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Drive is an
exaggerated instinctual response to certain stimuli and situations, often breed
specific. Drives vs. Instincts: Certain instincts are common to all canines (wolf and dog specifically). These include a wide range of response behaviors such as licking, chewing, vocalizing, digging, mounting, leg-lifting and scratching. Instincts most often have their roots in survival or reproduction. Drives have their beginnings as instincts, but are more developed and usually more breed specific (ie. retrieving drive in hunters, herding drive in sheepdogs, fight drive in guarding breeds). Most drives, unlike instincts, can be built or heightened if they are present. Conversely, they can also be suppressed and often even extinguished, unlike instincts. Thus it is usually easier to get a dog to stop retrieving or herding than it is to stop him licking, scratching or digging. A simple way of understanding the difference between the two is that the dog’s drive determines the degree to which he exhibits instinctive behavior. So while it is instinctive for a dg to salivate and eat, food drive determines how often, how eagerly and how intensely he peruses food. To chase a running cat ins instinctive, but how persistently depends on prey drive. To chase a ball relies on certain hunting instincts, but to pick the ball up and continually return to you with it shows developed retrieving drive. For a dog to amuse himself with the ball demands play drive. It may be instinctive for a dog to startle or bark at a stranger in its territory, but the dog’s fight drive controls his behavior and his persistence in any conflict. The degree to which any dog exhibits his drives depends on other factors in his temperament. In Search and Rescue training, we work with four of the five drives basic drives: Food drive – a dog’s desire to persist in getting food, not always related to hunger or the biological need for food. Pack drive – a dog’s desire to work with the handler and be a member of the team. Play drive – a dog’s obsession with objects and his desire to entertain himself actively. Prey drive – a dog’s intensity in chasing anything moving (primarily away), including catching, biting and carrying it. And the Fight drive – a dogs desire to initiate and persist in confrontation, both physical and mental. You must be aware of this drive and know how to stop and prevent confrontations. Training in Drive has two requirements:
Definitions courtesy of: Training in Drive, By Gottfried Dildei & Sheila Booth Podium Publications 1992
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Cross Roads Search and Rescue of
Illinois, Inc. |