# protection work with Anna (videos)



## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Hey everyone, here are 2 videos of Anna doing some bite work, she is a little over 6 months, keep in mind she is my first sport dog (I'm a new handler) just asking for some feedback. How do you think she is doing so far? I don't know much about protection. It looks good to me lol




Protection work (Anna 6 months) - YouTube


Protection with Anna - YouTube



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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Very nice!!! Good work you too. She has lots of prey drive, stays focused and intense even when the decoy is not engaging her directly, and beautiful, full bite for a young dog. 

Your handling seem just fine from what I could see on here. 

Keep up the good work!

Your Decoy does good work - I like how he waited for her crazy spastic barking to settle into a more focused rhythmic barking before rewarding her, and how he held up the sleeve up high for the send so that she had to stretch up and jump for it - too many helpers seem to want to feed the sleeve and slam it into the dog's mouth instead of making the dog work to get it.


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Thank you!! I really have no clue when to let her move forward or when to tell her she's doing a good job, so for now her trainer Wes works her, I'm really awkward hahaha. But she LOVES toys, bite pillows, tugs, balls- she flips the moment she sees them! I've seen them work a few other dogs and the older gsd seem so calm when they work. is that something she will eventually do? Is it good or bad? Do you want a really excited dog or a dog who is calm? we are going to do IPO. Just curious, I have a ton of questions 


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Castlemaid said:


> Very nice!!! Good work you too. She has lots of prey drive, stays focused and intense even when the decoy is not engaging her directly, and beautiful, full bite for a young dog.
> 
> Your handling seem just fine from what I could see on here.
> 
> ...


Thank you also for the comments on the decoy, they have 9 gsd at arrowwood, they breed and train for IPO and PSA, I really trust there work.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Is that you handling her in the video, or Wes? Sorry - the handler is all bundled up and I can't tell -  

At six months, she is fine - you want to develop intensity and have the dog keep it throughout the routine. Some dogs are quietly intense, others are loudly intense, and every dog is different. 

Right now, for her age, she is fine for where she is. The high-pitched prey bark may or may not settle into a more serious defense bark as she matures - but that depends on her level of drives. I find that females often have a more high-pitched, high-intensity prey bark than males in general. I think she has good potential to settle down and be more serious as she matures, but be patient. Maturity in some lines doesn't happen until they are two or three years old. 

I wouldn't be comparing her to other dogs - they are all at different levels of training, different levels of maturity, and all have different levels of prey vs. defense drive (which you won't see until she is older anyways.) If your trainers are happy with her progress, then you can be happy with her progress too.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I can add too, that for many six month old pups, they would be rewarded with a bite much sooner, as making them wait for a reward would make them loose steam. When I first watched the first video, I thought that the decoy was taking too long to reward, but then as the video went on, I saw that Anna was not loosing one deciliter of steam (hey, we're metric in Canada  ), and was maintaining her intensity throughout. You decoy knows her, knows how much she can give, knows how to develop her to her potential, and knew how to work her and knew what he wanted from her and exactly when to reward her. 

It takes a long time to see all this though - hearing the difference in barking, seeing the dog start to lose steam (which Anna does not), knowing when to reward with a bite, etc . . . Asking specific questions and watching a lot of dogs being worked will help you learn all that.


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Castlemaid said:


> Is that you handling her in the video, or Wes? Sorry - the handler is all bundled up and I can't tell -
> 
> At six months, she is fine - you want to develop intensity and have the dog keep it throughout the routine. Some dogs are quietly intense, others are loudly intense, and every dog is different.
> 
> ...


Wes is handling her during protection, he says he is trying to keep her calm when she bites, so he will come up the line while she holds the sleeve and put his hand under her chin and hold we head up while petting her. I also know if she doesn't bite full, they let the sleeve escape from her. He did tell me her bark was because she is in prey. I'm fine with it, as long as a high pitch Girly bark is ok at trial some day. But yeah, I guess we'll see what happens she is still super young. How do you know if your dog is soft? What does that mean? I've heard a few people talking about training and refer to a dog a being soft. (Not Anna of course)


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Your dog can do fine in trial with a prey bark - many dogs trial and do well while working in prey drive. Not something to worry about at this time, just enjoy her and have fun. 

I don't think there is anything wrong with a sport dog that works in prey, as long as the owners KNOW the difference - often you see a video of a dog working in prey drive, and people are all commenting how serious and impressive the dog is - errr - no, dog does good work and is a fun dog to handle and trial with, but the dog is NOT in defense, and people should be able to read their dog better than that. 

If Anna was a soft dog, you wouldn't have these awesome videos to share! A soft dog is a very sensitive dog that falls apart under pressure - which can be so much as a harsh word, a collar correction, or a hard stare from the decoy. Sometimes, puppies that have a lot of prey drive do great in training until the decoy starts putting more pressure on the dog, then you seem them disengage, go into avoidance etc. 

You can have a handler-sensitive dog that is NOT soft - my dog just lives to please me, and he is very sensitive to me, but he'll destroy the decoy if given a chance. Yet he is very responsive to me and can get over-sensitive to my corrections, and defers and submits to my older dog. Doesn't change the fact that he is a strong dog on the field that won't back off under pressure.


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## Ka$per (Mar 18, 2014)

hey i think she's doing great work but i think u should teach anna to attack on a command cuz i think she'll be aggressive towards strangers and other dogs properly but after all she's doing amazing job


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## mego (Jan 27, 2013)

Ka$per said:


> hey i think she's doing great work but i think u should teach anna to attack on a command cuz i think she'll be aggressive towards strangers and other dogs properly but after all she's doing amazing job


lol this won't make her aggressive
it's a game to her.
It's fun


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Ka$per said:


> hey i think she's doing great work but i think u should teach anna to attack on a command cuz i think she'll be aggressive towards strangers and other dogs properly but after all she's doing amazing job


She is learning the word "revere" (I think that's how you spell it lol) but yes for her it's a game, they don't target the person they target the equipment, she doesn't want to bite the guy- she wants that awesome dog you he is wearing on his arm lol 


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Castlemaid said:


> Your dog can do fine in trial with a prey bark - many dogs trial and do well while working in prey drive. Not something to worry about at this time, just enjoy her and have fun.
> 
> I don't think there is anything wrong with a sport dog that works in prey, as long as the owners KNOW the difference - often you see a video of a dog working in prey drive, and people are all commenting how serious and impressive the dog is - errr - no, dog does good work and is a fun dog to handle and trial with, but the dog is NOT in defense, and people should be able to read their dog better than that.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info!! this forum is always very helpful, My friend has a dog who she said his lines were bred to pay very very close attention to a handler (my dog and hers actually share a few family members, yoschy and troll) so I'm assuming your dog is like this, that he (or she) works very very closely to it's handler. If I'm understanding it correctly.


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

mego said:


> lol this won't make her aggressive
> it's a game to her.
> It's fun


Agreed!! 


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Anna is now 8 months old, nice full grip 


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

That is one gorgeous deep full-mouthed grip!


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Thank you!!!  though I can't take credit, it's mainly my helpers work 


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

You can still be proud.  She's your baby! 

Are others still doing the handling during protection? If so, I'd start asking for you to start. From that previous video, she has "it", so unless you are the biggest idiot in the world (doesn't sound like you are, so far,  ), a few little mistakes while you learn line handling isn't going to set her back any.


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## Liz&Anna (Oct 29, 2013)

Actually I was just about to share some videos (I'm handling now BUT she's still stronger then me lol) alps I have a question, Anna is going through her first heat, my trainer told me to work her through it (he said, "what if she's in heat when you go to trial"?? And I was like hmm ok...good point)

So I noticed she wasn't as intense as usually and there was a second where she backed up (which she NEVER EVER does, it's very unlike her) I'm wondering if it was because of the heat? 

Does any one have experience with this? Maybe I should have made a different post lol





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