The Right Equipment for the Right Job

Well, being a trial helper has really been a very interesting endeavor for me.  There is so much more than just having the dog bite the sleeve.  I have found myself reading books, watching videos of other helpers, watching video clips of myself, reading comments from handlers about different styles and so forth and so on.  There really are many things that you have to learn in order to be a truly good helper.  I am not there yet but I have my moments.  One of the things that I have learned is you really need to have the right equipment for the situation and specifically the right dog.  

I have learned that in the progression of the dog form early bite work to a complete dog there are several tools that will come into play that will help the handler and the helper move the dog up in skill.  The very first thing I introduce to the dog is the leather bite rag.  This is basically a very tough chamois. After that you run the progression of going through bite pillows to hard and soft bite tugs, and finally different bite sleeves.

Now bite sleeves are very different indeed.  There are many manufactures and also different styles.  Some of these sleeves are very friendly to the helper and protect in a way that when you wake up the next morning your shoulder does not feel like it is about to fall off.  Then there are some that present a great biting surface to the dog.  I have yet to find a bite sleeve that offers both.  I will say that the #1 choice in sleeve should ALWAYS be the sleeve that presents the best biting surface to the dog and allows the helper to position it correctly.  Comfort should be a distant second.

One piece of equipment I can highly recommend is a neoprene gauntlet.  This is worn underneath the actual bite sleeve and does add some comfort and allows me to work dogs a bit longer.  It helps prevent some bruising I would initially get when I worked dogs without it.

I feel that it is very important to know exactly what tool you need to use in each situation when working dogs in protection sport.  Knowing this allows the dog to continue to grow and helps prevent mistakes that can take time to fix

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