Posted by Butch Cappel
on October 2, 2009, 10:23 am
99.174.201.23
When you have a trial like the Fall Brawl, this past weekend, it sort of gets numbing when trying to remember all the things you don't want to forget.
I did leave a few very important things out, and hope you will all forgive my feeble memory and let me post some of it here a little late.
Ismial Moore had really nice trophies, and was great to wrk with. I have already mentioned the facility, Colonial K9. Now, that one element no one can control, the participants! In Virginny it just don't get much better.
We had a crowd of sincerely interested people that came to see that mysterious difference between "sport" dog training and the practical application for a trained protection dog. Judging from all the questions, I think they got their answers.
However all of that would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without a good decoy, and that is where the Virgina trial got really, really, lucky.
You cannot see a dogs fighting ability, if the dog doesn't get to fight. The purpose of a certification is to see how good that dog can really fight. That is how the judges get the information to evaluate your dog and your training program. None of which can be done without a good decoy.
Enter Chips A Hoy the K9 Kookie that dogs Really like to bite! That's right Chips A Hoy! AKA Chip Choi, came down to decoy and was a self admitted newbie to K9 PRO SPORTS and PP dogs, but he was there to learn.
There are two basic things any trial decoy MUST be able to do in probably any trial. 1, Understand the judges instructions. 2, Have the athletic ability to carry out those instructions.
Chip showed no shortage of physical ability, and he showed the judges exactly what they needed to know about each dog.
There is another ability needed from a "training" decoy that is rarely used in a trial, and that is the ability to Read the dog and make sure the dog in training is always improving.
At a K9PS trial, because we have no patterns, we have no routines, those things that can give a dog a false sense of confidence, we have a responsibility to not let a dog leave the field any less than when it came on. You could say our motto is "Decoy, First do no harm" this is where Chip showed his experience as a decoy for many clubs and departments in the DC & Baltimore area.
As this was a first time trial we had a lot of dogs in the Training division. As such they can be inexperienced, both dog and handler. the chances are high that some of these dogs have not yet had the training they need to be a reliable security system, the last thing we want to do is set those dogs back in their training.
As a trial decoyChip was assembly line consistent with each dog he worked, but especially in the training division he showed his experience by showing the judges exactly what they needed to see to evaluate the dog and then, if the dog had been the least bit set back, he switched gears and moved to get the dog confidently engaged before it left the field.
We will be adding Chip to our list of level 2 decoys and would strongly recomend anyone that is in need of a decoy, either training or trials, to get in touch with Chip, he will certainly add to your trial.
Thanks for your time and skills Chip
Listen Well, Bite Hard!!!
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