Drive, drive, drive! - Page 3

Think of it like this. A stack of wood , brick, shingles is a house. All the pieces are there, it just needs to be built. Depending on your skill level, plans, etc., the outcome may be very different. Most people let it just sit there to rot.

I meet a very skilled couple this weekend and they had bought a 14 month old malinois female they hoped to train her in RING but when they got the dog it had no drive or showed very litle drive , the did almost not want to run for a ball or anything , did not want to eat or work for food she just lost interest they where ready to sell her back to the breeder she worked the dog with clicker and marker training and today 6 months after she has to much drive she is exstreme in drive very hard to imagine that the same dog did not want to chase food og toys.

I bellieve that the dogs are born with it but a skilled handler brings it out



but right training I believe that you can put some more drive in a dog with low drive





 

i think there are dimensions about dogs [ and people] that cannot be put into english . they are abstract and therefore cause a lot of confusion .. on one hand : if a dog has a [certain] genetic base , it can be  so much a part of that dog as an expression that one almost does not even have to lift a finger to train it . Bacause the behavior as a result of the genetics is simply constantly , with magnitude overtly expressed. For example , several pups that i had at 8 weeks old ... the nose goes right to the ground and they have tracked all by themselves .. all i had to do is watch .. they were motivated to find / go to the source. ditto for bite work , even show line pups that i owned - at 8 weeks old onto my jeans like sharks . i couldn't shake them loose !!  Same with the retrieve instinct . at 8 weeks old i had GSDs retrieve instantly , right to my hand .. others i have seen - well they needed a lot more encouragement/persuasion !!  Again the genetic base is not only there at times BUT INTENSIFIED [ it is qualitative and quatatively different] ... this cannot be accounted for at times in simple english .. we can discuss temperaments of dogs such as , low aggression , moderate aggresssion , high aggresssion , low stress level , moderate stress level , high stress level , same with hardness or any other predetermined genetic trait. BUT then also that to is a generality .. it does not discuss the dog with  exactitude. As i often write .. quantatively and qualitatively makes a difference .. a very important difference .  
              Now , what i have often seen is dogs  that have no intertest to  chase a ball , a rag ... I am careful : that does not mean they do not ness. possess the genetic make-up . they may have a different style to express that behavior , a different style that triggers prey for example. OR the potential is genetically there but it is LATENT . SOOOo many timers i have seen a dog not even look at a rag or a tug .. then at about 1 year later ;; like a switch goes off on their heads.. bam .. they work !!! ..I  saw this in a friend's dog years ago . The dog never chased a ball -until 1 year old ... by two years old this dog was ball obessessive and he got his Brevet in French Ring and was ready for RING 1 !! I have friends in Germany that share the same story with me in regards to some of their dogs. thier dogs were ridiculed only to later become stars !!we at times need to be patient and reading dogs isd not a,lways so easy !! It is very very  easy to misconstrue what a dog brings to the table ..
          Now the last paragraph is an illustration whereby the latent expression of the genes can be nurtured and, shaped , and brought about ,  as opposed to dogs that have such magnitude and the instinctive , natural bent to express that genetic make-up right from the start. english - the ability top exchange viewpoints / exact ideas and converstation therefore get muddied , confusing , anatgonistic as we try to reconcile the difference amoung dogs with different genetic degrees & expressions of certain genetic behavioral traits. IMO .. this causes much confustion in converstations about notions of  'bringing out potential' . good training etc. etc.   this is also the same scenario amoung youngsters as students .. some are off right  from the strating gate they take off  .. others take off midway down the stretch in life , sort to speak !! IMO training and understanding is as much an ART as it is a SCIENCE .  
   CHAZ - has an excellent example [ super  analogy chaz!].. all the building blocks are there .. now it is a matter not just if they are put together but also how they are used together , and .. when they are used together to get that house built .

I have seen dogs that have excellant drive as puppies but their owners did not continue to work with them. As a one year old they could care less about the ball or food. A dogs drive is a diminishing trait in puppies. If you do not work the dog to reinforce the trait many dogs loose it or it becomes so diminished a trainer is unable to use it to manipulate the dog.

I agree completely with myret. I also think the term drive is very subjective, I have seen a lot of people that talk about how over the top their dogs drive is and to me it has little or none. I am a firm believer though in certain personalities in people work much better with certain kinds of dogs.  I have seen plenty of dogs that were bought when they were a little older and the originial owner thought they had no drive and never would, the truth of the matter was they didn't know how to read that particular dog and provide the environment needed for the dogs drives to show.

Dogs can build drive just like you can build strength through lifting weights, or raise your IQ thruogh math and solving puzzles. 

But  you must have the drive to want to get off the couch or out of in front of the computer like the one I am on now.