Basic Bite Suit Presentation and Targeting

Basic Suit Presentations and Targeting with Mark Keating is the 2nd course in our series on decoy work. This course picks up right where the first course, The Mechanics of working a Dog in a Bite Suit, left off. After taking the first course, you should have a basic understanding of what to do while the dog is biting you. Now that you understand the mechanics of working the dog, you need to know how to present the dog with the right picture so they will bite where you want them to. In this course you will learn several different ways to present leg bites, both front and back, along with upper body presentations.

After considering how to break up all this information into a series of courses and we decided to produce them in this order for several reasons. The first thing you need to know is what to do with the dog once he is biting you. If you learn how to properly catch a dog but do not understand the concept of what to do once the dog is biting, problems can arise in the dog's training. Once you know how to move in the suit and react to the dog you need to know how to place the dog on the suit. This is where the 2nd course comes into play. You will learn all of the main biting surfaces of the suit and how to show the dog where you want them to bite. The 3rd course, which we are beginning production of now, will cover how to catch dogs. This course will basically take the first 2 courses, add some distance and speed everything up. If learned in this order you should be able to develop yourself into a skilled and safe decoy.

Probably the most important aspect of these courses, which is also the number one reason Leerburg decided to produce them, is to provide information to the handlers. Whether you’re a dog handler competing in biting sports or working a police K-9 or military dog, it is crucial that you understand what your decoy is doing and why. The handler and the decoy need to be on the same page with their training. The ability for you to communicate and work together as a team is what creates great dogs that can compete and perform at the highest level. If you never have any intention of putting a suit on and taking a bite you should still watch these courses in order to know what it is your decoy is trying to do. It will also empower you as the handler by enabling you to ask the decoy to try different approaches with your dog if something just isn’t going how you would like it to. Just to reiterate, handler-decoy communication is the most important aspect to this training.

OUTLINE

1. General Observations
2. Calling the Dog to a Target
3. Frontal Basic Leg Presentation
4. Rear Basic Leg Presentation
5. Frontal Basic Upper Body Presentations
6. Rear Basic Upper Body Presentations
7. Suit Information
8. Health and Nutrition

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR, MARK KEATING

Mark is a professional dog trainer at Red Star Kennel in Hudson, WI. He is also a French Ring decoy, handler, and trainer. Mark has over 15 years of experience training dogs in obedience, protection work, and behavior modification.

As a Ring decoy, Mark has decoyed over 30 trials in the US and Canada under several American and French judges. Mark was the US winner of the North American Ringsport Association’s Decoy Super Selection, and also decoyed the 2009 regional championship. As a handler, Mark has titled a Dutch Shepherd mix to Ring I, and his Malinois, Lot du Loups du Soleil, to Ring III. As a coach/training decoy, Mark has developed the entire program on over ten dogs ranging from brevet to Ring III. Notable achievements would be the world’s first Ring I Presa (Red Star Lutiy) and the US’s first Ring II Bouvier female (Briarlea’s Luna). In addition, Mark has taught technique to countless dogs of various disciplines of various breeds, and also taught seminars in French Ring around the midwest.

Mark, along with Irina Shimko, breed working Presa Canarios, Belgian Malinois, and Miniature Poodles at Red Star Kennel.