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Welcome to our training tips page.
Even though the Boxer is well
known for it's gentleness and good nature around it's family. The breed
was created to be a multi purpose guard dog and family protector. In
this section, we will be informing the novice trainer and expert alike
with advice on how to accomplish the skills needed to pass or compete in
various dog sports. We hope to update our Tips page monthly and we will
cover training topics in jumping, obedience, and basic protection in the
dog sports. We hope you enjoy
We are very excited
to welcome Adrian Moreno as our new Training Director! Adrian is
well known in the Ringsport World for his impressive skills on the trial
field. Adrian has successfully raised, trained, and handled many dogs to
French Ring Sport Titles. He is also an accomplished dog trainer who is
sought out for his insight on problem solving and decoy training. His years of experience as
a professional trainer and years of breeding makes him well versed in all facets of canine
behavior and dog sports.
Adrian's first passion has always been the Boxer breed. He bred
American working boxers in the early 90's and organized a local working
boxer club in Chicago.
It was Adrian's unique style which specializes in bite work, emphasis on
grip development and employs a full spectrum of drive building
techniques that caught our attention. We believe it fits perfectly with
our boxers temperament.
Adrian is also involved in the
development of a new
multi-discipline training system that we will be proofing this fall. He
is also happy to be personally raising his own boxer puppy. We all
look forward to seeing our boxers progress and grow under his guidance.
Adrian with friends Felix and Helga of the Von Felix Kennels.
Felix who is now retired is credited for having one of the oldest and
strongest lines of working boxers in Germany. Him and his wife have been
breeding since the late 1960's and many of today's most successful
kennels in Europe have used their dogs as foundation stock.
Article 1: Training
the Escape Bite.
For French Ringsport
Written by A. Moreno
Training Decoy:
Cesar Blanco-Chicago IL, NARA LEVEL I
The escape
entry is done from a guard position, this is the position taken after
the out command, which can also be a sit or down in front of the decoy.
I prefer teaching the down. The down position is more absolute in nature
and also sets the dog up strategically for the next move- the escape
bite. In contrast, having the dog sitting and guarding, poses two basic
problems: 1. many crossover Schutzhund dogs think they are doing a bark
and hold and reflexively will go after an arm on the escape. 2. Due to
the Boxers short muzzle, the upper body of the suit is very difficult
to grip. You have the torso area, the midsection and the upper thighs
which prove hard to grasp when the decoy decides to flee. Remember, the
decoy is not there to help your Boxer like in Schutzhund. He will test
the target training by not offering one, yet the decoy can not escape
the laws of physics and mechanical anatomy, which we must learn to
exploit in Ringsport. The photo below shows a boxer after the out in a
guard position. In this photo you can see the boxer guarding from a
frontal guard position but
 you
can teach your boxer
to position itself from behind, left side or right side and even between
the decoy's legs! Each position has it's own unique plus and minus
value. I prefer to go with what is comfortable for my boxer. Note: Dogs
naturally want to go high from this position. You can compensate these
urges by using a harness to restrain the dog (This is usually done in
your foundation work). In this segment we'll be
focusing mainly on the decoy to control the dogs targeting. We can
begin by pointing out the bottom picture. Here you can see the knee (B)
being slightly bent. By offering the knee in such a way, we are making it
clear to
the dog where to bite. Surprisingly, many dogs still bypass the
obvious knee target and go high. These dogs can benefit from
more harness training.
We also see that the heel is slightly raised (A). This puts the
knee right at eye level, accentuating the desired target. The dog should
be vigilant and awaiting the decoy's move to engage. That move soon
becomes a signal. I make the signal come
from the opposite leg.
The goal is to
train the dog to target the non-moving leg (opposite leg), which is
known as the pivot leg. Pivot leg targeting is a fundamental cornerstone
of Ringsport training. In the bottom picture you can see the decoy
dropping his left leg and hips back. This again, will make the pivot leg
an obvious target. To give you more to think about, I'm obligated to add
that the target is around the knee area. The strategic reasoning behind
this preference lies in the ease of the grip. The Ringsport suit is much
wider in the thigh area, also it can be much tighter due to the fit.
Accepting the fact
that the Boxer is at a disadvantage in Ring Sport due to it's
muzzle. The lower leg offers more fabric to hold on to as well as a hold
on the knee takes leverage away from the decoy. This disables him from
driving the dog. It's easier to carry something and control it when it's
on your thigh or hip as opposed to your knee or shin. In this photo you
can see the boxer has a good grip, right on the knee (A). The grip
is full, which forces the decoy's leg to remain straightened in trial.
The decoy then has to work in a static position, which also limits his
escape power because now he has to drag 60lbs as oppose to carry 60lbs.
Which is demonstrated in our last photo below. You can see with a little
practice, your boxer will begin targeting low.
 You
can see by the decoy's posture, he was caught off balance on the escape.
Many decoys will easily fall over, due to the tripping nature of the
technique.
Exercises which
require the escape bite:
Attack with Revolver
= 40pts.
Defense of Handler
= 30pts.
Escape in the blind
=20/40 40pts.
This segment brought to you by:
Training The Pivot Leg
(countering the esquive).
by Adrian Moreno
Training Decoy: Mark
Keating-Hudson,WI, Level II Teaching
your boxer to take the pivot leg on the entries, is an essential element
of Ringsport training. To recap, in French Ringsport, points are stolen
by the decoy if he can make your dog
 miss, come-off,
or not out during a protection excercise. When dogs are made to miss on
entries, this is called an Esquive. Esquive literally translates "to
escape" in French. In the frontal attacks, namely the Face Attack
and the Attack with Revolver, the dog is graded on how well he engages
and apprehends the decoy. Many novices lose easy points on the initial
entry. Therefore, we will discuss how to avoid being esquived by
training the boxer to target the pivot leg on the entry.
Working Boxers can have a lot of
prey drive, and our gamey in nature. This trait makes them eager and
greedy to bite. Because of this fact, they will naturally target
any moving limb of a suit. Once they are locked on and focused on that
target, they are easily esquived when the decoy pulls their target away.
The job of the trial decoy is not only to test the dogs' character but
also his target training. Some decoys will present, then take away a target, so the
boxer must be taught not to trust what he sees in trial. This requires
the dog to think ahead of the decoy and to anticipate his movements.
Therefore we must train our boxers to target the parts of a suit that
are not offered. In the case of the lower half of the suit, it's called
the pivot leg.
In photo 1E., we begin by
sending the dog to the decoy. In training we have the decoy call him to the
his left leg. ("Calling" is the
term I use for signaling the dog with a baton). Before you begin
this training, your boxer must be taking and holding the suit leg
properly. If not, go back to your jambierre for foundation training.
When beginning, the decoy holds a frontal stance, with the left leg slightly
in front of the right. Doing so, helps make it clear to the dog what he
should be taking. Initially, the dog will drive directly towards the center of the
decoy on his approach. As the dog approaches about 1 meter from the decoy, he
pulls his right leg, forcing the dog to adjust and commit to the decoy's
left leg (2E). Note the decoy's feet, and how he rests on the ball
of his left foot. This prepares him for the catch. In 2E., you also will
see how the dog adjusts his body and takes the
only available target. In 3E & 4E, you can see the baton is well out of the way, in order not to accidentally strike the dog
during the entry. In training the pivot leg, patience and timing is key.
I recommend doing sends on a harness from no more than 6-8 yards in the
beginning. This is a safe distance for your boxer and it will allow your
decoy to gain his timing before you do longer distances.
Trouble shooting. If
your dog is targeting incorrectly, going high or missing. I suggest,
slowing up your dog on the entries using harness, thus forcing him to
take what is offered. If it's
a targeting issue, where your dog stubbornly takes the target high, then you may have to go back to a sleeve for a few
weeks and do some basic training. The ideal point of contact for me is
slightly lower than the decoys knee. This point offers a good amount of
fabric for the boxer to grab hold of.
Proud Sponsor of this segment.
Author with his boxer Ginga and FR Decoy
Mark Keating LII. |
