Accidental Bites & Poor Handling in K-9 Training By Ed Frawley If you would like to learn more about handling dogs in bite work, refer to our videos titled: Training Personal Protection Dogs Training Police Service Dogs The First Steps of Bite Training I put myself through college teaching skydiving and bartending; at the time it was a real ego trip. My friends and I were known as "those crazy fools who drink all night and jump out of airplanes every Saturday and Sunday." It was a great way to meet women. We lived for the reputation until one Saturday when Bob Jessas's chute didn't open; he panicked and didn't pull his pit bull dogs pit bull dogs reserve chute. He was a Vietnam vet with two bronze stars, he wasn't supposed to panic. His death changed us all, and from that point on, we took a different attitude about our sport. The first time you witness a serious accidental bite, you will change your attitude about your training sessions with your Police Dogs. There are only three reasons for an accidental bite: Equipment failure Helper error Poor handling I will address poor handling in this article and discuss helper error in future articles. Good handling becomes a very important concern when you start to train body bites. The risks to your helper are increased 10 fold. Good handling is as barking collars pit bull dogs much of an art as doing good helper work. The sad thing is that most trainers don't give it enough thought until they see how much damage can be done in that split second when something goes wrong. To begin with, the handler and helper must have excellent communication. This should go as far as having prearranged hand signals for reattacks and stand stills, outs and REAL BITES. (How many have that one)? But before this, the handler must learn proper leash handling during body bites and the proper procedure for off leash pick ups, while the dog is still on the helper. The first thing every handler hunting dogs pit bull dogs must learn during bite work is to plant his feet and DON'T MOVE, unless the helper knows he is going to. The helper must know where the end of the leash is, where his safety zone begins - if the handler lets his dog pull him toward the helper - the communication is lost and we have a potentially dangerous situation. We see this too often with new handlers. Its not a bad idea to put every new trainer in a suit and make him walk the circle around a very tough dog - being new to the sport - they will quickly begin to pray puppy care pit bull dogs the handler doesn't
