Nerve vs Confidence - Page 1

Are nerve and confidence the same thing? Is confidence the number one trait desired in a GSD? Can you give scenario's which illustriate the difference between nerve and confidence, if there is a difference?

I tend to think nerve has more to do with courage; and confidence, or the lack of, can affect acting out that courage level when challenged. I hope realcold responds. I liked his comments about sharpness in the 'civil aggression' thread.

LMH I would understand it the same, way scenerio... My dog will approach anyone with his head up, ears up tail wagging and wait to be petted and if you don't soon, He will end up in your lap for his loves. In my understanding he is "confident" In the same situation if you the person he approached revealed a weapon and made a run at me, He would bite you no doubts here at all, That is "nerve" At least that is my understanding and the only way I know how to illustrate it into words. Just hope it's correctly illustrated and hope it's correct understanding.

I can't come up with a true difference but I will give a comical one. Lets say there is a Marine, a Sailor and a Soldier on a plane with their respective Commanding Officers and the plane is running out of fuel and won't make it to the airport unless they get rid of some weight. So the Admiral says to the Army and Marines Corps Generals "my men are confident, watch", and he tells his sailor subordinate to strap on a parachute and jump from the plane, that he will be okay. The sailor does. The Admiral says "See gentlemen, that is confidence". The Army General says, "oh yea, I'll show you confidence" and he instructs his soldier subordinate to jump from the plane without a parachute and the soldier does as ordered. The Army General says "that gentlemen, is confidence". The Marine Corps General says "Gentlemen, let me show you what a Marine is made of" and says to his subordinate "Marine I want you to jump from this plane without a parachute, land quickly and catch that soldier so he doesn't get hurt". The Marine replies to his General "Go to Hell, Sir". The Marine Corps General turns to his fellow commanders and says "Now that is Nerve, gentlemen" :)

LOL, There ya go !! Love it.

Didn't think I would have to describe a scenario, but here goes: My dog is in the park with his buddies, one of which is a small Boston Terrier. A jeep pulls up and out jumps a huge, mean, very aggressive, male Weimaraner, who immediately races toward the amiable group. While attempting to intimidate and harm the Boston Terrier, the other dogs all quickly scatter, fleeing the scene. My dog stays put, never flinching. The *Nerve* is shown when he didn't run away and stood his ground, (basically--courage). The *Confidence* comes into play when my dog actively defends the Boston Terrier---anticipating he will succeed, (basically--'acts' out courage). Mind you, this is only a scenario. Ha! Am I correct in my interpretation of Nerve vs. Confidence? Or as Echo has suggested *Confident* is more actively outgoing?

From the temperament description here on data base: "Often used as working dogs, German Shepherds are direct and fearless, eager and alert. Bold, cheerful, obedient and eager to learn. Known for their tremendous loyalty and courage. Calmly confident, but not hostile. Serious and almost human in his intelligence. They have a high learning ability. German Shepherds love to be close to their families, but they are very wary of strangers...." I do not want any of my dogs to immdialty accept a stranger without my approval. Confident enough not to hide and try to avoid, but not jumping on them for pets until given approval. Nerves enough to stand up to a threat without backing down.

Nerves of steel are noted to be able to handle any noise,any on coming situation of battle, confrontation by a human or animal or a test of dogs own survival , to forge forward and meet the challenge no matter the condition of surroundings, and the confidence comes in that the dog can think and handle the challenge no matter whether human or inanimate object, independently without a handler on the other end and not being told to do so. The challenge is met by the dog thinking and doing whatever it takes to correctly handle the task at hand,. That task can be sport related or survival related, and the dog has to have both , and they work together under correct training from a very early age.....this is how I know to put it ...Ivan B. and Dean Calderon cn say it better but that takes a whoe board....

whole

Sounds like nerve, courage and confidence are very hard to distinguish from each other. Yellow Rose, I just can't grasp the concept that confidence is directly related to "smarts" or intelligence. I have known plently of people and dogs that were intelligent but had no confidence in themselves. Okay, a thought. Say you and your dog are at the park and a strange male comes out from the woods near you. He hasn't done anything yet other than suddenly appear from an unusual direction. Your dog stares at him and the man just stands there. Your dog eventually goes about his merry smelling everything along the tree line usual way. Is that confidence? Now the male starts walking towards your direction, still not doing anything other than walking in your direction. Your dog is uncomfortable with this and starts walking beside the male, sniffing at the man's legs. Is that nerve? Now the man suddenly yells and kicks at your dog. Your dog grabs the man's lower leg and gives him "what for". Is that courage? Or is all of this just confidence in your dog that he can handle whatever "comes up". Yep, I'm still confused as to the difference.