One of the most common questions we get about Demanet Bite Suits is “what suit weight is right for me”. Gone are the days of big baggy Ray Allen bite suits (they still sell them, but there are much better alternatives). You can now get a perfectly tailored bite suit that is the exact weight, with specific re-enforcements, that will enhance your decoy work, and not take away from it.
(Let me preface this by saying that what you will read below are my opinions, from my experience as a decoy, and selling many bite suits of the past 10 years). There are no hard and fast rules. If you are experienced, and know exactly what you want, by all means do what works best for you. The information here is for those who have less experience in different weight bite suits).
There are 4 primary weights of suits including TRAINING, SEMI-TRAINING, SEMI-COMPETITION, and COMPETITION. We also sell Kevlar suits and Selectif suits, but those options are much less common and have very specific purposes. It is important to choose the right suit for the work that you are doing. Picking a semi-comp bite suit to train in is probably a mistake. Much like picking a training weight suit for your French Ring selection is probably a mistake (I know guy that did that, and it was a painful day for him). Below you will find a general description and the purpose of each suit.
TRAINING WEIGHT BITE SUIT – This suit offers the most protection with slightly lower mobility and a little heavier weight than the other suits. As you might have guessed this bite suit is specifically tailored for TRAINING. If you are a club decoy that has to take lots of bites from dog after dog, this is going to be the suit for you. Similarly, if you are a police officer and you take bites from the patrol dogs, but your primary job is police work, purchasing a suit that offers plenty of protection tends to be the prudent thing to do. There are many levels of decoys, and there is nothing wrong with being less experienced. If you are newer to decoying (less than a couple of years) I recommend starting with a training weight suit. You are going to get less beat up, you will be more confident and you will get stronger. Training weight bite suits also have an extraordinary life span. As you can see in the picture above, a tailored training weight bite suit can fit well, and allow for plenty of movement.
SEMI-TRAINING WEIGHT BITE SUIT – This suit is similar to a training weight suit, but offers a little less protection and more mobility. This is the suit I recommend for experienced decoys who’s primary focus is training. While the suit is mobile, it is a little heavier than what you would want for a lot of trial work. If you plan to just work a couple trials a year, this will probably be fine. You are going to get great protection and still be able to move pretty well. You will get more banged up than you will in the training suit, and I would recommend a gauntlet for PSA work in this suit. This is our most popular suit weight.
SEMI-COMPETITION WEIGHT BITE SUIT – This suit would be recommended for VERY experienced decoys. It’s primary objective is trial work, but does offer enough protection for use during training (although it is not really recommend). Working in this bite suit will provide a lot of mobility, it is light, but you are going to take a bit of a beating. I highly recommend wearing some sort of gauntlet or protection under the suit. This is a very popular choice amongst our PSA and Mondio Ring trial decoys.
COMPETITION WEIGHT BITE SUIT – Like the name says, this suit is for competition work. It is very light, and very flexible. This bite suit offers enough protection to prevent serious injury, but you are going to feel the bite….a lot. This suit is recommended for VERY experienced decoys and is primarily designed for French Ring. We do see some PSA/Mondio decoys working in this suit at the higher levels, but it is less common. If this is the right suit for you, it probably doesn’t need any more explanation.
Our other two suit options are Kevlar and Selectif. Kevlar is a proofing suit for police/military/protection K9’s. It is typically worn under clothes, and should only be used periodically to test training. The Selectif suit is the thinnest suit we sell. This suit was designed specifically for French Ring Championship decoy work. There are not many of these suits in circulation.
I hope this helps you make an educated decision on the right Demanet Bite Suit for your needs. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 513-315-8002 or mic@5fgroup.com.