GSD (Is there such a thing as too much Drive ?) - Page 3

Hi, Bundishep,

What do you do with your dogs?

Kevin

Search,find,track,sport,protect, bitework,hunt,agility,water cliff jumping,my interest are many with dogs, I am not a officer with a dog on the street and have never used for herding but herding sounds interesting, might try it one day. Too me its amazing the versitility of the breed.Always has been my fav breed by far, I like a few others also.

Thanks, Bundishep,

I spend a few weeks every year in Twin.  We train daily while there doing our own helper work and enjoying the awesome tracking fields.  But not much in the way of formalized activity or those able to reciprocate especially protection; just curious on how you got along in the various "activities" you describe.

Best,

Kevin

Bundishep,

I have seen several German Shepherds used for herding. They actually did very well and did not try to eat or kill the live stock. They do not have the strong "eye" like the Border Collies do though. The Kirschental lines were used for herding alot..

I personally do not like the dogs with the over the top prey drive... I like my dogs with a tad more defense in them. My female, the one in my avitar, is mostly Czech with some WG working lines. She is about 60/40 defense/prey... which is how I like my dogs. She will switch from prey to defense and vice versa easily.... and still maintains full calm grips.  She has a very nice "on" and "off" switch. I would take another one with her drives in a heart beat.

My 17 month old male, that I originally purchased as a pup to do IPO with, on the other hand is high prey. I am sure he would have some defense, but I can not do IPO with him as he can not physically do it due to lameness issues. Since he is not doing any bitework I will not be tapping into the defense drives with him. He has alot of prey drive and does tend to leak it alot. Which is very typical of his lines. I knew this when I got him.  He however still has an "on and "off" switch and is very clear headed. I am doing some fun obedience and tracking with him. His high prey drive and willingness to work is what makes training him in OB and tracking so easy.

As for having to much prey drive. The only time I would say to much prey drive would be an issue is when the dog goes over the top and it at that point not clear headed anymore. Then "YES" the dog has to much prey drive at that point. This is my opinion..

The problem is not so much too much drive, but lack of focus to control it.  When Damain was young, I had to do a lot of focussing exercises broken up with bursts of ring chasing to release the tension.  He's a joy to work with now.  I found it worked well since overdriven dogs go up in drive with correction and the "lets do this instead" worked better than "don't do that"

Margaret N-J

Kevin get ahold of me if your needing extra helper work when passing in my area,as far as sport goes I,m not in a prime mecca for it,for other things its great for it,very nice areas to track in as you said. sage brush and farmland,forest close by.

@ JYL very good thoughts I know where your comming from and high prey drive not for everyone and if they cant be controled or have a clear head as  you say forget about it and I suspect I as get older they may not be my idea dog unless i,m wanting to keep in tip top shape trying to keep up with them,sorry to hear about your male and his lameness issues and yes that bloodline you mentioned I heard very good for herding, I do not have any current livestock and I know it would be hard to compete with some of these border collies they seem like the perfect breed for it.

I like balanced dogs but dont see many, some say that over the top prey is good for sport and points but I disagree there also, good balanced dogs have less issues with out on command, better guarding, easyer barking etc

here is one I am training now, I like this balance, he can be a sportdog, a familydog and a streetdog all the same, unfortunately dont find this much in sport bred dogs 

Duke, looks like you stole my dog!.....nice dog!  Your wasting your time with most sport people, they believe there is nothing wrong with the deficits provided by the imbalance just as the other crowd does....smh!

is there such a thing as too much drive? yes. Too much defense drive is a real problem. Too much of any drive for an inexperienced trainer is a real problem. Too much [prey] drive in the breed [ as a whole] is not a problem. thank you Duke for your time. You are not wasting it! people love to learn.