http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resource ... 002-01.htm
There's a good article about NILIF there, it goes into the principle behind NILIF a bit more than some articles I've read.
I wanted to add something here, that this article touched on: when I went to Officer academy and a trainer came in to talk about dog behavior and training techniques, the trainer told a story about a Rottie who bit someone at a backyard bar-b-que.
The owner of the Rottie came in and was torn up over this incident, understandably.
The owner stated that this dog was the best dog, would accompany the kids to the bus stop, wait until the kids had left on the bus, go back home, etc.
Anyway the story went on in thus manner, extolling the intelligence and good nature of this Rottie, and then the man said, that at this bar-b-que, the Rottie "made the wrong decision".
Well, the principal behind NILIF is that the dog does NOT get to make ANY decisions.
If you think about it, you can see how dogs make decisions, especially those with no good leadership.
And so your role as a dog owner, is to take away the dogs' decision making role and take that over. That way, the dog must rely on you to tell it what to do, and how/when to do it.
I hope that makes sense.
I'm talking, also, about general dog ownership, not dogs trained in schutzhund although this might apply as well, in that situation.
Just something from my class, that made alot of sense to me.
I think that the reason I wanted to post this, is, if you look at the FLIP side, how dogs with no leadership are, for instance, let run around the neighborhood, they are making TONS of decisions on their own, and this is when dog bites occur.
In any other bite situation (well most, anyway), you can see, if you read between the lines, a lack of firm pack leadership and the underlying problem of the dog making decisions on it's own.
A dog that is secure in knowing that it's owner is in control is not going to be as much of a bite risk as a dog that is left wondering all the time, "who is in charge".