Training Pics

DanL · #1 11-12-2007, 11:25 AM

We've been concentrating on bite compression training with Gunnar for the last 3-4 weeks. This is building his bite strength and endurance and teaching him to bite hard on his initial hit on the decoy.

It is a 3 part exercise. 1st, I send him to the decoy and he gets his initial bite. I regain leash control (read: run after him!) and begin to pull back on him, hard. The decoy pulls the other way, but we inch forward to let Gunnar think he's driving the decoy back. If he tries to regrip or if he slacks off on the bite, he loses. He learns that if he bites deep and hard the 1st time, he can't lose.

After 5 seconds or so the decoy will go to the ground, to let Gunnar think he's dominating the decoy. At this point I'll give him some slack on the lead, and if he wants to get a deeper bite, he can. Then the decoy will recover and we'll do the 1st part of the exercise again for a few seconds. After that the decoy will slip the sleeve and let Gunnar win. We do this 2 or 3 times in a bite session, and do 2-3 bite sessions each training day. We are gradually building his time on the bite to 10 seconds or so- once he's at that point, he'll be ready to move onto the bite suit. The decoys both say he's hitting like a ton of bricks and his bites are harder than ever since we've been doing this work.

This picture is where I'm just regaining leash control to start the exercise.

Here is the pulling part of the exercise. Regrip, and lose. He doesn't like to lose!

This is the passive position where Gunnar feels like he's dominating the decoy. This builds confidence. Basically, it gives him the attitude that "I can kick this guy's butt whenever I want". After this, the decoy rises up to his feet, we do the pulling part of the exercise for a few more seconds, then he slips the sleeve and lets Gunnar win.