Mondio Ring sport is perhaps the most exciting dog sport for the dog, trainer, handler and spectators to participate in. Full of cliff hangers, it has high performance jumps, (especially the 7.5 foot palisade), that makes everyone hold their breath. The protection work is a lightening-fast challenge between dog and decoy that provides all the classic thrills and spills that keep all on the edge of their seats.

 

For the players, dog-decoy-handler, it is an intensely exhilarating test of courage, training, skill and endurance. Not one of these elements can be missing in a successful, or even acceptable, performance from any of the players.

The attitudes, training techniques and underlying philosophy of French Ring participants is in many ways different than we find in other dog sports. This article will discuss those differences and the reasons for them. We'll examine the points of view and goals of the players and the game.

 

How is the game scored.

It is the judge, acting as coordinator, referee and scorekeeper who runs the show. He is assisted by the deputy judge who follows the handler and dog, directing them what to do next and where to do it, as well as making sure no cheating occurs. The judge decides where on the field different exercises will take place. He is in charge of organizing the selection of the order of exercises. (The jumps are always first, the obedience second and the protection third; however, the order of the exercises within each discipline is different at each trial.) He instructs the decoy, to a certain extent, in how he wants things done. And then he keeps careful watch as the competition occurs to see where the mistakes are. If you are accustomed to Schutzhund judging, you will be surprised at Ring Sport judging. The rules in Ring are so very specific as to procedure and scoring, that the judge does not really make an evaluation in the same sense as in Schutzhund. He cannot deduct any points at all from a competitor's score without a written explanation on the score sheet (which the competitor receives).

 

Simple & honest

The number of points deducted has nothing to do with style, attitude, value judgment, courage, etc. It has only to do with the printed rules for correct performance of whatever exercise, with specific deductions for precisely described errors by dog and/or handler. The judge must use a stopwatch in many cases to verify the time requirements.

In other words, what you do is what you get - or don't. What you do not get is someone's opinion or interpretation. If your dog doesn't bite soon enough or long enough on the face attack, he will not be rated as having insufficient courage; he will lose points for how much time he didn't bite. If he is slow to control an escape, you will not be told that he didn't guard closely enough. He will simply lose points for the distance the decoy escaped. There is still room for some error, as the system is not perfect and never will be. But you don't have the problem of being judged on style or having broad leeway in scoring. You and your dog either do it or don't do it. Period!

 

Having said this, we can talk about the players on the field. Ring Sport has an element of true competition between dog and decoy that is not present in any of the other dog sports. A trial decoy would be mortally insulted to be called a "helper". His French titles translates "attack man", and in the trial, that is much of what he does. While the rules governing his actions are very strict to avoid physical brutality, he will do everything permitted to take points from the dog. His job is to be faster, tougher and more alert than the dog.

 

This work, of course, is tempered by the level of competition. Decoy work for the MR (Mondio Ring) 1 is much easier than for MR II or MR III. Even at the III level, work at the championship or selective trials will be tougher than work at a regular trial. The decoy must find whatever weakness he can either in the dog's temperament or his training and exploit it to take as many points as possible from the dog. He attempts to control the dog's fight.

Certification

 

Decoys must pass very rigorous certification tests which prove their physical aptitudes, style, capabilities to be efficient in their opposition to the dog, and detailed knowledge of the rules. These certification tests are given by certain judges once per year in each region. First the decoy becomes regionally certified, then later he may try for his national certification (only national certified decoys are allowed to agitate at selective trials and championships). Every five years he must certify again to continue to do trial work.

 

Competition from the dog's point of view stresses fighting drive combined with instantaneous control. The really good dogs have an intense fighting drive and a love of the bite. They joyfully commit themselves to fight after fight despite the decoy's attempts to wear them down psychologically and wear them out physically. They are determined to win.

 

Often they seem to calculate how to make the decoy lose his balance by hitting hard in a "crumple zone." They, too, try to be in control of the fight. If that gives you the image of an out-of-control devil dog, you are far, far from the truth. These dogs have accepted the rules of the game better than most of our human athletes in body contact sports. For the most part, their outs are almost as fast as their entries; their recalls only a little slower than their attacks (more from fatigue). You only have to see a few stopped attacks where the dog already has his mouth open for the bite when he is recalled and you will be awed by the control aspect of the sport.

 

Long & grueling

The work is long and grueling. The dog must do the jumps first, then the obedience, then the protection without any break. This requires about 20 minutes for Ring l, 30 for Ring II and 40 for Ring III. Bites on the attacks are 15 seconds each of constant fight after a 30 to 70-meter dead gallop.

 

In Ring III, we see the face attack (meaning that the decoy is facing off against the dog) which is 30 to 50 meters with stick work, an out on recall; the revolver attack at 40 meters with two shots from a 9 mm before the bite, and another during the bite, with an out and guard followed by two escapes with two more guards; the fleeing attack at 50 to 70 meters with stick work; and the stopped attack done the same as the face attack but with a last second call off.

Veterinarians in France determined that a dog uses as much energy in one 15-second fight as a human doing the 100-yard dash.

 

Alertness & control

The protection "exercises" (everything that isn't an attack) put a premium on the dog's alertness and control. These include the defense of handler, wherein the dog must bite without command, but never until the decoy has actually hit the handler. To make things worse, the dog must certainly not consider the handshakes as aggressive moves.

There is the search and bark exercise that is a freestyle blind search, a hold and bark, an escape with gunshot and bite, a second escape with another shot, and a transport with two more escapes and a final guard.

 

Every escape step the decoy takes before being well bitten costs the dog 1 point. On the other hand, any extra bites will cost the dog 2.5 points each. The most memorable Ring III exercise is the guarding of the object. This is where the handler asks his dog to guard some object, such as a basket, then goes out of sight of the dog. The decoy makes two and sometimes three or four attempts to steal the object from the dog without being bitten. The dog loses points not only for letting the object be stolen (30 points) or moved (1 point per meter), but also for biting too far from the object, not letting go soon enough, or walking away from the object. Meanwhile, the decoy is using every bit of psychology and knowledge of training techniques to try to steal the object.

 

Testing the training

The handler goes to trial to test the results of his training and the wisdom of his choices in handling the dog. The jumps come first. He can allow the dog to jump lower than the maximum heights and widths on his first attempt at each jump. This can be a help to a dog on a strange field but the extra energy required to jump again to clear a bigger jump for more points can sap some of his dog's stamina. This energy expenditure may cost him dearly during the last protection exercises when the dog is tiring.

 

He must also make decisions regarding the intensity of his psychological control during the obedience phase. On a really tough-to-control dog, the handler may need to exert a lot of power during the obedience exercises so that he will enjoy more control during the protection phase. On a more handler-sensitive dog, any pressure in the obedience can cause too much inhibition in the early protection exercises, allowing the decoy opportunity to pressure the dog enough to ruin the later protection exercises.

 

Overloaded

Even more calculations can be vital depending upon the order of the protection exercises at a given trial. With a very hot dog, having the stopped attack come first could be a real control problem. Another problem could be created if the fleeing attack is first and the dog downs the decoy. The dog could get so loaded from this that he wants to bully the decoy on subsequent exercises. Depending upon the individual dog, the handling problems can require an enormous amount of careful thought and true knowledge of the dog. No matter how good the dog is and how well trained, the handler's job in the trial is always complex and interesting.

 

The handler is part trainer, part coach and part manager to his contender, the dog. From the day he brings the dog home for the first time, everything he does will influence the dog's performance.

The joy of games

 

Daniel Debonduwe, eight times Ring Champion of France with three different dogs, speaks of raising a puppy for competition. "I multiply the occasions on which my puppy feels joy. It is necessary that the dog takes pleasure in the work. That's why I often use games. It's this pleasure that gives speed in the execution of the exercises. And later, he says, "I leave nothing to chance, progressing very systematically, step-by-step. I never skip a step."

 

The successful Ring trainers are in accordance with these principles. Ring puts an immense amount of pressure on the dog. One of the absolute, sine qua non, carved in stone necessities for Ring training is balance. Balance between motivation and compulsion; balance between drive and control; balance between formality and game; balance between confidence and level of difficulty; balance between technical abilities and stamina and the level of challenge to the dog. This sense of proportion in progressing in the training must remain foremost in the plan. With too much control, you lose drive. With too much drive, you lose control. This is true not only in the bitework, but in every phase of the training.

 

 

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