mixed drives - Page 1

Has anyone had a pup that had mixed drives. I state mixed drives as when we are working prey and tug work she will go into defense as well. she will stay in prey for a bit but then defense comes out. There is no threatening situation for her, it is just tug work.

At this point I am thinking of taking the tug work away and just do all ball work.

Input please

Can you give us more examples... Sounds like when she gets fustrated she becomes angry.  It may be more frustration rather than defense.

She will chase the tug and do her little yippy prey bark for one quick session,then she will get the tug and play for a bit. The very next session she will yipp ( prey bark ) then instantly go to defense bark and lipps curled with teeth showing...  it is like someone flipping the light switch on/off fast as they can.

Seeing this in her doing this in training really shows me she her behavior towards people. One minute she is ok with people then the next minute she wants nothing from them.  The light switch again in this situation ( like ya/don't like ya).

Hope this helps a little to get more input on this.....

How old is your female?  Is this a recent development?  Reason I ask is I thought it might be raging hormones. 

she is 5 months old.

Sounds a bit crazy.

Are you doing the rag work or is someone else?

Sometimes it is too hard to evaluate over a computor.  I just find it odd that if there is absolutely no pressure being put on the dog and you are working her in prey, that she would have that type of defensive reaction.  Sounds like the dogs stimuli and thresholds are a bit out of whack.  How are her nerves?  Is she fine with loud noises, change of footing, new places, etc.

The problem with asking these type of questions on a computor, is that we cannot see what is going on.  You say that it is just tugwork, but to be honest with you, I can put all the pressure in the world on a dog.  You say that you are going to switch to a ball.  This should not matter in the least.  Whether you have a tug, ball, frisbee, rag, etc., the drive should not be dictated by the object.  I can take a tug and put a dog in defense and prey just by changing my posture and movement (body language) and the movement and placement of the tug.  

If you are running away from the dog and the dog is chasing you, this is prey.  If you turn, stop, face the dog head on and make yourself as big as you can, this will immediately change his drive. 

Anyways, I could go on but this sounds crazy.  Either the dog is as you explained or there is something going on  that cannot be seen through words.