Congrats PocketPit & Brody!!!

[pocketpit]

Sis, yes that is a blue fawn Mal. It's the first one I've ever seen but apparently there is another living in California. Saphir is an import from Hoffman kennels. Pretty dog (I'm not a fan of how tall he is though) and a nice working dog.

What are you doing to fix the out? I am having the same problem with Riggs, and unless they let me bring my Cheetos out onto the field I'm not sure what I'm going to go!

I'd have to hear what you've tried before I could give you any suggestions but with Brody it took a lot of time, patience and work at home before transfering to a decoy. Then there was more work involved Once I got him outing reliably for me at home with me and on my husband, I had to transfer to easy stuff with a non suited decoy with a large tug. Then we put him bakc on the suit and I corrected him for not outing. But the tug stuff was supposed to teach him that decoys and strangers can be fun and the fun doesn't happen if you don't play the game correctly.
Brody gets quite defensive and my decoys can not correct him unless the correction is fair or he escalates his fight. He also tends to get dirty on new decoys to see what he can get away with. It's a fine line between correcting him fast, fair, and hard enough to get his attention. Being dirty is something I'm going to have to fight with for the rest of his career.

[Leslie H]

Congratulations.
What next, how about a chessie?
It's very interesting to read about Brody's perceptions of what the decoy is, and is not allowed to do.

[Malli]

I agree.
Wich PP sport do you do? French Ring?
I KNOW Oscar would have trouble with the out, its already been a challenge with his tug toys, I can imagine he'd have trouble holding himself back as well, because to him, the sleeve work would be the "fun part" so he'd want to get to it right away.

Malli

[pocketpit]

Wich PP sport do you do? French Ring?

Yes, we participate in French Ring.

I find that a dog who's all about the "game" and thinks the decoy is a big tug toy is easier to train to out than a dog who just plain enjoys the fight. Brody enjoys the fight and I was practically doing handstands in front of him trying to get him to out when he first started on the suit. Nothing would convince him to let go. I tried every lure tactic known to man but to no avail. On the other hand Mercy is very easy to out. At six months of age she's just getting to the point that she can even remember I exist when there is a decoy present because she's so loaded with drive. But she loves the "game" so when I present a tug in front of her she'll out right away to hit the tug. While we have not started her formal guards, she outs and down guards for me when we are playing. I figured it would be easier to transfer it to the suit than to teach it all at once. My former Mal, Ellery, was the same way. She learned to out and down guard with one correction. And she was always clean because she too was eager to re engage in the game as soon as possible.
Bull breeds are a little different as I've never seen one that was super clean. The cleanest ones I've seen still typically have a 1 second slow to out release style. They just can't help themselves