Zoom I have a few shots of him working around those wire spools that are cool, I'll post them. One is kinda scary- the decoy anticipated him going around the spools, he went onto them and was real close to a crotch bite! I had released him so the decoy was on his own! Luckily Gunnar went between his legs and grabbed the sleeve, it could have been ugly.
Thanks Barb. He really is doing well. What's cool is when I look at him now, I see a full grown, confident GSD. All of our work the last 2 1/2 years is really coming to payoff time.
BP, I think that someone would be more intimidated by Miss Daisy if they decided to come in. She's very vocal and wouldn't let a couple guys who came to service our water conditioner in the house recently. Because I let them in, Gunnar accepted them, but Daisy wouldn't have any of it and I had to physically restrain her. But, it's all part of the training- that's my goal, that if a threat develops, I have options. I read somewhere else, that if you have a dog or a gun, you can send a dog but call him back. You can't call back the bullet.
Here's more pics from that protection session:
Barking at the decoy. The decoy is trash talking. "I'm not scared of you, and I'm not scared of your dog!" The decoys always have funny lines like that. They will do all kinds of vocalizations and sounds to agitate the dog and get them hyped up to engage.
I have no idea what this picture is about! I know what Gunnar is about to do but I have no idea what I was doing!
This is where he circled behind and jumped up between his legs. It happened in a split second as he got around the spools fast!
Some ground work. Gunnar looks huge in this shot! Notice the "step on the foot to trip the decoy" technique, lol. Nice full bite, confident tail set (wagging and set high), and no concern about the stick that is coming towards him. He doesn't hit him with it, but might tap him on the sides, and brush it across his face and down his back to get him used to feeling it without showing stress.