The Terminology of Canine Behavior and Training
Jim Engel Revised Feb 2006
INTRODUCTION
Some of the ancient Greeks explained the world in terms of the "four elements " of earth, water, fire and air. This was more or less made up “science” in that it represented very little real knowledge of chemistry, physics and biology as we know them today. As time went on, men such as Newton and Einstein moved us forward to whole new levels of understanding. But the tentative speculations of the Greeks and other ancient people was not in vain, for it was from these beginnings that our current knowledge evolved.
On a theoretical or abstract level our understanding of human and animal behavior and cognitive functioning is still relatively primitive. We have very little real idea of how the brain actually functions and our understanding of the forces shaping human or canine emotion and social behavior is primitive. In reality, the “science” of psychology is at about the same level as the Greek understanding of chemistry and physics in that it consists mostly of esoteric words to impress the layman which in reality often mean much less than might be assumed.
Where the Greeks talked of earth, wind and fire dog trainers talk of abstract drives and instincts such as prey drive, defensive instinct and fighting drive, as well as other attributes such as trainability, hardness and sharpness. While these words serve the ordinary purposes of education and discussion, they are surprisingly hard to define and explain precisely in a manner devoid of subtle contradiction.
Dog training is even today much more art than exact science, and has evolved an elaborate terminology used as often to paper over mystery and confusion as to express concrete knowledge. But unless one chooses to start over at the beginning and attempt to rediscover the knowledge developed over the many thousands of years of domestication it is necessary to deal with the terminology in order to benefit from the accumulated knowledge.
Serious working dog training discussions, for trial systems such as Schutzhund or the Dutch Police trials, features terms such as “prey drive” and “defensive instinct” which are casually bandied about; used to explain every observation and to substantiate every point of view. The novice quickly picks up on this and, equipped with a few buzz words, may soon come to think he is ready to enter the discussion on an equal footing with the experienced trainers. This often has the effect of inhibiting further progress in understanding and in training, as a litany of buzz words takes the place of real knowledge, gained through work and experience.
What, exactly, are prey drive and the defensive instinct or drive ? The answer, disconcerting as it may be, is the same as the one Alice heard from the Queen of Hearts when she entered wonderland through the rabbit hole. These words, and most of the terminology of dog training and behavior, mean exactly what the speaker thinks they mean at that moment, which may certainly vary from person to person as well as from moment to moment in the same discussion. Nevertheless, an appreciation of the commonly used terminology, imperfect as it must be, is a necessary prerequisite to learning about dog behavior and training.
Feeble as our theoretical knowledge of brain function and behavior might be, on a practical level the common man, until the advent of the automobile and tractor a hundred years ago, had to have a working knowledge of animal training and use in order to earn his living and support his family. The stockman, herdsman and farmer, in a world where most men were one or the other, needed to be competent to breed, select and train his animal partners. Until a brief century ago our very existence was totally dependant on this practical capability for animal husbandry, this ability to work the horse, oxen and dog. Thus in a sense those of us struggling to sharpen our dog training skills are simply trying to recover the day by day knowledge of our great grandfathers. While our “book knowledge” of animal breeding and training may be in many ways have been primitive, practical knowledge was immense, was in fact the legacy of the advent of agriculture some five thousand years ago.
The purpose of this circuitous approach to our main topic of the terminology of canine behavior and training is to put our present state of knowledge in historical context. Would be scientists and medical experts have always had a strong tendency to create elaborate terminology as a cover for the fact that they are in fundamental ways as confused and uncertain as the rest of us. By adapting a mildly condescending attitude to the layman and parading the esoteric vocabulary they are often given credit for much more real understanding than they actually have, which is exactly the point. In a similar way, the arm chair canine experts, equipped with an array of buzz words can create the image of knowledge far beyond their real ability to deal with actual dogs. The Bouvier world in particular has a set of pretend training experts who prattle on with the esoteric terminology and have hundreds of anecdotal tales designed to impress the novice, but who can never actually walk on the trial field and take a dog to a senior title.
We do know that a human being, and a dog, is born with genetically predetermined behavioral propensities, produced by the evolutionary process to make the actions and reactions necessary for survival a natural behavior pattern. The fact is that these instincts or drives evolved over millions of years of hunter/gatherer existence and may present training opportunities as well as cause problems in our modern industrial and agricultural society. The inborn potential for aggressive behavior, in most creatures, and especially pronounced in men and dogs, is a fundamental fact of our lives.
In order to master dog training, it is fundamental to understand these drives and instincts as well as possible, for the training process consists primarily of harnessing them so as to create the desired response and behavior.
In the beginning it may seem that comparing the canine and the human is a stretch, that the human, with his technical knowledge, ability to speak and read and write, is an entirely different kind of creature than the dog. But the commonality is also compelling. Both the human being and the wolf evolved in small, cooperating social groups to live by hunting and scavenging, often among predators much larger and more powerful than themselves, such as the big cats. The social dynamics of the wolf pack and the primitive hunger/gather human band have much in common, which is why the human was so easily able to integrate wolves into his social structure and create the dog. We are able to train our dogs because they have evolved within our social structures for at least ten thousand years, and perhaps much longer.
Our knowledge of the psychology of dogs is as or more primitive than that of human beings. Over the past ten to thirty thousand years, perhaps more, men have domesticated wolves and by breeding selection created specific working types useful primarily in hunting, herding and for protection. Throughout history the farmer and herdsman may have known and used very few esoteric words, but he could raise and train his horses and dogs to serve his purposes. But over the past hundred years, the industrial and agricultural revolutions have separated most men from animal breeding and training. Horse and dog training have become hobbies or professions for a small minority rather than the skills necessary for most men in their every day lives.
Thus Canine Psychology as a body of abstract knowledge is in the same primitive state as human psychology. There are people such as the Coppingers doing some interesting things and making potentially useful speculations. But there are a whole lot more adapting the psycho babble for the same reason the psychology "pseudo experts" do, as a cover for the fact that they can bring very little to the party beyond the heuristic knowledge and skill of the common man.
Thus, forewarned that it is inexact and sometimes contradictory, let us discuss the terminology of dog training.
THE TERMINOLOGY OF CANINE BEHAVIOR AND TRAINING
In nature there is a powerful inborn desire to hold and protect territory and the pack social structure and strong hunting instincts in order to provide the food necessary for sustenance as well as other natural behaviors which have come to be referred to as instincts or drives. Dog training is largely a matter of understanding, often more on a heuristic or practical level than theoretically, and harnessing these drives in order to produce canines with the desired trained behavior patterns and responses.
PREY DRIVE
Cat and mouse is an age old game with a serious purpose. The kitten is presented with an injured mouse to play with so as to bring forward it’s natural hunting or prey drive so that it too can grow up as an effective predator and thus secure the food it needs to survive and thus eventually reproduce and carry on the species.
Thus in all predatory animals the inborn instinct to chase, hunt and kill is fundamental, and it is common belief that herding originated as an adaptation of this instinct in the wolf to the service of man. When a dog bites and shakes an arm or a leg, it is natural to see this as a manifestation of this age old hunting or prey instinct, in which the shaking motion is intended to break the neck of the captured prey.
This drive also is built upon in protection work, for the merely defensive dog has no reason to chase after an adversary at a distance. In nature, it is almost always the natural response to break off the attack when the adversary gives up and leaves the disputed territory.
It seems quite natural to think of as the dog willing to go out into a strange area, away from his handler, and attack an adversary which is not a direct threat to the dog, the handler or the home territory, as driven by this primitive hunting or prey drive. And there is no doubt an element of truth in this. But, as we shall explore under the heading fighting drive, there has to be more than that. For the natural canine hunts to eat, and thus prefers the easy quarry, the old, the sick, the injured. When the prey, such as the Moose or other large animal, shows strength and the ability to defend the smart wolf backs off and seeks weaker prey, because it is better to go hungry rather than risk the injury that could easily end life, that is prevent the wolf from hunting. Prey drive seeks out the weak and the fearful, but will tend to quit against the quarry that shows strength because natural selection favors this propensity. Thus the effective police or patrol dog must have some extra dimension, beyond the natural hunting or prey drive, in order to reliably carry the distance attack to the foe willing to turn and fight.
DEFENSE INSTINCT OR DRIVE
When the cat puffs up and dances sideways, making himself appear as large as possible, when the cobra spreads his hood, when the rattle snake alerts, when the dog growls and postures, it is not out of desire for a fight or violence, but rather a strategy for self preservation, a tactic to make the opponent retreat, to avoid a fight where neither side really has anything to gain.
In nature fighting, as opposed to hunting for food, needs to be a last resort, is usually a no win situation and is usually to defend food as in a carcass in the face of a determined scavenger, sexual preference or territory.
In dog training this instinct to defend, referred to as the defensive drive, is a fundamental aspect of the canine physiological make up which needs to be called upon and used, but in a most careful and cautious manner. Old fashioned area protection dog training, that is, the proverbial junk yard dog, tended to rely almost totally on building up the fear of the dog in the face of intruders and in breaking down the inhibitions of aggression. Control, other than the ability of the handler to place, remove and care for the dog, was not a consideration. This primitive form of training is less and less useful in society today, where there is emphasis on control and restraint in non threatening situations, in developing discretion in the dog.
Defense drive is based in fear. Fear is a powerful and necessary response to what is perceived as a serious threat. In men, dogs and most other advanced creatures there are powerful physiological reactions, including the release of adrenalin into the blood stream. In this state, created by nature for literal fight to the death or flight for survival, creatures are capable of physical and mental feats they are otherwise beyond their potential. There are risks and costs to this process, which is why in nature it is reserved for the emergency.
The old fashioned junk yard dog training, where the dog is taught that every human being except a few handlers are the enemy, to be feared, to be attacked preemptively at every opportunity. Just as this style of dog has been made obsolete by the liability, cost and the emergence of video and electronic surveillance, this mode of training, based in fear and unthinking, preemptive attack response, is also obsolete, along with the pillow suit.
In protection dog training, creating a situation that will bring forth a defensive reaction in response to purposefully created fear is a double edged sword. It can make a dog bite, and bite hard with great determination. But the extreme manifestations of fear reaction are reserved by nature for the emergency, and the routine inducement of pure fear for a desired response in training, in a trial or on the street is difficult to produce, stressful for the dog, the handler and the helper and fundamentally unpredictable.
Fear can also make the dog run, and once the dog runs this may become the natural response, easier each time it occurs.
The defensive instinct is in play at some level, and necessary, in all protection work; but it needs to be used minimally and with restraint, in an ancillary and supporting role rather than as the primary motivational force. In society today, it seems reasonable that those dogs who can only show aggression in response to purely defensive instincts should not be trained at all, and furthermore that for the primarily protective breeds such individuals should not be bred.
PLAY DRIVE
Prey drive is often treated as if it were identical to ball or chase drive, but this is much too simplistic a view. Many sport competition dogs will respond endlessly to the thrown ball, kong or Frisbee, and many trainers use this as a reward and enthusiasm building mechanism. On the other hand, my first Bouvier and had very little ball or chase drive, and in fact would, on the second or third throw, take the object off into the bushes and bury it.
The words play and prey describe slightly different focus points on the canine temperament and response, and it is in general very difficult to define the difference in an unambiguous way. But there is a difference and the individual dog, including dogs with great practical potential, will show great variation with some excellent dogs exhibiting strong propensity to chase balls and kongs, but other dogs, perhaps of even greater real potential for real protection work, will show little or no interest. There are many trainers who will proclaim a young dog a bad candidate because he does not react in an expected way, is not a replica of a previous dog. But often the failure here is in the simple minded, one track trainer rather than the young dog, and often a good dog is wasted because a trainer is limited in scope, unable to deal with the diversity of our working canine gene pool.
Many of our very best dogs exhibit very little ball or object drive, yet will pursue a human advisory at an extreme distance from the handler, gaining power and speed with every step. This is clearly not a response to fear or the need to defend, and is not an extension of an object associated play drive. Clearly, something more fundamental, and in a sense unnatural to the wolf, is in play here.
Just giving it a label, calling it prey drive or fighting drive as we shall discuss in a moment, does not really bring understanding in and of itself.
FIGHTING DRIVE
I have always found the common practice of explaining protection instincts and behavior in a two dimensional world of prey and defense overly simplistic. To me there has always been much more to the protective functionality of modern service dogs than a simple extension of the instincts to hunt or protect territory. In the primitive natural state, the wolf had no real reason to go into unknown territory and attack another creature presenting no threat to his vital interests of territory, food or the pack social structure. But the man made protection or police service dog must, when the situation arises, go into new territory to pursue and subdue a man at a great distance who is neither a direct threat to the dog or handler or associated with the need for food. Clearly something else is in play.
I find the term “fighting drive” as the most useful and descriptive term for this propensity to pursue and fight at a distance. My inclination is to see this fighting drive as the addition of mankind, as a necessary extension of those drives present in nature created for the motivation of the good protection dog.
Why do men engage in violent sport ? Today, of course, there is money to be made, but was not the purpose in the beginning. Men will engage in boxing, football or soccer as controlled outlets for aggression. Since society has always endorsed, glorified and supported this, it seems reasonable that a maintenance of a certain level of fighting drive has been necessary for survival.
I believe that this fighting drive exists in the dog, and that in selected lines it has been greatly enhanced through breeding selection. I further believe that while it may not be the drive the initial training is based on, it is the primary drive in most if not all top level protection dogs.
We need to be careful here. Much of this is speculation. We must not read too much in to human invented terms which can only approximate the complex process behind canine behavior and training. Our understanding is limited, and our words less than precise. It may be that "fighting drive" is in a way a more mature and focused manifestation of "defensive drive." Or it may be that these things are more separate.
One interesting avenue of speculation is that “fighting drive” may in reality consist of “prey drive” and/or “defense drive” empowered, combined and matured by confidence.
HARDNESS
The term hardness refers to the dog who is very strong in the pursuit and bite and, particularly, responds to overt aggression on the part of the adversary with even more aggression and drive. In a general sense the opposite of shyness in the protection work.
In some contexts this is referred to the dog insensitive to handler correction or even verging on the handler aggressive dog. Usually the dog very hard in fighting the helper is also less sensitive to physical correction, and if not brought along with care can become handler aggressive.
SHARPNESS
The sharp dog is the very intense dog, very quick to bite. This is strongly related to the defensive dog, that is, the high prey and / or play dogs are the opposite of sharp.
The sharp dog is often, but not always, a weak or fearful dog. Many sharp dogs are perceived my people in general as very desirable police or protection dogs, which very often is not the case at all.
THE SHARP / SHY DOG
The dog who is both fearful and tends to be sharp will be prone to make quick, perhaps unprovoked, lunging attacks, and then retreat ready for another strike. This dog is in general most undesirable and unless handled very carefully can be quite dangerous. Such dogs should not be trained or bred, and if the propensity is extreme it may be appropriate to put the dog down.
CONFIDENCE
The confident dog is the secure dog who will tend to react only to a clear provocation and will retain composure and demeanor under stress. Where the overly sharp dog will tend to the preemptive bite, which may be inappropriate, the confident dog will give a strong warning and hold his ground. The confident dog is relaxed among strangers because he is not inappropriately fearful. He may or may not be social, that is, may or may not want or accept touching or familiarity by strangers.
SOCIABILITY
The social dog is the dog who is at ease among strangers and in new and different places. He can be walked in a crowd of strangers on a loose lead. This is in general a desirable attribute in moderation. On the other hand most trainers will deal with a less social dog who is hard, strong and otherwise controllable.
Most trainers want a dog who will become suspicious and alert when there is a potential or overt threat. Suspicion and reserve can be thought of as the opposite of sociability, and the totally social dog will often not take his protection work seriously enough.
Sociability is perhaps the most desirable attribute in the passive family pet where the owners want a safe, easy to deal with dog and do not expect any protective functionality. Thus the highly social dog is the best dog in the vast majority of situations. But this level of sociability, to the point where a real threat does not alert the dog, is inappropriate for dogs of the protective heritage such as the Bouvier.
THE HANDLER AGGRESSIVE DOG
One of the fundamental issues of protection dog training is bringing forth the aggression against the appropriate foe while at the same time maintaining the leadership of the handler in restraint and control of the dog. Powerful, aggressive dogs are naturally those destined to rise to the top in the pack social structure, which means that it is the most natural thing in the world for them to seek to dominate the handler, to promote themselves to boss and be in control.
In addition, strong dogs will from time show a propensity to dominate the handler and to respond to a correction with an escalating correction. This must be dealt with in appropriate way so as to bring control to the relationship but leave the hardness and aggressiveness there for the protection exercises. Achieving this balance with a good dog is in fact the primary skill necessary for successful training.
Beyond the initial training, this can arise as an issue when a new handler is introduced, as for instance when a dog is sold. More than one handler has been severely injured when, upon taking over a previously trained dog, assuming that a bold and forceful manner will quickly bring the dog under control. A team is a partnership, and the partnership does not exist in the beginning, but must be built based on mutual confidence and respect rather than brute force. Ignoring this can produce a beaten down, ineffective dog or a dog who will, when the moment presents itself, dominate by attacking the handler.
My style of training is to seek to be the dog’s leader, but by a thin margin, that is, be able to direct his work and make the decision to out or restrain without diminishing the dog’s potential to be totally dominant over the decoy. One must lead, but the gap between the leader and the working dog must be narrow enough to allow the dog imitative and the ability to make the decision to respond.
THE PASSIVE / AGGRESSIVE DOG
The dog who is surely and only minimally compliant to command under duress, perhaps growling at a low level and subtly threatening the handler without going to the point of overt aggression, and who may lash out in an unpredictable way, is referred to as passive aggressive. Unless this attitude reflects fear and uncertainty which can evolve into confidence and cooperation through low key training, not always a good bet, such dogs in general make for frustration and disappointment in the training.
COMPETATIVENESS AND CONFIDENCE
The concept of fighting drive has been introduced as the character attribute necessary for a dog to do the distant pursuit necessary in police service, that is to go a long distance on a new field and attack a strange, aggressive helper with a stick. But coining a word does not in and of itself bring understanding.
We have speculated that the simple prey and defensive drives of the wolf are inadequate to explain the distant attack of which our service dogs must be capable. It seems to me that competitiveness and confidence has been emphasized and enhanced through breeding selection to create the fighting drive so fundamental to the modern service dog.
Competitiveness is a fundamental aspect of the canine character. The inborn drive to dominate in the struggle for food, to mate, that is, for sex, for the dominant role in the pack hierarchy were necessary attributes in the successful wolf and carry on in the work of the domesticated wolf, the dogs we work with today.
Confidence is clearly a necessity. To some extent confidence can be built up to it's potential, but the potential must be there.
Clearly, competitiveness is one element. But competitiveness for what ? There is no reason in nature for the dog to make that attack at that distance.
Clearly, the hunting or prey drive is the initial wellspring of the pleasure of the attack, and when the dog has the confidence in the pursuit the aggressiveness of the adversary will bring forth the defensive instinct which will bring the dog to engage effectively. When the helper strikes with the stick, it seems reasonable that the one on one competitiveness is part of what helps the dog persist.
And when the dog releases, he must stay focused on the helper. The good dog believes that he has won, and is challenging his adversary to continue the fight. This is, of course, is the picture that makes the judge want to give the dog every point that he can.
LEVELS OF AGGRESSION
There is an entire range of aggressive propensity in individual dogs of all of protective heritage breeds.
At one extreme is the very aggressive dog that is only truly safe in the hands of his trainer, who is 100% of the time aware of his surroundings so as to avoid the wrong situation. This dog is often a kennel kept dog. Such dogs can be high scoring and a valuable breeding resource, but could never be put in the hands of a casual owner without serious risk.
A much broader range of dogs are those whom the trainer can and often does keep as a house dog, with the dog serving as a companion as well as a competition dog. Such dogs can be placed in very carefully selected general homes. This is in general the dog I prefer for myself, and most trainers spend a good part of their lives looking for such a dog to own and train.
A broad middle range of dogs is truly multiple purpose, that is, probably capable of a title, possibly capable of realistic police service and a good fit for a large number of homes.
One more level down is a broad spectrum of dogs that, while only perhaps capable of a title, and not a good police or serious guard candidate, make reasonable companion animals in a broad spectrum of homes. This is probably the broadest category in the Bouvier, and on the whole a bad thing in that it represents a serious lack of balance in the genetic pool.
Below this you get into the dog who may show aggression which is based on fear. This dog may bite, and may be dominant in a situation with a weak handler, but is on the whole not of much use and in many situations potentially dangerous. Many inexperienced people think such a dog is much more than he is, and mistakenly think of this type of dog as good police or protection candidates. A broad spectrum of dogs in this class should be put down when they are rescued because they are potentially dangerous and a liability to those placing the dog as well as those receiving it.
FEAR AND CONFIDENCE
While the confident, aggressive dog will certainly bite, and with good training can be a very useful animal, it is also well known that excessively fearful dogs also can and will bite, and can inflect great damage. But the fearful dog will run if he can see a way out and will respond to imaginary or perceived fears as well as realistic fearful situations, making him a loose cannon on the deck.
Failure to distinguish between the confident, aggressive dog, the one with fighting drive, and the dog who bites out of fear is the greatest source of confusion and bad decisions in this entire subject.
There is a great deal of bluff in the unconfident or fearful dog, and he often learns that by putting on a show people will keep their distance, giving him an element of control over his fear laden world. When he is pushed beyond his ability to retain his composure he bites in a panic driven mode, thus becoming unpredictable and dangerous.
The useful protection dog is confident rather than fearful, intelligent, driven by the love of the fight and the desire to protect and defend his handler as well as himself. His bite is controlled by his trained reactions and in that the handler can bring the attack to an end with verbal command. He is reacting to real threats rather than primitive fear of the unknown.
It is true that clever training can to some extent mask or redirect deficiencies in a dogs basic character. Fear and confidence are a continuum with examples at every point. All training to some extent is directed at overcoming fear, or allowing the dog to react predictably and usefully in the face of fear.
A problem with this is that a dog may be trainable to the point of doing well in known situations, such as a trial, but at some point revert to a fear driven response in the face of an inexperienced, new situation. This is a difficulty in all training, for it is impossible to foresee what an individual dog might see in a working career.
Thus while a reasonably confident dog can be acclimated to work through natural fears, there is always the potential, in any dog, that he will revert to a fearful reaction in a new situation. This is why it is important that the handler understand the nature of his dog rather than just a few commands, so as to the extent possible foresee and deal with such situations. (This is of course not limited to dogs, none of us know for sure how we will deal with a sudden, fearful situation.)
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence in the canine is difficult to define and quantify because our tendency is to relate it to human modes and reactions, largely verbal in nature and thus not entirely appropriate to understanding the dog. Bernie Brown, famous Golden Retriever AKC trainer, has commented that you need a fairly stupid dog to put up with the nonsense in this rote sport. Intelligence is perhaps the most difficult thing to gauge for in the trial, because to a large extent the obedience to the handler provides a great deal of the decision making. On the other hand, the dog I am currently working seems to understand that the quickest way to the reward is to figure out what is required and to do it. Clearly the intelligence makes the dog much easier, and more fun, to train. The trap in all of this is the "Well, my dog is much too intelligent to put up with all of this crap, but if the time ever came, he could do it." This is of course nonsense, because not training and testing always leads to a loss of the fundamental working character which, since it is a modification by man of the nature of the wolf must be incessantly the basis of breeding selection in order to be maintained.
TRAINABILITY
Trainability is the essence of the usefulness of the dog. The dog is useful to the man who, through natural or learned ability to channel the dogs natural drives and instincts to perform work useful to his human partners. Beyond the elements of simple stability and safety, trainability is the single most important attribute in a working dog.
The behavior of the successful wolf is the result of his inborn propensities, his instincts and drives, focused and brought forward by his interactions as a pup and young dog with the senior pack members. Thus trainability, the willingness to accept a human leader while still maintaining the potential for aggression and event initiated reaction, is something added, or at least greatly enhanced and emphasized, in the domestication process as man made wolves into dogs.
In the Schutzhund training, as a practical example, training the dog so as to instill reliability and control is fundamental. At the beginning of the obedience exercise two dog handler teams report to the judge. The two dogs, placed in close proximity, must remain impartial. During the obedience one dog is on a long down with the handler at a distance or out of sight, while the other dog does his exercises.
This is a necessary part of the test because to be of use a dog must be around other dogs as well as people and other distractions.
INTENSITY OR ACTIVITY LEVEL
An alert dog with a high activity level, energetic and always ready to go, is most desirable for the service and sport trainer. But this is, like so many of the other concepts discussed here, more complex than might first appear.
Think of the Bloodhound. Big droopy expression, would no doubt do obedience like the grass grows, get there eventually but no visible motion, etc. etc. But put a good dog on the trail and he will go more miles than most of us can walk to complete the trail. Or dogs like my old Gambit, not very enthusiastic about obedience, but lit up like a torch when the sleeve came on the field.
There are a number of elements that contribute to a desirable activity level, one that translates into trainability and excitement in execution rather than just hyper, sometimes unpredictable reactions.
One element is good health and good physical structure. Another is motivation and drive to work, some of which comes from within the dog, but must be let out and nurtured by the trainer. When I turn in the driveway to the training field, the whole van rocks and the barking and excitement brings the dogs alive. They can't see anything, but the sound of turning up that gravel road brings them alive.
To get this you have to have the right dog, but you also have to be a good trainer in that you can build the drive in this dog. And there is no formula that will work for every dog.
Copyright Jim Engel Feb, 2006
