drive vs energy - Page 2

High energy is best when dog in focused on valued job,Retrieve,Bitework,find drugs,bomb,bad guys or missing or dead people,herding,hunting,and top sport.So the best dogs have both energy and drive,that said many times high energy dogs do not make for the best for handicap persons.

Could high energy be more of a symptom but there can be several reasons

for example a dog with drive will show high energy towards whatever the work or job is at hand rather it be bite work, sport, detection, tug, etc

a nervy dog may exhibit high energy by chasing tail, pacing, etc

An overly excited dog may exhibit some of the same traits as a nervy dog: chasing tail, pacing, excessive barking

A dog that lacks obediance or control may exhibit some of the same traits as a nervy dog and an overly excited dog.

So in conclusion a dog showing high energy may show this for various reasons, but as was previously stated in other post may not be because of drive.

Drive is the phsysical energey and focus put into doing a task and has nothing to with a dog that just has energy all the time that cannot seem to settle. Most time a dog that is a pacer like that and no attention span has very poor work drive and or control over their energy, most of them are weak nerved as well. A dog can be very laid back and have awesome work drive.

Some of the high-energy traits being described can also be a result of a dog who is understimulated (bored!) and not given a chance to burn off excess energy and not given a way to channel drive. An awful lot of dogs who are high energy are not given sufficient exercise.

But imagine two dogs in a large yard where very little is going on nearby. One dog explores the yard for 15 minutes and then settles in a spot where she can see everything going on. Another dog spends 15 minutes exploring the yard, finds a jolly ball and spends 20 minutes playing with it, then begins patrolling the fence, eventually settling into a pattern of patrolling one line repetitively.

The dog who settles into sleep may actually have higher drives than the other dog--but that dog is comfortable doing nothing. The other dog can't settle.

The problem I see is people who have dogs they think are "high drive" but really what they have going crazy on the end of their leash is a high energy dog who hasn't had enough to do, insufficient exercise and insufficient mental stimulation.

My Police Dog was the type that was calm while not working (in the house).  If you saw him in the house, you'd never know he was a police dog, nor had the drives he had.  He had an on and off switch that either I or he controlled.  I think this is what made him the ideal Police Dog and the ideal German Shepherd.

My female is very calm in the house, but if you whisper the word walk or bring out a tug or ball, she begins to bounce off the walls.

Her recall is 100 mph, and she does a perfect sliding stop into me, like a reining horse. 

She to me is high energy and high drive, but thankfully, only when called upon.  The rest of the time she is quiet as a mouse.