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Bitesuit-work for Schutzhund Dogs
by Armin Winkler
Copyright September, 2008 -
A few weeks ago I got into a bit of a debate with another trainer over the fact that I did bitesuit work with a dog who is destined to be a competitive Schutzhund dog. The accusation was that suit work leads to sloppy gripping technique as well as "dirty" cheap shot behavior in Schutzhund dogs. This debate led me to think a bit about why this misconception exists, and that it might be a good idea to try to clear up some of the wrong impressions people may have. A recent trip to Germany was the final deciding factor for me to write this article for a Schutzhund magazine. I spent a day with a well respected dog training expert. He has been a Schutzhund judge for three different AZG member organizations for 30 years, he has titled countless dogs of 9 different breeds to SchH titles. We discussed my use of the bitesuit in training, and I showed video footage of what I do. He agreed wholeheartedly that this method has merit. So here it goes.
First I would like to clear up a couple of things.
- Suit work is no more personal protection work or civil work than sleeve work is. The dog recognizes this equipment as he does scratchpants and a sleeve
- Suit work is not just smorgasbord biting, where the dog gets to bite wherever he feels like. Proper targeting needs to be taught just like with a sleeve
- Suit work is not defense drive work. Even though the dog has to show a bit more than superficial prey desire to do well in this program
Suit work is not the be all and end all of protection training. It is also no better than conventional training. It is simply a step in training which can serve a valuable purpose in teaching some exercises.
O.K. with that out of the way a couple of principles I will never let slide when doing this type of work.
- Foundation gripping technique must be taught on a sleeve. The sleeves of today have been specifically designed to foster proper gripping. Also, because of the resistance of a bulky sleeve, technique training on a sleeve will always lead to harder bites.
- Never make a Schutzhund dog do an exercise on a suit for which he did not receive any prior foundation work using a sleeve.
- The target areas I use for Schutzhund dogs are the upper chest and armpit regions. Letting a dog bite there has specific benefits which hopefully will become clear throughout the article
- Only use people who are experts in a bitesuit, or you will do more harm than good
The common themes throughout this program will be man-focus, man-awareness, and man-sensitivity. I will be referring to these terms from time to time, so let me explain what I mean by them. Some dogs are so sleeve oriented, they fixate on the sleeve so much, they don't even realize what the helper is doing. These dogs lack man focus. Other dogs have never been worked in defense, maybe because they shouldn't, or maybe because the handler does not want to do that type of work. But then, when the helper does create defense like in a trial, during an attack, the dog sees only the helper, and not the sleeve at all. They are too aware of the helper (the man) and this will lead to problems in some exercises. These dogs have too much man-awareness. And lastly, there are dogs who like to do their work in a way, where they always stay clear of the helper. They avoid contact, they do not commit into the man, and for a lot of them the only reason they are there is the sleeve. Granted, all these problems have a similar root. But they are different from each other. To train through these problems, we don't have to put the dogs through a meat grinder to get it done. Suit work can make the training quite smooth.
The way I usually get started is to set up a hold and bark situation. The prerequisites here are as I already said, that the dog bites well on a medium level sleeve, re-gripping behavior is a must. For this exercise, I also want the dog to bark well in close proximity to the decoy. He does not have to do a perfect hold and bark, but he should be demanding and pushy with the helper, even if the handler still has to help a bit by using the leash to keep the dog from biting the helper. I set myself up in front of the dog, usually that means that the dog is held on leash, and I work my way closer to the dog until I am in a hold and bark position. This approaching creates a bit of tension (psychological) between the helper and the dog.
Some dogs act a bit confused at this level, because they do not see a sleeve, only the suit, again this confusion adds a bit more tension. This tension is very good for the hold and bark, it creates intensity. In the beginning I don't stretch this out too long. When the dog is intense and pushy, I spin my whole upper body away. This way, the arms of the suit are not accessible. At the same time, I jerk my shoulder forward just inside the dog's reach. This fast movement, along with the restricted choice of targets, will cause the dog to follow the movement and bite the shoulder (from the back at this stage).
I create some tension on the bite by pulling into the leash. The dog's front legs are off the ground, usually touching me. I make sure the grip is calm, then, I allow the dog to adjust the grip and make sure he ends up with a full, calm grip. (Just because he is biting on a suit, does not mean good grips don't count.) I hold tension for a bit longer and then the handler either pulls the dog off the suit, or I strip the jacket off for the dog as a reinforcement.
The next bite starts exactly the same, except this time I make the dog bite on the other shoulder. I may do a couple of repetitions like that to make the dog comfortable. Then it gets a bit trickier. I once again approach the dog as before. Usually by this time I have accomplished the following things. The dog no longer looks at my arms as the area where the reward comes from, he looks up at me, which makes the hold and bark even nicer. I also have the dog paying attention to my upper body, so targeting becomes a bit easier. So here we are, in the hold and bark position, the dog is barking at me intensely, waiting for me to twitch. Which is exactly what I do, but now without the spin move, instead, I twitch forward the shoulder the dog should bite. Again the movement has to be fast, and exciting so that the dog follows it and bites where I want him to.
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Armin Winkler has been the instructor at many schutzhund training seminars. He has been training schutzhund dogs since 1976 and is a USA member who lives in British Columbia. His English translation of Dr. Helmut Raiser’s Der Schutzhund is available from Armin Winkler Publishing, 3503 Lakeshaw Road, RR#7, Duncan, BC Canada V9L-4W4 or by phone (250) 746-8989.
