Let Us Prey by Dr. Miles Arakaki
Eva, Dr. Arakaki and Remo
“Hey Doc, can you check out Elvis? He’s showing some really bad aggression during training, and I think
he’s had bite training in the past,” Colin, the head trainer, asked me. Elvis, a 9 month old German Shepherd,
was one of the latest intake of green dogs undergoing training as land mine detectors. During the first weeks
of training, Elvis was displaying extreme possessiveness for his toy reward, and troublesome aggression when his handler tried to take it away. There was suspicion among the trainers that he had early bite training in
is background , and they wanted to test him on a bite sleeve.
I took Elvis out to the training field on a 6 foot leather lead, and prepared to ‘post’ him, holding him back
with my body weight. There was some miscommunication between the players, and our “volunteer” decoy wearing the jute-covered bite sleeve, stepped out of the kennel before I was in position. At the sight of the sleeve, Elvis lurched forward, and the leash ripped out of my hands. “Look out!” I cried out, and fortunately
the decoy was able to raise her arm up to catch the flying dog in time. Elvis hit hard and latched onto the
hard sleeve with a full mouth bite, intermittently thrashing his head. His eyes glazed over with the look of a rabid animal slipping into another state of mind, disconnected from the present, and it took a bit of effort
to get him to release his hold.
Our decoy was completely frazzled, but I was excited, “This dog is awesome! Once we get him under control, he’ll be a machine.” The trainers did not share my sentiment, and immediately made the decision to send him back to the Working Dog Center in Texas. I argued on Elvis’ behalf, but I could see the writing on the wall, and during the next few weeks it took to coordinate his transportation, I spent as much time as I could “playing” with him.
The behaviors Elvis displayed were mainly the result of prey drive, that innate sense to chase a moving target. All dogs have some level of prey drive, but there are breed differences; a Labrador Retriever and a Border Collie will behave differently in the face of prey. There are also individual differences; puppies from the same litter will have different levels of drive. In general, high prey drive is the foundational quality trainers tap into to create working dogs, transitioning to other drives depending on the specific job being developed. For example, a transition to hunt drive (the sense to search for a hidden object) will be made for scenting dogs, such as bomb or drug sniffers. The process for dogs being trained for military or police bite work, is much more complicated.
For a dog being trained to bite for a living, the transition can go two directions; defensive drive or fight drive. The ideal is fight drive (the quality that enables a dog to actively face and engage a threat). A dog with good fight drive is confident, aggressive, and ready to go all the way. The primary emotion in defensive drive (the quality that shapes either a fight or flight reaction in the face of a perceived threat) is fear, and a defensive dog is unconfident, uncontrollable, and unreliable under pressure. The difference in bite between a fighting and defensive dog is the quality of the bite – the fighter bites and holds, throwing his body into the threat, while the defensive dog nips and releases, just trying to keep the threat away.
The most important figure in a new bite dog’s development is a competent decoy. A good decoy knows how to “read” the dog, and communicates with him through body language to bring out aggression. Initially, the decoy assumes a submissive posture to work the dog in prey drive. As the dog develops confidence and good bite mechanics, the decoy begins to present a more aggressive, threatening posture. This pushes the dog into defensive drive and his attack may soften. The decoy must recognize this and modulate the amount of pressure, backing off just a little in order to bring out fight drive. With repetition, the dog learns that if he fights through the pressure, he will win in the end.
The amount of fight drive in a dog cannot be trained; they either have it or they don’t. If they do not have an innate fight drive, they should be removed from training, as any aggressive behaviors will be caused by undesirable defensive drives. I have seen people try to do bite training on “nice” dogs with inexperienced decoys or scenarios with too much pressure, and my observation is that the dogs are fighting scared. These dogs are operating on the fringes of control, and I would not trust them to perform in a real situation. Every once in a while there comes a dog who seems to bypass defense and goes straight into fight, i.e. fearless. Dogs like this are unicorns in the forest, and usually end up in top tier military or police units. Whether Elvis was one of them, I never found out.
Elvis eventually went back to Texas much to my disappointment, but it was probably for the best. It would have taken a lot of extra work to reel him in, and would have interfered with the rest of the course. The calmness that settled over the kennels after Elvis’ departure created a void, but I soon filled it with a young female Belgian Malinois, named Eva, whose prey drive was even more out-of-control. My first year with her was spent prying her mouth off my extremities, and dodging snaps and lunges. Once under control, she became the biting, detecting, and tracking machine I had wished on Elvis.
Most people have NO need or want of dogs like Elvis, however it is important to understand their drives in order to properly recognize some of the other behavioral issues in personal pets. Prey drive can lead to unwanted aggressive behaviors, but few problems are the result of true fight confidence. More often, dogs are improperly raised, trained or handled, and inadvertently driven into defense, and FEAR. . .
he’s had bite training in the past,” Colin, the head trainer, asked me. Elvis, a 9 month old German Shepherd,
was one of the latest intake of green dogs undergoing training as land mine detectors. During the first weeks
of training, Elvis was displaying extreme possessiveness for his toy reward, and troublesome aggression when his handler tried to take it away. There was suspicion among the trainers that he had early bite training in
is background , and they wanted to test him on a bite sleeve.
I took Elvis out to the training field on a 6 foot leather lead, and prepared to ‘post’ him, holding him back
with my body weight. There was some miscommunication between the players, and our “volunteer” decoy wearing the jute-covered bite sleeve, stepped out of the kennel before I was in position. At the sight of the sleeve, Elvis lurched forward, and the leash ripped out of my hands. “Look out!” I cried out, and fortunately
the decoy was able to raise her arm up to catch the flying dog in time. Elvis hit hard and latched onto the
hard sleeve with a full mouth bite, intermittently thrashing his head. His eyes glazed over with the look of a rabid animal slipping into another state of mind, disconnected from the present, and it took a bit of effort
to get him to release his hold.
Our decoy was completely frazzled, but I was excited, “This dog is awesome! Once we get him under control, he’ll be a machine.” The trainers did not share my sentiment, and immediately made the decision to send him back to the Working Dog Center in Texas. I argued on Elvis’ behalf, but I could see the writing on the wall, and during the next few weeks it took to coordinate his transportation, I spent as much time as I could “playing” with him.
The behaviors Elvis displayed were mainly the result of prey drive, that innate sense to chase a moving target. All dogs have some level of prey drive, but there are breed differences; a Labrador Retriever and a Border Collie will behave differently in the face of prey. There are also individual differences; puppies from the same litter will have different levels of drive. In general, high prey drive is the foundational quality trainers tap into to create working dogs, transitioning to other drives depending on the specific job being developed. For example, a transition to hunt drive (the sense to search for a hidden object) will be made for scenting dogs, such as bomb or drug sniffers. The process for dogs being trained for military or police bite work, is much more complicated.
For a dog being trained to bite for a living, the transition can go two directions; defensive drive or fight drive. The ideal is fight drive (the quality that enables a dog to actively face and engage a threat). A dog with good fight drive is confident, aggressive, and ready to go all the way. The primary emotion in defensive drive (the quality that shapes either a fight or flight reaction in the face of a perceived threat) is fear, and a defensive dog is unconfident, uncontrollable, and unreliable under pressure. The difference in bite between a fighting and defensive dog is the quality of the bite – the fighter bites and holds, throwing his body into the threat, while the defensive dog nips and releases, just trying to keep the threat away.
The most important figure in a new bite dog’s development is a competent decoy. A good decoy knows how to “read” the dog, and communicates with him through body language to bring out aggression. Initially, the decoy assumes a submissive posture to work the dog in prey drive. As the dog develops confidence and good bite mechanics, the decoy begins to present a more aggressive, threatening posture. This pushes the dog into defensive drive and his attack may soften. The decoy must recognize this and modulate the amount of pressure, backing off just a little in order to bring out fight drive. With repetition, the dog learns that if he fights through the pressure, he will win in the end.
The amount of fight drive in a dog cannot be trained; they either have it or they don’t. If they do not have an innate fight drive, they should be removed from training, as any aggressive behaviors will be caused by undesirable defensive drives. I have seen people try to do bite training on “nice” dogs with inexperienced decoys or scenarios with too much pressure, and my observation is that the dogs are fighting scared. These dogs are operating on the fringes of control, and I would not trust them to perform in a real situation. Every once in a while there comes a dog who seems to bypass defense and goes straight into fight, i.e. fearless. Dogs like this are unicorns in the forest, and usually end up in top tier military or police units. Whether Elvis was one of them, I never found out.
Elvis eventually went back to Texas much to my disappointment, but it was probably for the best. It would have taken a lot of extra work to reel him in, and would have interfered with the rest of the course. The calmness that settled over the kennels after Elvis’ departure created a void, but I soon filled it with a young female Belgian Malinois, named Eva, whose prey drive was even more out-of-control. My first year with her was spent prying her mouth off my extremities, and dodging snaps and lunges. Once under control, she became the biting, detecting, and tracking machine I had wished on Elvis.
Most people have NO need or want of dogs like Elvis, however it is important to understand their drives in order to properly recognize some of the other behavioral issues in personal pets. Prey drive can lead to unwanted aggressive behaviors, but few problems are the result of true fight confidence. More often, dogs are improperly raised, trained or handled, and inadvertently driven into defense, and FEAR. . .
