All three days of the seminar started out with some classroom instruction. Following that alot of practical time was spent working dogs in the gym. The first day the first part of the practical exercises was spent working on proper sleeve catching techniques. Jerry and Dave worked with the students one on one on how to properly present a sleeve and how to catch dogs. Some time was also spent on properly presenting an arm for suit work. Towards the end of the day Jerry spoke about civil aggression and defense in dogs, and demonstarted to the handlers how to work on brining out some aggression in the dogs while stalking them. He also spoke on the importance of being able to read the dog's body language and barking in order to make sure that too much stress was not being put on the dog at once.
Jerry Speaking to the attendees
Dave working on sleeve presentation with one of the handlers.
Jerry working on sleeve presentation with once of the handlers.
An escape bite on the suit.
Sleeve presentation for an escape bite.
Working with a dog on an inside bite.
On the second day the practical work started out with showing the handlers how to eliminate equipment orientation in dogs, which involved using several different kinds of equipment. Starting with giving a bite in the soft sleeve, followed by a bite in the suit, followed by a bite on a hidden sleeve was one of the methods used. Some of the dogs did a real nice job, while with some a bit of time was spent on how to work up to that point using and slipping sleeves one by one.
Dave giving the dog a bite on a hidden sleeve after a bite on a soft sleeve.
One of the MWD Handlers doing Decoy Work with two sleeves.
A handler and decoy working on one of the K9s grip.
Object Guarding.
After that Jerry went into some problem solving with the "out" command. Some methods discussed were having the helper give the correction with a second leash as well as redirects to reinforce the behavior. Additionally some time was spent working on the call-off exercise with some of the dogs. Something that Jerry had the handlers do differently that was interesting was rather then rewarding the dog with a 'release' to go to the decoy when the call off was succesfully performed, he had the Decoy come up to the dog and reward him from the point that he stopped.
One of the K9s being redirected onto another Decoy.
Another Redirected Bite.
Rewarding the dog for a Call Off.
The last part of the day was spent working on passive bites in a hidden sleeve. Some time was spent working on hidden sleeve mechanics while the rest was spent working on getting the dog to alert on the passive suspect, and to make passive bites. Jerry discussed timing on the part of the Decoy and the Handlers.
Jerry taking a passive bite from one of the K9s.
A passive bite out from in the bathroom.
The third day was mostly spent in recap. Some time was spent discussing muzzle work and equipment. The first of half of the day was spent in the gym going over Call Outs, Outs, as well as working some more on the suit mechanics of some of the decoys.
Reward for a succesful Call Out
Working on Suit Presentation.
Taking bites in the suit.
The last half of the day was spent in one of the barraks working on searching the buildngs. Jerry worked with the handlers on how to build the alert behavior in the dog without cues, and also worked on lessening the equipment orientation in these scenarios.
K9 alerting on one of the rooms.
Reward bite after the alert.
The seminar was an overall success with a great deal of improvment seen in both the handlers and the dogs. Jerry did a fantastic job of working with the handlers to improve their decoy skills, and along with Dave alot of good information and instruction was passed along.
This is a video compilation of some of the highlights from the seminar including images and video. The video clips included are : Eliminating Equipment Orienation; Proper Sleeve Orientation; Passive Bites; Outing and Redirects; Passive Bites; Suit Presentation and Catching; Call Off; Eliminating Equipment Orientation; Alerting Behavior; Proper Sleeve Presentation for an Escape Bite; and a Passive Bite in a Bathroom.
More images can also be seen on our Facebook page, located Here
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