Question about Drives/Nerves - Page 1

Okay- I posted this on the GSD topic list as well.......

Okay, I hope I can communicate this correctly. If a dog has crazy drive, & is corrected, & responds to the correction but comes up the leash at you---& another dog , who also has crazy drive, is corrected & does not respond consistantly to the correction, but never comes back up the leash at you: does that indicate bad nerves or clear headedness in which dog---? ***given that the corrections are the same, situation the same, etc., just asking a hypothetical. In other words--does coming up the leash = bad nerves, or excessive drive? OR - does sometimes acknowledging the correction, but not coming up the leash = clear head, or excessive drive? (or just stupid handler? LOL) Seriously though, trying to learn! I'm not sure I can communicate the whole thought so that you all can see what I'm trying to understand--! jackie harris

I would think the dog who does not respond consistently is not clear in the head, just guessing.
I don't know about nerve.
I also think a dog coming up the leash at you is just a bit more intense and maybe defiant, I wouldn't tolerate it myself.
I can only speculate because I don't have a HIGH drive dog.   Medium at best.   Well, driven but with manners and obedient.
So....coming up the leash is more drive and nerve, and only sometimes acknowledging the correction is not a clear head , don't know about the drive or nerve.

In my opinion:

Most times that i,ve seen dogs come up the leash they were giving lots of body language that things were going to get bad quickly so ya for that i,d say handler error.

I wore the correction with the pinch out on my Axel so even a major correction on the pinch is un effective that was stupid handler(me) and no help from wiser club members, He is very driven I wish i knew then what I know now...

I guess i don,t feel it has any thing to do with bad nerves or clear headness  but more of proper foundation work and proper correction usage and being fair with corrections and reading the dog

Bob,
You said that very well....
I agree.
Moons.

Both are fairly high drive....one would go right through you to get what they're focused on, the other is very aware of the handler & careful not to interfere with the handler.....neither  wants to 'aus'...that's what we're working on. One will take dirty bites on the tug or the handler, just doesn't seem to realize where the bite's landing; the other would not, very careful to bite only the designated object....but still doesn't want to 'aus'.  Also, the less discriminating dog has an awesome retreive, but will take a bite on the dumbell, as well, doesn't want to let go off that....the other is not so good at the retreive, inconsistant....is that associated with drive as well? jh

I am very novice, trying to learn. I asked the SV judge at Shelley's seminar if the dog was too much dog for me, he said "No, you're not enough for the dog!" But I need to keep going with this dog....back to OB? jh

Kalibeck:
 
 It,s tuff to give you any answers deffinitlvly there are so many varibles what techniques you are using to teach these obedience routines how you correct or what by your standards are a "hard correction" this sort of info all has bearing on the answers to your questions how old are your dogs and don,t you have a trainng director trainng with you?  

Bob-I sent you a PM- Thanks! jh

Kalibeck,

From what little you've described this doesn't sound at all like a "good nerves vs. bad nerves" issue.  Coming up the leash at the handler, dirty biting, etc is not really related to nerves.  A dog with crap nerves might never come up the line, or a dog with solid nerves might always, or neither.  Some dogs tolerate corrections, fair or unfair, whereas another might always be testing the handler regardless.

I really like the comment that the SV judge made about the dog.  Better to have too much dog and be forced to step up your own game than to be stuck with a dud!

Do you have a club or an experienced trainer you can work with?  High drive dogs are so much fun to work with but they can be overwhelming to a novice.  I hope that you can find someone to help you.  There's very little, unfortunately, that anyone can do "over the Internet".

Yvette

Thanks Yvette, we have a lot of fun, I want to make sure I do right by my dogs! And thanks for the perspective on the judges' comment, I was a little bummed at first...he did really like my dog, tho'!      jackie harris