amazincc wrote:Me too...
What exactly were you trying to teach that dog? What was he being trained for?
I'm not justifying what Greg did, but I am telling you a little bit about Chipper. Chipper was being trained for protection sport. He was way before "my time" with Greg, but I've heard the stories.
I'm sure Greg can get on here and give much more insight, but Chipper was real "special." Greg got Chipper when he was 6. Chipper had spent the better part of his first 6 years as a house dog in a guy's house. When people came over, the guy would put Chipper in a crate, and people would tease him. This led to a very "pi$$ed off" malinois. He became very aggressive towards the dog's wife (never biting, just growling). Fast forward, Chipper falls into Greg's lap.
He was very high drive, and when Greg got him realized he was very suitable for sport. In fact, 6 months after he got Chipper, he won PSA Nationals with him.
Chipper never liked people, in general. He was also extremely handler aggressive. Greg worked through it, but Chipper would regularly come up the line at him. The big reason Greg stopped showing Chipper was b/c Greg would get him to the start cone to compete, and Chipper would look towards the crowd drooling. Greg knew Chipper would break, and he wasn't necessarily going to go after the decoy. In fact, in the PSA level 1's, there is a seated decoy on the field. That is a Chipper rule. There was always a person seated on the field. However, the suited decoy became necessary because of Chipper.
There was an incident after Greg stopped competing with him (because he couldn't get Chipper to come out onto the field and not want to bite) where the founders of PSA were doing a seminar, and they were introducing the new PDC level. They asked Greg to demonstrate the obedience with Chipper. Greg didn't want to b/c of the issues he was having. The founders promised Greg up and down that the entire obedience was on-leash. So, Greg gets his dog. They get on the start cone. There was a suited decoy nearby (just in case). They get on the start cone, and Chipper starts drooling. Again, not looking at the decoy, but looking at the crowd. Well, the first thing Joe tells him is "leave your dog." Greg is apprehensive, but they promise it's not that far, and he's got an electric collar on him. So, Greg leaves his dog. He gets about 15 steps ahead, and goes to recall his dog. He yelled "Chipper, fulligan" and Chipper takes off towards the crowd towards Jerry Bradshaw. Greg starts using the electric on Chipper, he kept running full force, with his head turned to the side b/c of the electric. Jerry brings up his arm to catch the dog (no equipment), Chipper gets him, but only gets the material of his sweatshirt. Jerry kept swinging him around not letting his feet touch b/c if Chipper's feet touched the ground, he'd counter in. The decoy came in, and they got Chipper on the decoy.
There was an incident (in fact, it was the incident that made Greg sell Chipper) on the training field where Chipper came up the line at him 3 times in a row. The last two times were in the same spot Greg corrected him the first time, but hadn't yet corrected him on those two times. He had to "fight" with Chipper, and Chipper's tail was wagging the first 2 times...it wasn't until the third "round" that Chipper finally gave in. Greg would often come into the office after doing obedience with Chipper with ripped pants and blood on him. People would asked what happened, Greg's answer "I was doing obedience with my dog."
There was another incident where they were working on long downs with gunfire. Greg had just won Nationals with Chipper, so he knew Chipper could do this. He put him in a long down, and went to the other side of the field. He fired the gun, and Chipper came running full force towards him, and actually launched to bite him. Greg caught him mid-air by the face.
Take Chipper out of training situation, and he was very lovey towards Greg. While teaching him to out, Chipper would often out, then come up at Greg. Of course, this was when Chipper would still out for a normal correction. It got to the point where there was no teaching this dog to out - they had exhausted all traditional methods. Greg would try to trade Chipper toy for toy, and Chipper would come after him over the toy. He would use food with him - hot dog- and after he ran out of hot dog, Chipper would come up the line. On the prong collar, Chipper would hold a grudge so Greg couldn't get him off the back-tie for 30 to 45 minutes. So, they went to the e-collar, but then he'd either bite people's feet around him, or just work through it.
It's hard to imagine why you'd use a cattle prod on a dog. I can't say I would do it...but also, Chipper is not a dog that I'd own. In fact, probably 99% of the people on this board would not own or be able to handle a dog like Chipper (nor would they want to).
After Greg sold Chipper, he got a call from the police department he was sold to. Greg had to get the dog before they put him down b/c he put his handler in the hospital for 4 days. Ironically, Chipper went on to be a K9 for a female handler. She absolutely loves him, never had any incidents with him. He retired with his handler and she plays frisbee with him.