| DOG DRIVES (BEHAVIOR) |
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Hunting: This behavior requires the dog to use all of its senses,
determination and a combination of drives to find prey. Think of it as an
addict on a quest to find drugs. The dog will let nothing stand in its way.
It will search tirelessly for as long as it takes to reach its goal. Once
the dog locates any indication that his goal is near, a waft of scent, a
rustle of sound just within hearing or a flicker of motion it will go into
acquisition mode or prey drive. This is the most important quality of a
patrol dog since finding bad guys is what being a patrol dog is all about.
Air Scent: This is merely the impulse to hunt by lifting the nose and
sniffing airborne currents for scent as opposed to sniffing the ground. This
behavior is extremely important for hunting and is primarily used by a
patrol dog in building and area searches as well as when trailing.
Tracking: This is the impulse to hunt by putting the nose down to the ground
and following the smell of the ground disturbance and the animal scent
associated with the passage of prey.
Prey: This is the desire to chase, grasp and subdue prey. This is one of the
most over used and misunderstood terms in dog training. It is often
interchanged with the term play drive. Nothing could be further from the
truth. In its purist form the object of prey drive is a kill. In prey drive
a dog becomes target-locked (fixated) on a moving object. Its body will
become fluid and reactive with its total and complete attention on the prey
item. The dog will lower its center of gravity and bring its tail into the
plane of its spine for better balance. Its ears will turn towards the prey
object like radar and its eyes will be wide open and in a receiving mode.
Prey drive is a silent drive. Barking dogs don’t sneak up on things very
well, however, it is not uncommon for a very frustrated dog to vocalize if
restrained too long or too often in training. Once the dog gets to the prey
it grasps it any way it can and as soon as it feels the advantage it will
try to get a better purchase on the prey by adjusting the grip inward. When
the prey goes down there is often one more grip adjustment and then the dog
often shakes the prey. This drive is a critical drive for a patrol dog
because it can motivate many of the dog’s criminal apprehension skills.
Retrieve: This is the desire to bring prey back to the pack leader. This is
often exhibited in the dog that will bring the stick or ball back to the
handler over and over and often just drop it at the handler’s feet. This dog
gets its satisfaction from the delivery of the prey. The dog that brings it
back and doesn’t want to give it up is not showing this drive or is
conflicted in some way. Retrieve drive can be very useful in motivating
training, especially detection work.
Rank: This is the desire in the dog to raise his stature within the pack. A
dog that has a high rank drive will try to work his way into the alpha
position. The term alpha is a relative term. In any group of dogs one of
them will be the alpha. That is the dog within that group with the highest
rank drive combined with the most physical prowess. You could take that dog
and put him in a group with dog’s that have yet even higher rank drive and
he would not be alpha. Dogs with high rank drive are prone to trying to
dominate every dog they come in contact with. They will have a tendency to
fight for this dominance. A rank dog will also challenge the authority of
the handler. This will most likely occur during corrections or when the dog
feels it is being forced to do something against its will, especially the
down command. The behavior will manifest itself as growling, snapping and
even biting the handler when the handler presses these issues. The strange
thing is that a dog can have fairly high levels of both a rank and
subordinate drive. These dogs are driven to lead but willing to follow if a
stronger leader is available.
Subordinate: This is the desire to accept the authority and will of the pack
leader. This dog willingly obeys and is most comfortable when someone else
is in charge. A dog with a high drive to subordinate could become an omega
dog. The higher this drive the more submissive the dog will act. Extremely
high levels could lead to submissive urination. This dog may seem to have
been abused.
Pack: This is the desire to have social contact with the pack members. It is
the mental aspect of the social drives. The dog seeks the company of others.
This dog wants to hang out with anybody, other dogs, other people, and
especially its handler. In higher levels this dog would follow you
everywhere, be underfoot constantly, even waiting outside the bathroom door.
Play: This is the desire to have physical contact with the handler, family,
or even other dogs. This behavior is mostly seen is younger dogs but can
follow a dog through life. If a dog is properly socialized as a pup it will
retain this quality well into adulthood. . You can usually tell when two
dogs are about to play by a specific signal that they use. It’s called Beckhov’s bow. Once a dog bows and the other accepts, the rank order is put
aside and this allows for aggressive play that is understood by both parties
to be just play. This drive can be used for motivating many forms of
training.
Activity: This is the impulse to be constantly active. Not hyperactive, just
on the go all the time. Although the drive is mental the manifestation of it
is physical. Activity drive puts energy into all other drives. A dog with a
high activity level will usually be trying to entertain itself. This can
become problematic if the dog doesn’t have a constructive outlet for all
that energy.
Fight : This is the drive to test the dog’s own strength and physical prowess
against an opponent. There is no fear and there is no anger involved. It’s
like two guys that want put on boxing gloves and go toe to toe, loser buys
the beer. It is done for the love of combat. This drive influences many
others.
Guard: This is used to defend territory or prey by barking and growling. If
these warning signals do not deter then a defensive bite may occur. This
behavior is only exhibited under specific conditions and is territorial in
nature. Other drives contribute to its intensity.
Protection: This is the drive to defend the pack leader and other members of
the pack. This drive is seen when either a real or imagined threat is
perceived. A subtle sign of it is when a dog moves between its handler and a
stranger and then remains alert. An extreme example would be a dog engaging
a threatening individual without ever having had any protection training.
This drive is much more rare than people think.
Survival: This drive is motivated by fear brought on by a real or imagined
threat. It is exhibited as “fight or flight” behavior also known as “defense
or avoidance.” If the dog goes into defense it will attempt to negate the
threat by a brief intense attack and then retreat before an injury is
sustained. In the avoidance mode it will simply try to escape. The dog will
exhibit body language that is intended to increase its size and therefore
its ability to threaten such as turning sideways and raising its hair. It
will also make loud aggressive barks and growls all in an attempt to
convince an opponent to leave it alone. If a dog is on a leash and begins to
go into fight or flight, it will invariably go into the defense or fight
mode because the leash has canceled its avoidance or flight option.
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| A drive in a dog is genetically
influenced and can be bred for it's superior quality and desire or can be
bred to exclude the undesired qualities. |
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| Character Traits |
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Trainability: Trainability is a psychological character trait. It is
generally seen in one or both of two ways. The first is the spontaneous
attempt to perform the will of the pack leader or handler. The second is the
number of behaviors that can be learned. Trainability can be described as a
willingness to comply and an eagerness to learn new tasks.
Hardness: This trait is both psychological and physiological. It is a
physical and/or mental resiliency to unpleasant experiences. Hardness is
easily understood when compared with a pain threshold. A dog with a high
degree of hardness can receive a tremendous amount of pain and stress with
little lasting negative effect. It also means the dog will need stronger
corrections when disobedient. Physiologically, hardness is in direct
relation to the thickness of the sheathing around the nerve fibers in the
dog’s body; the thicker the nerve sheathing, the harder the dog. High
arousal levels in a hard dog will increase its hardness to the point that
corrections become almost totally ineffective.
Softness: Softness is the opposite of hardness and is the natural state of
the wild dog. Nature has dictated softness as a survival trait. The soft dog
perceives pain and stress more intensely than the average dog. A dog with a
high level of softness often associates the location of a painful or
stressful experience with the experience itself. It may never go back to an
area where it received a traumatic experience. For example, if a soft dog
stepped on a bee and got stung it may walk around that spot on the lawn for
hours if not days before the effect wears off.
Courage: Simply put, courage is the absence of fear toward real or imagined
danger. This trait is psychological and wholly based in genetics. A dog is
either born with courage or without. Courage has been bred into some dogs or
more to the point, fear has been bred out. Since the natural state of the
dog is soft and fearful, the hard courageous dog that we breed for goes
against the natural order of things and would not survive long in the wild.
Confidence: Confidence is a psychological trait that is environmentally
influenced. It is in essence, brainwashing. Confidence is convincing the dog
through training that he is more courageous than he was born to be. We build
confidence like we build muscle. Take the dog to a moderate level of stress
in training and then let him win. This lets him learn that fighting through
the stress will be rewarded by the stress being removed. Over time the dog
will believe in himself more and more. The important point to remember is
that there is a crisis point where it all falls apart. If the dog reaches a
level of stress that is beyond what he has been trained to accept, it will
revert to its true character.
Fear Fear: is psychological and genetically based. It is the perception of
real or imagined danger. Fear is the natural protective measure to prevent
the extermination of the dog or the species. A high level of fear is the
natural state of the dog.
Moodiness: Moodiness is also psychological but genetically based. It is the
propensity for inconsistent behavior. The dog will perform excellent work
one day and the next do terribly, for no apparent reason. It is not easy to
recognize unless it is an extreme case.
Sharpness: Sharpness is a trait that is psychological but genetically based.
It is the tendency to react to stressful situations with aggressive
behavior. An example would be a dog that when startled bites without
warning. This same dog would then realize its mistake and return to its
normal self. Sharpness is based in fear.
Viciousness: Viciousness is a trait that is psychological but genetically
based. It is the propensity for unwarranted vicious aggression. The
aggression is observed most frequently as wide-eyed, wild and frightening
behavior. An example would be a dog that notices and then without warning
attacks another dog, person or object. It is seldom seen but when it is
exhibited it is unmistakable.
Temperament: Temperament is a trait that is psychological but genetically
based. It can be influenced significantly by the environment. Temperament is
described by adjectives such as full, moderate or poor. A full temperament
means the dog has a zesty attitude and is full of life. A poor temperament
describes a dog that is sluggish and lethargic.
Feral Tendency: Feral tendency is a trait that is totally genetic. It is the
tendency to revert to a wild animal. A dog with a high degree of feral
tendency may seem to act quite intelligently. It may learn quickly and seem
to be high in trainability. Trainability prompts the dog to remain obedient
when pain or stress reaches a critical point whereas feral tendency prompts
the dog to disobey at this point. When stress is high, the highly feral dog
begins to outmaneuver the handler or to escape the pain or stress. An
example is a dog that throws itself against its collar attempting to pull
out of it to avoid a stressful situation. It may seem to anticipate
corrections and the handler will have difficulty enforcing proper obedience
in that phase of training. The dog acts as if it knows it will be corrected
and displays behavior that looks like avoidance of the handler.
Sensory Threshold: Sensory threshold is a trait that is totally genetic. This
describes the amount of stimulus that is necessary to elicit a response from
a dog. A dog with a low sensory threshold will take very little to stimulate
it. It will be more likely to whine and even scream during agitation. It
will have a tendency to over stimulate and this can bring out any feral
tendency that may be present. A dog with a high sensory threshold will seem
somewhat dull and take longer to “warm up.”
Dogfight Tendency: This trait is primarily genetic but can be environmentally
exacerbated. It can be confused with rank drive or fight drive. Both of
these drives can prompt the dog to engage in combat regardless of the
opponent, man or animal. Dogfight tendency focuses on dogs only. It is
completely possible to have a dog that is totally safe with its handler or
strangers, even infants, but will attack another dog as if obsessed.
Normally a male will not attack a female or a puppy; however, Dogfight
tendency is exhibited regardless of the sex or age of the other dog.
Dogfight tendency differs from rank and fight drive in another way. In rank
and fight drive encounters the victorious dog will eventually allow the
loser to escape. In an encounter that has a victor motivated by dogfight
tendency it will end in the death of the loser.
Distractibility: Distractibility is genetically based but environmentally
influenced. It describes the tendency to be easily diverted from a task.
This becomes a real issue when the dog enters the proofing phase of training
where high distraction is introduced. A dog with a high level of
distractibility requires an abnormal amount of training to maintain
competency.
Agility: Agility is a trait that describes the natural speed, surefootedness
and coordination of the dog. An example of agility is the dog that pursues
at breakneck speed and can turn on a dime if the suspect tries to sidestep
its pursuit.
Physical Endurance: This physical trait describes the tone and general muscle
condition of the dog. A dog with good physical endurance expends less energy
as it works, thereby enabling a greater quantity of work in a given time.
Physical conditioning or exercise will increase physical endurance. |
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| Credits: Patrick O’Connor |
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| PUPPY PICTURE FROM SOME OF OUR PROGENY |
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