# Katya's first week of bitework!



## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

So I *finally* found a local group to train with.. apparently they just formed a club. My female is 15 months old, and Saturday made her 3rd time doing bite-work and she's doing *great*. Great bark, great deep bite, great enthusiasm, excellent prey drive, great power, great hold, and carries the pillow all the way inside the truck when we're done!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

She looks GREAT!!! Awesome work! Much to be proud of.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

She looks terrific!!!


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## DonYil (Jan 31, 2011)

hunterisgreat said:


> So I *finally* found a local group to train with.. apparently they just formed a club. My female is 15 months old, and Saturday made her 3rd time doing bite-work and she's doing *great*. Great bark, great deep bite, great enthusiasm, excellent prey drive, great power, great hold, and carries the pillow all the way inside the truck when we're done!
> 
> YouTube - Katya 2011-01-29.mov


 

That's great, how long did it take you to get her to that point? I have a GSD female white 15 weeks. I want to get her to where she's protecting the family and also great with the kids. What should I do?


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

DonYil said:


> That's great, how long did it take you to get her to that point? I have a GSD female white 15 weeks. I want to get her to where she's protecting the family and also great with the kids. What should I do?


Find a local Schutzhund club and work with an experienced helper/trainer. 

There are a lot of clubs in CA so I am sure you will be able to find one close to you.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

DonYil said:


> That's great, how long did it take you to get her to that point? I have a GSD female white 15 weeks. I want to get her to where she's protecting the family and also great with the kids. What should I do?


That video was approx 4 mins long, and before that we had approx 8 mins (two sessions of the approx same length) of bite work total in her lifetime. The first time she was a little cautious, looking back at me for reassurance that it was actually ok to get aggressive with this stranger. The second time she pretty much knew what was gonna happen, and this time she clearly understood how this shindig works

However, I've spent her entire life building drive, confidence, and she's never been corrected for being mouthy... she is/was a bit of an alligator puppy with loud snappy jaws. etc.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

hunterisgreat said:


> That video was approx 4 mins long, and before that we had approx 8 mins (two sessions of the approx same length) of bite work total in her lifetime. The first time she was a little cautious, looking back at me for reassurance that it was actually ok to get aggressive with this stranger. The second time she pretty much knew what was gonna happen, and this time she clearly understood how this shindig works
> 
> However, *I've spent her entire life building drive, confidence, and she's never been corrected for being mouthy... she is/was a bit of an alligator puppy with loud snappy jaws. etc.*


 This needs to be repeated.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Yeah its extremely important to have a good helper (they guy with the sleeve)... he's the one that needs to know the most about dog training... push too hard and you are being counter productive, push to soft and you don't get anywhere. He also pays close attention to how she's biting, how hard, where, etc etc, and we figure out how to address what ever issue is coming up. You cannot do bitework on your own, and you cannot do it without someone experienced. You'll do more harm than good, and done poorly you can end up with a dog working out of defense and then you've got a dog liable to attack someone for no reason. Notice in the video her tail is wagging... this is all just a fun game for her


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> This needs to be repeated.


I've spent her entire life building drive, confidence, and she's never been corrected for being mouthy... she is/was a bit of an alligator puppy with loud snappy jaws. etc. 

While I'm bragging, here's my male right afterwards  He's ~3.5. We stopped training at about 1.5 years old as he got bloat and I just was happy he survived and wanted to make *real* sure everything was healed up. Bitework is his absolute favorite thing in the world... he'll refuse food for a sleeve. Here's a pic of what bloat post-op looks like too


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Wow.. what a lucky boy!

He looks good on the field though!

Your dogs look good! Especially your male for not being on the field for so long! Glad to see him still wanting to work! 

My male is only 21 months and we have been doing schH for about 10ish months now but are on hiatus for the winter (I'm in Canada). Your video's are making me want to get back out there!


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

DonYil said:


> That's great, how long did it take you to get her to that point? I have a GSD female white 15 weeks. I want to get her to where she's protecting the family and also great with the kids. What should I do?


All you need to do right now is get this Leather Puppy Tug Shamee-Elite K-9 and play with her all the time, letting her when it when she gets a good bite on it.

Rule #1 is puppies always win the game.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> Wow.. what a lucky boy!
> 
> He looks good on the field though!
> 
> ...


It was actually pretty warm.. you can see at the end he was getting hot (I was pretty sweaty myself, and after all the dogs the helper was about to have a heart attack). Took forever to get that last bark out to do the backup. He's always ready to work though... he'd work till he dropped if I let him. He's also a little pudgy at the moment... 93lbs, and I want him at 86lbs or so. He's built like a brick **** house though and has a really nice deep bark. I wish I had a video of his defense bark instead of prey bark

Its the opposite here... its pretty hard for anyone to last very long in the summer... 100% humidity and 100 degrees outside makes for about a 2 minute session lol


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## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

That's it!!!

I'm not putting it off any longer. Just when I was to start training Titon for Sch., I got a job transfer to SLC. I'm on the hunt for a club/trainer here in SLC (Olympus Sch. Club). Titon is ball crazy, nose to the ground crazy, tug crazy, food crazy... you name it, he's crazy about it. Must be the fact that his grand-sire was 2007 Czech National Champion. I feel bad holding my boy back from his true calling.

-E


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Nicely done! Good dog!


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

TitonsDad said:


> That's it!!!
> 
> I'm not putting it off any longer. Just when I was to start training Titon for Sch., I got a job transfer to SLC. I'm on the hunt for a club/trainer here in SLC (Olympus Sch. Club). Titon is ball crazy, nose to the ground crazy, tug crazy, food crazy... you name it, he's crazy about it. Must be the fact that his grand-sire was 2007 Czech National Champion. I feel bad holding my boy back from his true calling.
> 
> -E


In my male's pedigree is a 2 time national police dog champion (Stormfronts Brawnson), a Bundessiegerprufung champion and a world champion (Asko von der Lutter), two separate 3 time Czech National Champions, a 2 time Czech national champion, two separate 1 time Czech national champions and lots of other top sport dogs  I know if he doesn't get titled its my fault and my fault alone. We are already way behind schedule (also my fault)


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## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

hunterisgreat said:


> In my male's pedigree is a 2 time national police dog champion (Stormfronts Brawnson), a Bundessiegerprufung champion and a world champion (Asko von der Lutter), two separate 3 time Czech National Champions, a 2 time Czech national champion, two separate 1 time Czech national champions and lots of other top sport dogs  I know if he doesn't get titled its my fault and my fault alone. We are already way behind schedule (also my fault)


 
Don't feel bad. I'm behind schedule too. 

Curious, what National Champions they were. My boy's grand-sire is:

Erri z Blatenskeho zamku SchH3, IPO3, ZVV1 Nat'l champion Czech Republic 2007 

Are our boys related?


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

TitonsDad said:


> Don't feel bad. I'm behind schedule too.
> 
> Curious, what National Champions they were. My boy's grand-sire is:
> 
> ...


In some way almost definetly


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## timmster (Jan 26, 2011)

Wowiee. Jager has got one of the most intimidating bark I've ever heard. I definitely would not want to mess with that puppy.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

timmster said:


> Wowiee. Jager has got one of the most intimidating bark I've ever heard. I definitely would not want to mess with that puppy.


He's not that tall, but built like a brick **** house. The size of his chest, I think, gives him his deep intimidating bark. We're working on getting the bark more consistent. It'd be better if he didn't start barking the second he heard the first whip crack and new it was protection time, to the time he got to go do some work


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## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

We start on the 20th of this month. :happyboogie:


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

TitonsDad said:


> We start on the 20th of this month. :happyboogie:


Good for you! Remember the camcorder


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## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

That's gonna be a tough one BUT I will grab the camera when I come back from Colorado this weekend. Thank you for reminding me to snatch it from the wife.


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