High Mesa Mondioring Trial November 2008

Page 1 Obedience heel, down, positions, food refusal
Page 2 Retrieves, little woods, send away, jumps
Page 3 Defense of Handler, Face and Flee
Page 4 Search and Escort, Guard of Object
Page 5 Scores and Thank you

Protection:
Defense of Handler, Face and Flee Attack, Stopped Flee, Search and Escort, Guard of Object

The protection routines in Mondioring are used to judge the character, courage, discipline, and spirit of the dog. Points are deducted not only only for failure to engage, but also for lack of discipline such as rapid changes in bite, each bite after out command, per second biting after out command (1 second allowed). For all the bite exercises, the dog must exhibit good control to his handler. He must release the decoy on voice command and must demonstrate good guarding behavior until called back to the handler, or re-engage if the decoy tries to escape.

The Defense of Handler judges the dog's behavior under a variety of scenarios in which there is always a "friendly" decoy that shakes hands, and an aggressive decoy who attacks the handler. This may be the same or different decoy for each, the dog must recognize friendly versus aggressive behavior. The difficulty created for the dog progresses at each level, but the aggression is always clear and evident and made by hitting the handler with both hands.
One of the difficulties in this exercise is that the handler can not talk to the dog, the dog must judge and act appropriately on his own. Full points are lost if the handler talks to dog after start of exercise, or if dog bites before the hit, if the dog abandons the handler, if the dog attacks a third person, or if he does not bite when the handler is hit.

The killing field with bodies and weapons provided the back drop for the Defense of Handler routines. During Defense of Handler the MR1 handlers were distracted by Chris galloping by on his horse and swinging a ball and chain weapon. (Chris tried to intice handlers to follow him - remember IGNORE what the decoys says, and definitely DO NOT answer him!) The handler continued around the blind on to the killing field where they were greeted and shook hands with a friendly Jeremy. The two decoys then engaged in a fight in front of the team, with Jeremy falling dead to the ground. The team then moved forward leaving Jeremy behind and stopped to watch the angry hoard. In the meantime Jeremy revived and moved behind the team to hit the handler.

After defending the handler from the decoy, the dog engages the bad guy while he works to escape from the dog's grip. This continues for a long 10 seconds when the judge sounds his horn to signal the handler to command the dog to stop and guard, and then to return to handler.

Chris distracts the handlers as they approach the field. Judge Wallis gives instructions to the decoys during the DIW demonstration. MR1 Jill and Polar try to ignore the decoys during the DOH distractions.
Note: See the spot where Aida (girl in pink) and Keith are standing? That is where the little woods were later placed for scent search.

Zac (left) and Bordeaux (right) engage the bad guy decoy. The costume with the skirt was new to all the dogs and for those who liked to bite the legs, they had to learn to work around the skirt, or just bite it all as Bordeaux does here. Note the very scary mask!

Jeff and Buko were our DIW team for MR2, here showing another good use of a demo team. The sword breaks under his stroke, it is quickly repaired and the MR2 competition dogs receive further instruction to chop with a bit less enthusiasm.

The MR2 and MR3 scenarios were similar but more difficult with more people in the angry hoard, and increased participation with the handler given things to do during the scenario. The handlers were greeted by a decoy and instructed to carry a sword and chop off the head of William Wallace. They then continued to the blind on the killing field for the handshake and further instructions such as chopping the heads off the bodies on the field. Again, the decoys fought, but with more enthusiasm and closer to the team. The hit on the handler occurred in the same manner, with the dead decoy reviving and hitting the handler from behind. Experienced dogs knew to be vigilant and check behind the handler for possible attack.

MR2 Michael receives instruction to chop off a head, then move forward. As the angry mob charges, Chris revives... but Pi is not fooled and watches from Michael's side.

MR3 Donna and Jackson watch as Chris stabs Jeremy after he has announced that he is the "Real Neal Wallis". They move forward and a crowd of angry rebels charge, while Jackson keeps eye on action behind Donna's back.

Donna is "hit" and Jackson defends with enthusiasm.

The Face attack is analogous to the courage test of Schutzhund. The dog is sent to engage the decoy from a distance of 20 meters with the decoy facing the dog and threatening him with a stick. For level 2 and 3, difficulty is increased by using an obstacle to slow the dog down in order to judge courage in face of threat. We used a line of hay-bales which are safe and useful throughout the trial in the different exercises. The Face attack with accessories attempts to discourage the dog from engaging.

MR2 Face attack with Pi engaging, at the judges horn Michael blows the whistle. Pi returns to his trained position between the legs as Michael waits for the judge to sound the double horn ending the exercise.

MR2 Accessories with Ibn and MR3 Accessories with Jackson. At the whistle command Jackson responds with a quick return to handler Donna.

MR3 Jackson and MR2 Ibn leap the obstacle to engage the bad guy decoy.

The Flee requires the decoy to attempt an escape, he defends himself vigorously to test the dog's grip and character. A gun is used and two shots are fired before the dog is recalled back to handler. The MR3 must do this same exercise, but also must do a version where the dog is recalled back to the handler just before touching the decoy. The handler does not know which of two Flee exercises it to be stopped until a green flag is shown after the dog is sent after the running decoy.

MR2 Pi working the flee while Jeremy fires the gun and MR3 Jackson working Chris.

High Mesa Mondioring Trial November 2008

Page 1 Obedience heel, down, positions, food refusal
Page 2 Retrieves, little woods, send away, jumps
Page 3 Defense of Handler, Face and Flee
Page 4 Search and Escort, Guard of Object
Page 5 Scores and Thank you