Holding the sleeve after an out

I had no idea that anyone had read the blog posts I had done so far. I was encouraged when I found someone today who enjoyed reading them. Here is another one for you Kourtney!

During protection, it is quite a common scene to encounter a new handler with a dog who wants to 'kill' his won prey object by thrashing the living crap out of it. Accompanying this scene is typically the experienced Schutzhunder who points out that the dog must not be allowed to do that and should be made to hold the sleeve after having run in a circle with the prize.

What follows is generally some conflict. Dog wants to thrash sleeve. Handler makes the dog hold the sleeve calmly.

Without a doubt, a dog that circles nicely with the sleeve in its mouth and then holds the sleeve until the handler outs it or the helper is ready to re-engage, makes for a really nice flow during a training session. It also makes for long lasting training equipment. Unfortunately something that perhaps should be a means to an end sometimes becomes an end itself. There are dogs that REALLY REALLY REALLY want to thrash the sleeve about and many a handler ends up fighting with his dog to make him hold it calmly.

It is worth asking ourselves at this juncture, what is it that we are trying to accomplish? Why do we want the dog to hold the sleeve calmly? Carrying the won prey object is about the dog unloading from the stress which can accompany the bitework. It should be de-stressing for the dog. MAKING a dog forcibly hold the sleeve by training him to do so, for a dog that REALLY wants to thrash the sleeve about, has a certain level of stress associated with it for the dog - as we are making the dog do something it does not want to do ... and this is supposed to be down time for the dog.

Where did these techniques come from anyway and what where they intended to do? There are different schools of thought on this. It is worth asking those that recommend them what they are intended to accomplish.

Techniques that involve the dog running in a circle with the prey object and being encouraged to hold it when stationary, are said to have come from a time when dogs very very civil in their protection work. They were interested primarily in the man, with little desire for the equipment. One school of thought says that these techniques were developed for this very civil dog, to build a desire and enjoyment for the prey object. They are not necessarily useful for the majority of the dogs we see today with an already high interest in the prey object. Unfortunately they tend to be applied, almost obsessively, to every dog.

In addition, what the dog does once the sleeve is slipped to him, tells the helper something about the dogs state of mind after the bite. Many Malinois for example tend to get a lot of bite satisfaction from the fight itself with the man and slipping the sleeve prematurely without allowing them to unload on the man often results in (more) thrashing of the sleeve on the ground. If dogs are taught to forcibly hold the sleeve then this takes a way a piece of information that a helper can use about the dogs state of mind. Now the helper does not know whether the dog is holding the sleeve because the work is just right for him or because he has been taught to hold it. The helper could have used this information to adjust his work on the next bite.

The Utopian dog who is satisfied with the bite should be happy to unload by circling with the sleeve and holding the sleeve out of his own accord, until the helper looks at him and starts to engage him. This dog would then spit the sleeve out, not caring about it anymore, and engage with the un-sleeved helper. The helper then has the opportunity to pick up the sleeve and go into the next bite. A dog that does this is 100% in balance in his drives in the protection work. He understands clearly that the helper is part of the fight and not just something the sleeve is attached to. He is satisfied to hold the sleeve and run around with it unloading, but only while the helper remains static and uninterested in engaging him. He has gained his bite satisfaction on the man and so does not *need* to thrash the sleeve about.

I find that many a dog who thrashes a sleeve normally, when worked in a way that is appropriate to provide them the bite satisfaction on the man, tend to hold the sleeve much better once it is slipped. Of course this is not always the case. Lots of dogs simply enjoy thrashing the sleeve about and it is very ingrained behaviour. It does not mean that the work is wrong for the dog. However it does give the helper something to file at the back of his mind for the next bite. It is thus not worth taking this information away.

Lots of old timers tend to have the opinion that if the dog is allowed to thrash the sleeve about then he will be chewy and do the same on the man. I'm sure that there are dogs that are chewy and thrash on both the man and the sleeve alone when slipped. However there are a LOT of dogs who will thrash the living crap out of the sleeve but will not shift their grip on the man at all. I don't personally believe in this theory. I don't think what the dog does with the slipped sleeve has anything to do with how he bites on the man.

Everyone is of course entitled to their own opinion on these matters. The one thing that is easy to agree on is that it is harder on the equipment when a dog thrashes it about :-) Tracy, whose Giant Schnauzer Bullet is the 'thrasher-in-chief' at our club, occasionally buys the club a sleeve cover as penance for Bullet being hard on the equipment. We find this is a good compromise!

Full disclosure: The above information is something I have gotten from Michael Ellis at one of the seminars he did for us. He seems to have thought through this quite a bit and explains theory behind protection work very well. I would highly recommend attending one of his seminars or courses at his school if you are more interested in these ideas.