| PUPPY (DOG) BEHAVIOR DRIVE |
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Play DRIVE: 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 puppy 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.
Prey DRIVE: Puppy prey drive is shown when dogs stalk and then pounce on
imaginary prey such as twigs and rocks. They will pick things up and shake
them, then carry them around so proudly. Other examples are “I’ll chase you
then you chase me” and tug o’ war, often used to motivate obedience.
Puppy Fight DRIVE: To the untrained eye rough play can sometimes be viewed as
aggression when it is really just Puppy fight drive. Dogs prepare themselves
for potential future battles by wrestling around as pups. They learn to
dodge and spin and jump and roll. And all the while they are learning to
inhibit their bites and control their aggression.
Puppy Guard DRIVE: In Puppy guard drive a dog will get a prey object and tease
another dog with it in order to get a game going and then make a great big
deal out of ferociously guarding said object. All of these mock-drives
prepare a dog for adulthood by allowing the pup to try these behaviors out.
Rank DRIVE: 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 in
some instance 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 DRIVE: 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. |
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| We believe in our German shepherd PUPPIES breeding program, you should too! | |
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| PUPPY PICTURE FROM SOME OF OUR PROGENY |
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