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Keep in mind that I'm pretty new to bitework, but there's something that I've noticed that to me seems counter-productive...
Typically what I've seen (in various bitework sports, police K9...) is that once a dog has a solid foundation in prey, the dog is threatened to illicit a more defensive response (methods vary with the decoy), the dog barks aggressively, and is then rewarded with a prey bite; the theory (as I understand it), is to show the dog how do handle pressure from the decoy, to learn to work outside of prey.
But is this really rewarding aggressive behaviour in a positive way? The reward to the aggressive posturing is a prey movement by the decoy, followed by a bite. To me, this doesn't show the dog that he can meet an aggressive decoy head-on, but rather teaches the dog that defensive posturing will "flush" the prey.
Isn't this simply rewarding the dog's "bluff"? Obviously great dogs are going to bite without a prey movement, but for a lot of dogs, this seems like it's only reinforcing defensive posturing, not an effective response to an aggressive threat. To me, most dogs still associate the bark with the threat, and the bite with the prey movement. What happens off the field when the agitator doesn't make prey?
Simon
Typically what I've seen (in various bitework sports, police K9...) is that once a dog has a solid foundation in prey, the dog is threatened to illicit a more defensive response (methods vary with the decoy), the dog barks aggressively, and is then rewarded with a prey bite; the theory (as I understand it), is to show the dog how do handle pressure from the decoy, to learn to work outside of prey.
But is this really rewarding aggressive behaviour in a positive way? The reward to the aggressive posturing is a prey movement by the decoy, followed by a bite. To me, this doesn't show the dog that he can meet an aggressive decoy head-on, but rather teaches the dog that defensive posturing will "flush" the prey.
Isn't this simply rewarding the dog's "bluff"? Obviously great dogs are going to bite without a prey movement, but for a lot of dogs, this seems like it's only reinforcing defensive posturing, not an effective response to an aggressive threat. To me, most dogs still associate the bark with the threat, and the bite with the prey movement. What happens off the field when the agitator doesn't make prey?
Simon