Hey David, this is just my opinion: He is only 15mths old, ease up on the defense, that'll come later. A little is fine but that was too much too long. You might want to go to a soft sleeve for now. Work him all in prey right now, alot of side to side, when the decoy comes in straight at him he puts the dog into defense. To me the dog looks like his confidence needs to be built up more. Stay in prey and back off the clatter stick over his head right now. You have to ease everything in with the dog. Be careful not to do too much too quick, you need to build a good foundation. When the dog is on the sleeve, the handler needs to be a post and stand still while the decoy pulls the dog tight on the leash then the decoy will give into the dog and let him regrip a full bite and then slip the sleeve and let the dog carry as a reward for the full bite. Not everyone agrees with the carry of the sleeve but I have found that it does help on a young dog. Its up to you. The dog does look nice and does go into defense well, so I wouldn't worry about that for now. Too much defense and you could have a problem on your hands, I like a well balanced dog, prey=defense. Try using a foam stick and ease it over the dogs head and rub him with it, let the dog know that it will not hurt him. Use the clatter stick or whip at a distance and then slowly bring it in closer will the dog is on the sleeve. When he is biting full and hard on the soft sleeve then you can go back to the hard sleeve. Not trying to write a book here, sorry. The dog looked mostly in defense so remember, work him in prey, make it fun for him, introduce new things slowly, build a good foundation, and you have fun. I hope this helps. Good luck.
