt, Russ, and Steve (The helpers at Haupstadt) because they go through dog after dog after dog doing runbys and taking bites. It's hard enough just holding em...they keep running around for em!

Helpers are underappreciated I think o.O

Xeph

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:11:55 PM

Bugger...cant e-mail as an attachment (It's 65 MB o.o) Sorry >.<

Ixas_girl

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:47:24 PM

Wow, that looked amazing to my untrained eye ... as I watched, I was really impressed with your stance! Thanks for sharing!

Xeph

Posted : 3/27/2007 11:59:49 PM

Haha, thanks ^_^ Hard to believe that big lug in my sig (whose pic I am working on making smaller, I swear) does such work huh?

We spend three hours in southern WI once a week, and after all that, he goes home and romps with the 9 year old in the yard.

Those big vicious GSDs....totally untrustworthy...they'll turn on you at any moment *ROFLMAO*

ETA: For those of you that the video didn't work for, here's some still shots I pulled from it.

My dog detests this sport, can you tell? xD!

Mic Foster

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:55:11 AM

I finally go the video to work...yeah!

Overall you look pretty good. It is going to be hard to keep a solid "pole" posture until your dog moves from all prey drive to more defensive drives.

His grip looks relatively full...and his nerves will improve when your decoy starts driving into him more. When you do a skip drive the dog has no choice, but to use his full mouth and push back against the decoy. I really like to see the dog push against the decoy instead of pulling away. (Although your dog may not be to that point yet).

I have to assume that your dog is pretty green seeing how much your decoy presents the sleeve. I prefer to see my decoy agitate with their body and not present the sleeve until the bite command has been given. It makes the trasition easier from the full sleeve to a hidden sleeve.

Your dog looks motivated and excited and that is really the most important thing!

Xeph

Posted : 3/28/2007 12:15:18 PM

Yeah Mic, we've only been doing this for about 3 months, and I had to take a month off, due to a broken ankle. So we're so green we're like...moldy! Strauss doesn't have the confidence he needs yet...Matt is trying to get him to launch and lunge BEFORE he presents the sleeve. Right now, Strauss only lunges as Matt's coming by.

I'm very happy with all the helpers at the club :-)

They answer all my questions and concerns without making me feel stupid. The guy in black that walks through the arena in the beginning is actually the guy that gave Strauss his very first bite on a sleeve :-)

We'll be working with him more later on.

Since this is schutzhund, there is no hidden sleeve xD At least not that I've ever seen (looking at trial pics it seems the sleeve is always visible). Matt told me that Strauss is still slipping off the grip, but he tries hard to stay there. He's certainly not ready for being pushed yet, so everything is still in prey drive.

He DOES know what Pocken means, but I'm not giving him any commands to bite...Matt just wants him to do his thing for now, and get comfortable. So obviously, he doesn't even know Revier yet ^_^ He does have a solid "aus", and drops the sleeve everytime I tell him too, but I'm prepared for that to change when he becomes more seasoned and starts working in defense.

We're going for our BH this summer, and I'm both nervous and excited. We are both having an absolute blast!

Mic Foster

Posted : 3/28/2007 6:38:33 PM

Having a BLAST is the absolute most important thing.

One thing to consider....

When we have dogs slipping off the bite we put the "aus" on the back burner until the porblem is solved. We don't teach our sport dogs "aus" until they have been performing well on the bite for about a year. I prefer to have to pry them off. It makes for an awesome grip.

When I wrote that above post I wasn't in SchH mode. You are right in that there is no hidden sleeve and it will almost always be presented.

Keep having fun!!!!

Xeph

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:53:04 PM

I only tell him to aus because my helper told me to xD I do absolutely everything the helper says, because I don't know WTF I'm doing! They know more than I, so I just listen, lol