THE ESCAPE —PART FIVE

The escape is such a seemingly simple exercise: the helper runs away from the dog and it chases the helper to bite the sleeve. Yet, in the hundreds of trials I have watched, whether local or championship, the exercise that most often takes the helper to the ground is the escape. What can be so hard about this "easy" prey exercise?

The first problem is that it is the only exercise in Schutzhund where the helper has his back to the dog during the bite, so safety and different mechanics must dictate the nature of the work.

Like the reattack, both helper and dog start from a dead stop in the escape, but there the similarity ends. Because the dog is positioned some distance from the helper, it can gain greater speed than the helper before the bite, requiring the helper to absorb a great deal of the dog's energy.

The properly trained dog should try to stop the fleeing man, so the dogs often immediately pulls down on the sleeve after the bite.

The dog is often placed at from a 90 to a 120 degree angle from the intended path of the escaping helper when downed before the escape, thus allowing the dog to hit the sleeve from behind. The speed of the dog combines with this angle to drive the helper forward or sideways. The result is often the dog wrapping around the helper's legs or a loss of balance so the helper falls.

In all the seminars I have given over the years, the single greatest barrier to new helpers is the properly executed escape; but the principles of proper platforming and leverage are no different here than those I have discussed in earlier installments. I believe it is precisely because the escape appears so easy that helpers get into trouble. As in the past articles, lets take apart the exercise and see where we can make some improvements.

Safety Over All

Nowhere but in the escape is the helper more likely to be bitten in the back, ribs, buttocks or leg. The cause can often be poor targeting by the dog or sleeve position by the helper, but just as likely the dog that is not sleeve sure. It would seem that the easiest answer is to have the helper turn and watch the approaching dog as it chases, so that a proper sleeve presentation can follow or, just as reasonably, so the helper can protect his body against misfiring bites. But this is not what the exercise is all about. The helper is supposed to try to get away, not jog along, adjusting his sleeve to the incoming dog. There is also another problem. If the helper should turn his upper body toward the oncoming dog, the sleeve will also turn so that the dog will have the opportunity to grab the sleeve near the end of the sleeve's barrel. As we saw in earlier installments, allowing the dog to bite the sleeve near the end takes much of the helper's leverage away from him and gives it to the dog. Nowhere is this more of a disaster than in the escape. If the dog can grab the end of the sleeve, the helper may end up being turned completely around into a drive, not an escape, position. Additionally, if the dog can get the sleeve behind or away from the helper's hip by grabbing the end, it may pull the helper down. So how do we preserve safety while still fulfilling the requirements of the exercise and maintaining good form?

Before the Bite

During the trial exercise, the helper steps from the blind to move to the position from where the escape exercise will start. Often handlers do not understand the helper's problems in properly executing the escape, so they position the dog for the down in some very strange places. The helper can only hope that the trial judge will direct the handler to place the dog in a safe position, but this doesn't always happen. If, while moving to the start position, the helper can stop in a position where he is past the perpendicular to the dog, say a minimum of 120 degrees from where the dog is to be downed, then the dog will run along a much safer line that if it were downed at, say, 90 degrees.

It is the unusual dog that doesn't launch after the helper when the helper has taken only his first step in the escape. The bite often occurs within only three or four running steps. This puts a tremendous amount of power and speed into a bite that occurs when the helper is only starting to gain speed. The advantage clearly goes to the dog at this point. Therefore, before the helper starts to run, there are a few rules that must be followed to preserve good form, control and safety. Figure #1 shows the basic starting position of the helper and, note, only the helper's head is turned to face toward the dog.

• The helper should stand with a strong platform; this is to say as vertical as possible. It makes no difference which foot is in front of the other, as different helpers start running in different ways. No matter which foot is extended, the two feet should be no more than twelve inches apart.

•  The sleeve should be in proper targeting position from the beginning. There are two ways the sleeve can be held that will each yield a proper result. The first, and more traditional, is to hold the sleeve waist high, with the barrel parallel to the ground. In effect, the sleeve is resting on the hip. In this position, the bite bar faces away from the helper and angles slightly downward. The second method is shown in Figure #1, where the sleeve is held at a 45 degree angle. In this approach, the helper actually has the end of the barrel in front of his body and clamped tight against the front of his pelvis. The barrel extends at an angle to the side of the helper so the bite bar extends behind the helper's side, with the bite bar facing to the rear. From time to time, it is a vogue of a few championship helpers to swing the sleeve like the arms of a sprinter, but most organizations frown on this approach. While the moving sleeve does test the dog's targeting ability, it removes good leverage from the helper's arsenal of tricks and more greatly exposes the helper to rib and side bites.

•  The helper should have his hips and shoulder's facing the direction of the escape, not turned to help him see the downed dog. Instead, the helper should only turn his head slightly in the direction of the dog. This will allow him to gauge the oncoming dog before the bite, without opening the body in the dog's direction.

•  Keep the knees loose and flexed, not stiff and locked. The more relaxed the legs, the better the helper can absorb the shock of the striking dog, a matter discussed in detail in the first installment.

•  Wear good pants and a bite jacket particularly. Nowhere is the helper more vulnerable to upper body bites than during the escape, so a good bite jacket is imperative-you haven't lived until you have been bitten in the ribs without one.

The first steps the helper takes during the escape must be quick and decisive, for the dog is looking for the slightest sign that the helper is trying to get away. On the other hand, don't try to make Mach 1 in the first ten feet, for we shall need some speed in reserve if trouble arises. During the first few steps before the bite, the helper maintains the same basic position as before starting the run: sleeve stationary, head turned slightly in the dog's direction and the knees flexed. This position is shown in Figure #2. We now come to the critical point, the bite.

The Bite

At the second the dog bites the sleeve, three things must occur simultaneously.

1. The helper must turn his chin forward and upward, focusing on some distant object.

2. He must start driving with his knees forward, much like a sprinter coming out of the starting blocks.

3. The helper must apply pressure on the end of the sleeve against the pelvis, effectively locking it in that position.

Each of these points directly bears on the helper's ability to maintain a platform and apply maximum leverage. Let's examine each point in detail.

When the dog first strikes the sleeve, the helper will tend to counter the force by pulling the dog forward. The effect of this is to have the helper leaning against the dog's bite, bringing the helper out of vertical position. If the helper immediately raises his head and focuses on some distant object, the shoulders and upper body will remain more vertical, helping him keep his balance. The alternative of leaning forward removes the feet from directly under the helper, raising the risk of losing balance and falling.

By staying close to vertical, the second step is more easily accomplished. The helper should not attempt to run too fast before the bite, but once the dog bites, he must immediately start to use power in the run by driving forward and accelerating. If the helper doesn't leave some speed in reserve, the faster speed of the accelerating dog is more likely to drive the helper forward or to the side, making him lose balance and even falling. If the knees are kept flexed and the helper drives forward, the speed of the dog can be absorbed by the accelerating decoy. The best way to increase speed is to drive forward with the knees, much like a sprinter.

Both these techniques will help the decoy maintain a platform through that portion of the escape where the dog is on the sleeve. Staying near vertical and maintaining balance through a proper platform of measured speed is the secret. But remember, all of this must happen the instant the dog bites the sleeve or the helper will end up fighting with the dog over who has the power. To reiterate an earlier point, there is no power vacuum in protection work.

The third point relates more to leverage than to platforming. Most normally, good trial helpers lock the sleeve against the hip to hold the dog once it has bitten the sleeve, as shown in Figure #3. While this technique works in that the helper can use the hip and arm to lock the sleeve in a near immovable position, there is a more advanced technique the helper can use when the fundamentals are conquered. When the dog first bites the sleeve, it usually drives the sleeve up with some force. The helper can use this tendency against the dog by raising the elbow vertically about three to five inches as the dog bites. This is not an exaggerated move, but one in which the helper simply allows the elbow to slide up. The mechanics of this technique change the entire exercise. Without using this method, the helper must use his bicep as the principal muscle group to hold the dog. Earlier, I said that if we could bring in larger muscles or more muscle groups, the more likely we could control the dog. If the reader will try a simple experiment, the point should become obvious. Extend your sleeve arm so that it is along your leg and hold a heavy object in your hand. Slowly raise just the shoulder, keeping the movement as vertical and close to your side as possible. What you should notice is that the bicep plays a small role in lifting the weight, but the shoulder and upper back now come into play. Since we use two muscle groups instead of one and because either group is larger than the bicep, the strength is greatly improved. This technique takes some practice, but the most common mistake is trying to muscle the elbow up after the dog has bitten the sleeve. This gives marginal results at best and is sometimes impossible with a large dog. Instead, the helper should let the dog drive the sleeve up when it bites the sleeve and it will do much of the work for you. Again, this is a case of using the dog's power against it: the best result a helper can create. This adjustment is demonstrated in Figure #4.

Because the escape happens so fast, mistakes are often hard to identify in practice, so lets examine a few to see the common problems.

? If you stumble when the dog hits the sleeve, you are probably taking too long a stride or running too fast. This can also be caused by not getting the head up soon enough, causing you to come out of vertical.

?If the dog is biting the end of the sleeve, you may be opening the sleeve to the dog before the bite. This can happen because the helper is not running with his upper body facing the direction of the escape or improper sleeve position. Remember, the hips must always be facing the direction the helper is moving, much like the drive.

?The dog bites the under part of the sleeve and not on the bite bar. In every case, this is the result of improper sleeve presentation. Remember that the bite bar must point down and, preferably, slightly to the rear for a proper presentation.

? The helper stumbles sideways immediately after the bite. This has become an increasing problem with the growing number of smaller, speedy dogs such as the Malinois and Dutch Shepherd. These dogs hit the sleeve with such velocity that their smaller bodies wrap around the rear of the helper's legs, sweeping the legs out from under the helper. Most often this results from the dog starting at close to a 90 degree angle from the standing helper. Another reason for this problem is downing the dog too far from the helper. The greater the speed of the dog on the bite, the more power delivered into the side of the helper, driving him sideways. Unfortunately the helper can't always control either the distance or the angle of attack, so he must rely on quicker acceleration at the instant of the bite. By instantly speeding up, the sideways power of the dog is redirected forward in the direction the helper is running.

The escape is an easy exercise to train for even intermediate dogs can do the work. I encourage every helper to practice the escape as often as possible for it, along with the courage test, needs constant repetitions.

In the next installment, the courage test is analyzed and we will find that of all the demands in trial, the courage test takes the least work if the helper's foundation training has been correct.