Hunt drive - Page 4

Some one actually said it! The GSD works for the handler, at least it should! Gimmicks should not replace the bond that is supposed to be between dog and it's human. Jmo

Maybe the dog should work for the handler but many dogs prove that If no reward is given the drive for the praise or reward gets less and less Sorry Why reward behavior in training If dogs should only work for their handler I rarely see it :-)

 many dogs prove that If no reward is given the drive for the praise or reward gets less and less 

ah...just change dogs to handlers....it's not the dogs fault the handler has forgotten how to praise the dog...which is the reward...... 

So many of the German Shepherds that I see on these cop shows and on the news have true hunt drive, and THEYLOVE IT.These dogs are serious dogs. And believe me, I am not saying that is a bad thing. It is obvious these dogs love the job they are doing, and are rather pleased with themselves when they get the job done. The "praise" they receive from the officers is very much their reward after they have caught their suspects. It is obviously displayed by the dog. I have a great deal of respect for those dogs, and their trainer. The dogs are not waiting around for any snack or sleeve reward. Praise from their partner is what they want.

Gustav has posted and posed some interesting questions recently which have received interesting comments, mainly from the USA.

One thing that strikes me on following these posts is that we discuss the deficiencies in the breed but put much blame on the breeders, not totally unjustified.  However, I think that much improvement in our dogs can be made by examining how we keep and live with our dogs.  What should we do and, could we do to better to improve the end product?   Mostly, we tend to do things out of habit, our habit, which is not always the best way to bring on a dog to fit it’s intended purpose.   The result then becomes “it is all the dogs fault” and, they are discarded for their failures.   How many dogs do we keep?   Many breeders keep too many with the result that so many dogs do not get the attention that they need and deserve.  Result - deficiencies and so the cycle goes on.

Time is the big enemy.  We have other matters to attend to, quite rightly so with work and family commitments.  So, how much quality time are we giving to the dogs themselves?  Do we have them around us most of the time, or, are they kennelled and only come out for training sessions and shows?

Sport like any completion is driving the dogs to achieve levels way above the needs of a normal working dog.  We have only to read the posts here to realise that the emphasis is on aggression.   I often ask myself “just how good are these dogs on the other disciplines”?   There is not a dog alive who will be perfect in everything.

There are so many questions around this aspect of keeping our dogs, too many to raise here.   We can, however, examine the questions ourselves and, with some changes, develop our dogs characters and traits to much higher levels than we see now.  We develop our children to achieve and become what they will and so why should we expect our dogs to automatically have their working traits and strength of character almost from day one.

I just find this aspect of dogs interesting enough to make us look more at ourselves and, if necessary, make the changes.

Mackenzie 

judron

maybe youre right

KitKat,

 I would say finding the suspect is the reward, praise from the handler is a secondary motivator.

I think good start would be to give definition of a Hunt drive and prey drive. Othervise this thread will be all overe the palce as it is now since everybody has different impression and understanding of what hunt drive is. 
 Prey drive, hunt drive  and I throw at you another one; hunting ability.  Defintions above from  Armin Winkler are related to protection training, but this thread is more about tracking or more general in understanding this drive. 
 
Hans

Felloffher, I would have to agree, them dogs just look to be enjoying themselves immensly, from the start of the chase, all the way through to the end. I like that, Total opposite of some of these traing threads I have read, here where trainers talking about teaching tracking speak of with holding food for 2 to 3 days to "build that drive" to hunt (I meant track) the article. To me, that don't seem to be a fun sport for the dog. That I guess is the difference in dogs that have natural drives, and those that are taught.

Of the three working males I have now, one has extraordinary hunt drive. Ishwar vom Eisenherz He will search and search for an item and will not quit. All of my dogs have a lot of prey drive, but Ishwar has a tenacity that is not relared to my having to motivate him. Mahan and Raja will not quit if I have asked them to search or if they want the item but ISHWAR have to force Ishwar to stop and rhen he is unhappy. My late Commander once had to be inside for 16 hours (I had a big case) and when my neighbor who had just moved in, came and told me her German Shepherd wa missing in the pacific nw, I told Commander to find Maya (her name he had heard only once) he forgot about having to pee, sniffed the ground and found her locked iside somone elses garage! He had no formal training and yet his drive to look until he found was unmistakable. Caleb had the identical character as Commander and looks like I struck gold twice- Breeders today often do not pay attention to character like courage, intellect, tenacity, and hunt.