Mike Schoonbrood

I've heard alot of things about the agitation whip, from "it's a crutch for weak dogs" to "it can't be used defensively" to "it's a must-have tool!".

Do you use it? How do you use it? What type of dogs do you use it on?

If you don't use it, why not?

How do you view the whip in comparison to the clatter stick? Would you compare these as similar tools? Would you say that a whip can't be used defensively but a clatter stick can? Or are both just prey tools in your opinion?

Would you rather use a clatter stick than a whip? Or a whip than a clatter stick? Both? Or neither?

A whip used in the hands of an experienced whipper can be cracked loud enough to momentarily stun your hearing senses similar to the volume of a gunshot -- would you say that if a dog can withstand an extremely loud crack from a whip, would this dog be OK around gunfire in the Standing-Gun exercise in something like ASR? Or can dogs differentiate between gunfire and a whip cracking?

If you use a whip, does the whip ever make contact with the dog? Do you teach a dog to work thru the physical sting of the whip to get a bite or do you use the whip purely for it's noise and motion? Does the contact with the dog depend on the individual dog? If so, what type of dog would you sting with a whip and at what stage in training would you do this? If the whip never makes contact with the dog, are you opposed to trainers who do train in this fashion?

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