Drive vs dominance - Page 1

I got this nice 9 mo sable female from the shelter (to try and give her a chance and she desperatly needed socialization) who loves to chase other breathing beings (not humans) and needs to be reminded constantly where her position is from the other dog. But she has no desire to play ball or chase anything I throw for her. She is super smart and picks things up quickly (other than chase the ball) so for now I use treats as her reward. Ive often wondered if her trying to be queen  (I had another bitch like her) bee gets in the way of just being a worker bee.

I usually dont put alot of time in a dog that doesnt have ball drive because it seems your walking uphill in the mud, but I like this gal and think she has potential to be more than a pet. I may be wrong so suggestions are welcome. And is this why females are usually the last ones to go (I prefer males)

Sounds like what you've described is not dominant behavior, but a form of prey drive.  A dog doesn't necessarily have to perceive a toy as a prey object to have useful prey drive.  If she categorizes other animals as prey, she might make a nice herding & tending prospect.

She has dog aggression issues which when I reread my post I didnt state. Sorry about that. She trys just about every chance she can to go after the other dog I have who wont pick a fight but holds his own. Herding has crossed my mind but where I live (in the desert) is hard to come by to try out.

Bhaugh, I actually just had a really successful encounter w/a "DA" dog. I don't believe he is so much DA as nervous and figures the best defense is a good offense. I made major progress in only a few days and the owners are ecstatic. He's doing great at home and even the neighborhood dogs have stopped barking at him because they no longer get a reaction. 

So, like Daryl said, there may be hope in that department, and I wouldn't discount the dog because of dog aggression. 

Bhaugh....I don't know if this will help..but...I had just recently moved and the new house came with a dog..previous owners stated that she can just be taken to a shelter because she is untrainable....this is a Ridgeback/Boxer mix 5 year old female.named Frankie...i moved in this weekend and low and behold...my 11 month old bailey and Frankie do not get along..Bailey and Frankie both have dog aggression issues and once Frankie stares Bailey down or vs. versa - its on...my other two don't give a cr@p and ignore both of them until a fight breaks out and than peace keeper Misty jump in and tries to dominate them all.....so after trowing ball and tiring Bailey out, I had to take Frankie for a run she has NO BALL drive i put them on one 5 foot leash tied to each other....they stayed like that for 4 hours on a saturday..and guess what not one fight broke out...i know it did not completely solved/eliminated the problem but  its a start...they no longer stare each other down, few growls and outbreaks happened on Sunday morning so they were back on the leash for 3 hours...by noon i took leash off and rest of the Sunday was quiet and uneventful...it also forced Frankie instead of staying separate from 3 of my dogs to be close to them and hopefully within a few days she will be a part of the group and once her basic training is complete (I got a relatively short list of what they (owners) would like her to not to do) she will be picked up by them and hopefully will remain with them for the rest of her life...here are few images....

If she'll chase other animals but not a ball, this probably is not a lack of prey drive at all.  My experience with many of the shelter dogs with whom I've worked is that they simply don't know what toys are.