July 31, 2008 - Mika takes a bite!

Mika got her first bite on a sleeve today in class. We've been taking turns working each dog on bite work in front of the class; today was Mika's day.

We started out with Mika on a 30 foot long line, with me holding her back about 5 feet down on the leash. The Helper, a person whose job is to tease the dog with a tug toy, taunted Mika with the toy, waiting for her to bark and lunge at the tug. When her prey drive for the tug increased, the toy was swung in where she could bite it. This is called "giving the dog a win." Once she had a hold of the tug, The Helper pulled back on the tug and the dog firmed up her bite, not wanting to let go. Once she had a strong bite, The Helper let go and the dog was allowed to carry the tug in her mouth. I ran her around in a circle while she carried the tug, lap after lap, building her confidence in getting the win. Periodically I swung her around back to The Helper so he could either pet her or tug on the toy to help keep her grip strong. After several laps I cradled her head and pet her to calm her and give her assurance that she is doing a good job. Then I made her release the tug by picking her up with one hand around her waist and the other grabbing her collar. I hoisted her up and spun her to get her to loosen her grip. Eventually she will learn to "out" the toy on command but she's not solid on this yet so we don't use it in intense bite work until she's got it down strong, otherwise she will learn to fight over the toy or be always afraid that I will try to take her toy away.

Because Mika's drive is building really well, she got to move on to the puppy sleeve. The process is similar to using the tug toy at this stage. The Helper doesn't actually wear the sleeve yet, he just carries it and teases the dog with it. Ultimately, when her prey drive was high, she was allowed to bite the sleeve, and proudly carry it out the door and all the way to her crate. She then released the toy and went into her crate to cool down. We always end on a high.

Mika's prey drive is developing nicely. She's probably the second most driven dog in the class, the first being her brother who has been working bite work for 4 weeks longer than the rest of the class. The instructor even complemented me on the dog, saying that "she is a really neat dog." I know a couple of the other students with male dogs from the same litter as Mika are a little bothered that she got to take the sleeve before her male siblings! HA!