Hunt drive - Page 5

Drive is inherited and on  what and how it is used is learned. 
Prey drive is a conglomerate of other inherited  drives / instincts which enable the dog to get food. The are, tracking, prey kill shaking, hunting, pack work, stocking, seizing ( grabbing)  the prey....
 It is interesting that all higher animals have it, but it may not be expressed. These are coming from amygdala. Lizard, cat, dog, man, goat, cow rabbit ...yes also non predators. For example  cow can be stimulated by electrodes imbedded in her brain to do prey shake.  Thus all dogs too genetically have prey drive.   But what is interesting that not all dogs express it or express all aspects of it. Why? My take is that it was necessary for their survival ( have sheltered pet life)  same as prey kill shake  is not necessary for the survival of a cow, thus it is diminished and it may eventually  disappear. Thus breeders must pay attention to it and to aspects of it  not just because it is practical for training, but also in order to maintain "natural" dog which GSD is. 
Hunt drive is a part of a larger group of   drives called prey drive (above) . It is drive which urges a dog  to look/search for potential - nonspecific food ( does not smell it, see it, hear it) or for specific food (Smells it or smelled it, saw it, heard it or remembers it).
 Hans
  

Huntdrive the way most americans use it seems to be how strong motivation the dog has for searching without loosing intresst. Also in tracking a good policedog should see the job as selfrewarding and not be dependet on rewards because many times there are no rewards. I guess it´s the same for a good huntingdog that could work very long just for the fun of it, even if it didn´t found any prey that day.

Johan, I think you're on to an important perspective. How long a dog hunts for a ball is a good measure for trainin, of course. But then comes the breeding for thar trait, ball hunt drive, it's specific. From this selective breeding, might that become obsessive/compulsive behavior being selected for? I like to see a dog that has that unwavering, incorruptible hunt drive that is transferable to something other than a ball or toy. A dog that will search for a live "prey" with the same intensity. This sounds obvious, but I know that not all dogs crazy for finding a ball will give a flip for finding something else. That's where the "must provide a reward" comes in. Dogs that do hunt from an instinctual part of their brain get reward through the ACT of hunting. Same as a good Hunting dog or Terrier that will hunt till it drops, for varmints it may not catch.

Gusmanda,

 You make a good point with Beagles, a friend has one that is gone the moment it hits any scent. Do  the herding breeds have the same natural hunt drive compaired to the hunting breeds?

Felloffher, I have some GSD that can't get their nose off the ground when they're in the woods....better have a good "com'ere" on them or you might loose them when they're following their nose. You never know where it'll take them.

I agree with Joanro.

There is something about the woods that stimulates a pup's hunt drive specially other hikers. Sometimes when we come up to trail intersections they get very excited then they just take off ears and tail up, sometimes so excited that they backtrack for a couple of hundred yards before getting themselves straighten out. Beautiful to watch.

The most basic of all the dog's drives.