Accustoming the dog to the stick

We further divide the threat represented by the stick into two different stressors: the actual contact with the stick (the blows themselves) and the very powerful and menacing gestures that the agitator makes in wielding the stick. (Stick‑shy dogs almost invariably seem to have as much fear of the gestures as they do of the stick hits.)

Early in agitation, the decoy takes great pains to accustom the puppy or novice adult dog to his hands, to direct contact with them and also to the sight of them moving past or toward its head and eyes while it is biting. If the dog shows no fear of these gestures or soft blows of the open hand, then the agitator begins to carry a stick.

At first he uses the stick very little, and his gestures are mild. With time, as the animal becomes more powerful, the agitator uses the stick more and more menacingly. He begins to lash out, making the stick hum through the air about the dog as it bites. Although he never strikes the dog, the helper frequently and gently touches the animal with the stick, to show the dog that it will not hurt. The objective is to accustom the dog to progressively more and more intense threats without ever actually awakening fear. If the dog blinks or winces at the stick, seeks to pull away from it while it bites or growls, then the decoy is progressing too quickly. Remember, growling on the sleeve is not a sign of strength but of weakness. Ideally, the dog should seem oblivious of the stick.

If the animal shows no anxiety in response to very strong gestures, the decoy begins striking objects around it with the stick. He hits the ground, the handler, a fence, but never the dog. Eventually, he hits the dog’s leash where it runs taut from the collar to the handler, so that the dog can for the first time see the gesture directed at itself and feel the shock of the blow through its collar.

Only after the dog has enough experience to be fully accustomed to the stick whistling all about it will the agitator actually strike the animal. At first, although the gestures are very strong, the blows themselves are very light. Gradually, the intensity of the blows increases to match that of the gestures, so that the dog both sees and feels the stick used on it. However, the stick is never, under any circumstances, used full force. A good helper never hits a dog harder than he himself would be willing to be struck in the pursuit of a rough game. In addition, the dog is struck only in a very specified manner, on the upper sides of its rib cage and never on the head, neck, legs, pelvis or tail.

All initial stick work should be performed on leash, and the decoy never uses the stick on a runaway bite until he is certain that the animal has no anxiety about the stick hits or the runaway itself.