Defining terms more precisely - Page 2

 Other factors which affect aggressive behaviour are location and hormone levels.  Two factors which affect aggression that a protection helper needs to be aware of are: personal acquaintance blocks aggression; and passive acceptance of a dog's aggression impresses a dog deeply and causes unsureness.

A negative side effect of aggression in dog training is that it greatly reduces the dog's learning ability.

Author's note: We all want to see our dogs work aggressively against the "bad guy," but we need to keep in mind that that is the final picture we want to see.  Too often high quality dogs don't reach their potential because their owners want to see them aggressive right from the start, forgetting about the fact that the dog has to learn many intricate exercises before he can walk onto the competition field.  So if possible teach the dog an exercise first, then make him perform it aggressively.

 

Fighting Drive Again the question of whether or not an independent fighting drive exists has not yet been answered.  Some dog-experts feel that a fighting drive must exist and that it is related to the play drive.  The term fighting drive is an oxymoron.  It combines the word drive refers to an inherited trait which serves to preserve life and species, with the word fight which refers to physical combat.  A drive to fight would then be an internal motivation which leads the animal into a potentially harmful situation.  But even in social aggression the non-physical ritualistic showdowns are much more common than the injurious physical fights.  However, that argument aside, the term fighting drive is a useful description of a desirable behaviour in the dog.  We want to see a dog who has fun fighting with the helper.  But only a dog who doesn't feel like he is fighting for his life can be unstressed and have fun.  Therefore I (Raiser) feel that fighting drive is an extension of prey drive.

What qualities make up good fighting drive - meaning the spontaneity?  Practical experience has shown that dogs who work primarily in as a result of their defensive drive may still lack fighting drive.  Dogs like that then often fail to engage the helper if he does not present any defensive stimuli, but work confidently while under threat.  The desire to "seek the fight" is an essential ingredient of fighting drive.  In all dogs with pronounced fighting drive, I also found pronounced prey drive.  Making prey is a passionate activity which does not stress the dog. However, prey drive alone is not equal to fighting drive, the dog also has to use defense behaviour.  The fundamental component of fighting drive is the active part of the aggressive drive, social aggression.  Therefore, the dog must always see the helper as a rival.  The object of competition could vary: it could be the prey (hence the relation to prey drive); or it could be social rank, which works well with dominant dogs.  So in order to increase fighting drive, we have to promote prey drive, build up defense drive, and strengthen aggression by teaching the dog that he can defeat and dominate the helper.  This should make it very clear that as much as fighting drive is a very desirable quality, one cannot expect to see it fully developed in a one year old dog.

Author's note: Do your dogs a favour and help them develop all the components that make up good fighting drive, rather than waiting until it magically appears out of thin air because the dog should have "it" naturally.

What impresses me about the discussion of drives every time I read Helmut Raiser's book is that he simply dissects the material on a scientific basis.  He does not try to make the theory fit his practical techniques, on the contrary he willingly admits to his own past mistakes, and tries to improve his practical skill by better understanding the theory behind it.  I will probably summarize the practical applications of these theories at some time in the future.  For people who can't wait, the full length version is available in my translation of the book Der Schutzhund.

excellent.

Play drive I will end this article with a discussion on play drive. What is play drive? Does such a drive exist? I believe it does exist and it is a drive in itself. Now, it also has a certain componential nature, but because I believe it has pretty much a singular biological function I think it is a drive in itself. I believe that play drive is nature?s school. The drive to play ensures that young animals practice adult behaviors i n a non-risky way. How good a dog's play drive is I think depends a little bit on how many dimensions there are to his play. Dogs practice prey drive by stalking and chasing each other and other moving objects. They practice defense drive overlap behaviors by guarding objects, food, and small sections of territory, they practice dominance through wrestling matches. The desire to compete is a way to practice the survival of the fittest principle of nature. It is this competitive spirit that leads puppies to race each other and play tug of war. Sometimes a puppy won't show any interest in an object or running, until he can measure himself against another. We can capture a part of this competitive spirit and make it part of protection training. I think that it is this competitive spirit of play drive that leads people to link play drive with fighting "drive." I believe that play drive is linked to fighting "drive" on two levels. On one hand the competitive spirit allows dogs to develop the urge to measure themselves against human competitors as well. It is not serious enough to warrant the term fighting however. On the other hand I believe the more extensively a dog plays the more dimensions he will later have to his fighting "drive," since nature's way of practicing techniques allows a bit of a glimpse into what will be. So play drive lets the dog practice the components of fighting "drive" on his own. That is why dogs who have an extensive play drive can develop a well rounded fighting "drive" even if the training people do with him is fairly one or two dimensional. Such dogs are able to develop the other components to some degree on their own. Still, the seriousness we want to see in the adult dog's fighting "drive" needs more work than what play drive will do for the dog.

Another point to make about play drive: since our dogs are infantized wolves, we can preserve certain pieces of play drive long into adult life and even for the entire life of the dog. The desire to play is a lust-oriented drive in the dog. And by keeping this alive we give ourselves yet another drive to work our dog in to make training even more fun and successful.

Hey what about fight drive???

regards

There is really nothing called play drive Its very USA centric

regards

fight drive is up there and if you want to put your argument up against Armin about play drive, have at it.

Some of the so called self proclaimed "mentors" in US are coining this term. Nothing to do with Armin. But I have come across people who are mis tutored on Play drive part.

regards

hey, if you are a celebrity you can start coining your own terms who cares!!!. The other day I came acroos a loony who was saying that he wants to write an English Language disctionary with his own coined and "mashup" words ALA mashups on the web  :-D


cheers & Regards

anything goes in the name of innovation!!!!