Drives. - Page 2

Sue, excellent article (the one by Dean). Thank you for posting the link!

Yeah I guess I do use some terms. If I'm trying to teach someone the way I do it then I will use what I feel is the best terminology to make that individual person understand as well as possible. So i might say a dog is avoiding but I don't like that term either because it usually is associated with negativity. 

Hi,

You will get all the so called experts chipping in, but basically there are only 3 Prey,Defense and Social.

Wow, we go from 43 drives to 3 drives.  Very interesting.  Can we neatly package every drive or behavior into Prey, Defense and Social?  IMO, I think that may be too basic.  Alphapup, I do agree with your post.  Except, I do use the word "drive" often as it is something that most can understand and relate too when talking about a dog's behavior.  The most I have seen listed is 16 and I feel many of those overlap.

JMO FWIW,

Jim

Slamdunc .. glad to see you are on the same wavelength as I am .. A consideration : ? is there training without explaining ??  I have found .. the people i work with no matter what  discipline , tracking/ obedience/ protection work .. when I comment .. the dog is ,  e.g  stalking BECAUSE it thinks / feels / is motivated / intends to _ they know exactly / precise what i mean , and they know exactly how and why the dog is exhibiting a behavior.[ from there i can tell them exactly how to handle the dog] ...  it is simplistic enough to understand ,it   attacks because ... means an attack ,   a chase because .. is a chase , a flee is a flee, avoiding is avoiding. showing deference is deference. guarding is guarding ... etc. ad nausium ........ more precise wordng .. more precise understanding.. wha does the word 'drive have to offer in this light ??

HARD WIRED/ inherited :
Instincts and  reflex   are very primitive patterns and are present in all vertebrae animals as it is proved with (ESB) electric stimulation of  brain of even none predatory animals like horses  and cows.Instinct hard wired fixed pattern. The simplest form is the reflex. Fixed action patterns examples: Chasing instinct, prey bite instinct, prey kill shake instinct, .... These are triggered by stimulus or releases like motion. They are always the same in all animals .It is most apparent in fighting, hunting and sexual activity. in order to survive.
Drives are urges  like urge to satisfy hunger, thirst, air, sex, safety in order to survive...They are also hard wired or build in and  which make animal to seek release with help of instinct. These vary in intensity based on individual within species and in different species.
For example ; In nature animal needs to be hungry which triggers above drives.

 I guess we can say that instinct is a tool  used by a drive.

LEARNED  behaviors, or drives:
Every thing else is learned. Wolf has to learn what to hunt and how much.  Same as dog in pp prey drive development  training is learning to bite a towel, burlap, sleeve, body suite, person, none moving prey (decoy/helper).  And what not to hunt,...like children or moving tires.
This must be taught from puppy hood as soon as the instincts and drives  are there to facilitate such training/ learning experience. Bite this and not that. If the pup is not developed to facilitate these drives in timely fashion they will loose them or permanently diminish them. That is often reason why dogs have no or diminished  prey drive in later age. 
 Also if they are not trained to restrain them (hunting children, chasing tires) they may have behavioral problems later in life which will be hard to correct.
 Prey drive feels good by release of  "feel good" hormones. The dog learns that and through repetition get's conditioned into being "addicted" to these "happy hormones" . That is why dogs enjoy bite work based on prey or chasing tires. 
FYI.
 There is no "ball" drive same as ther eis no chicken drive or tire chasing drive. These bahaviors are caused by a prey drive. 
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com 

I only thought there was 3 drives : front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and 4 wheel drive. lol

Pager  -- true what you posted [ a nice post at that too] ... many of the Motivations come from innnate genetic predispositions. and they do fall into a generalized category of predatory and defense behaviors... CORRECT  behaviors can be taught / learned and other behaviors can be shaped / affected /channeled. [ e.g not to chase rabbits ]. But another thought .. a grey area .... for a dog to indicate someone has cancer by nuddging their cancer site  THIS is not hardwired and it cannot be taught. !!  one has to have cancer / train the dog to scent it and then indicate ... many a companion dog has done that task without neither and saved a lfe. that ffgoes beyond classical learning and operant conditioning learning .. and how many other animals whether gentically selectively bred [ like our dogs]  or wild have ever done this for mankind ??  As for me .. this is something still fascinating ... no prey / no fefense.. ....... HHHHHHHMMM would i call it simple --  LOVE ?? [ i am still in contemplation ]

Without doubt the best article on the subject I've seen.  Lots of people don't like it because she calls it like it is about weak nerves. But I think you will find it very interesting. I did.

http://vanerp.net/ilse/GSDINFO/Elements%20of%20Temperament.htm