How Do You Find Your Dogs Ultimate Drive?

[B-Q]

okay, at home buster has good food drive if he's a bit hungry and good toy drive if i can stir him up enough.

although these can never compete with his drive to hate other dogs and his drive to chase small furry animals.

how many more things are there that can outdo that? outside te yard he's got little to no interest in food or toys.

yesterday we went to the vet to get sophie her 3rd injectio and harry his 1st for their hip pain.

i took buster too weight him. i took him in when no dogs were around. i walked him over the scale, he jumped on, i asked him to sit and he slammed his bum down as fast as he could. he was excited and there was nothing overly stressfull around so he was really well behaved.

i took him back out, opened the tray and sat in the back with him. a man pulled up and was taking his old callte dog inside. ALl busters concentration was gone. he's was all whining and no listening. i sat back in under the hood of the tray and was going to work on "focussing" him because i'd been [racticing earlier at home and he was really responsive.

i could barley get hois attention at all "buster" to him ment "whine relaly loud" i finally got him to turn around and "focus" ment jump on my lap, sit down, turn around and whine at the vets door again.

I don't get him, i've been working on certain distractions, he can focus well at home with no distraction, he can also do it when our other dogs are barking at something with no problem. outside he can do it with dogs barking off in the distance or where he can't see them but the minute he notices a dog around anywhere nearly all concentration is gone.

o how many more drives are there that i can try?

[Arya]

Oh boy, you need K9 to answer this one!!! LOL. Seriously, I'd go see K9 to help you if you are in NSW. Otherwise, if you are in another state perhaps it is one he is going to visit soon? Or, if you are in Vic you can PM me and I know an excellent professional trainer who helped me with similar problem and I haven't looked back.

Anyway, here's my tuppence worth though I do think you need some behaviourist advice. Drives, I think K9 mentioned somewhere that if a dog is fearful it can't go into prey drive. This would be even more so for food, I'd imagine. Nothing will outdo defence, I think, except trust that the Alpha (you) will deal with the situation. Look, it sounds (and I can't see the dog) like Buster is fear aggressive towards other dogs. Therefore, his urge to defend himself will supersede any kind of focus work you try to do with food. I've been down that path myself. If you are saying that he has big drive to chase small furry animals then you can use this to HELP you, though it won't initially stop the problem because as K9 said, fear shuts down prey. Here's what I did in brief:

Utilise prey drive in a low distraction environment to create a greater bond between you and the dog, so he is able to sort of 'go into the game' as a safe area when he is beginning to tense up. Work at home, then if you go to a club, work at the periphery of the club with other dogs in the distance and slowly move in towards them to get the dog closer, as long as he is comfortable. Use a long line so he can't panic and get away or get into a punch up. Use toy, ball, whatever. Food won't do it as well as prey if he likes to chase things. The deal is, create a predictable situation for him within the game. You start, you finish, he wins all the time while you're playing. Back and forth retrieval/chase games are our favourite. Then, as a separate excercise, work on shutting down his behaviour around other dogs by getting him to focus on you. You pick the distance he is just bearable with and work to get his attention with toy or food and then gradually move in. Initially the distance might be the next block LOL. I utilised my poor neighbours dogs in our area. I would walk near a fence line where a dog was going mad on the inside and teach my dog it was okay, to watch me and relax. Not the same as facing a dog with no fence between us but you'd be surprised how much it helped. Now we can have Cujo on the other side of the fence and my dog actually predicts she's going to get some sort of a reward and looks happy. Or if your dog is really is a feisty one, I know it's not traditional but you can correct him before he gets right into it, just as he is beginning to load up. watch his body language and catch him just as he begins to tense up and reef forward, if you are on the lead. Try using your voice first. I don't mean a little 'Buster, Buster' but a big deep voice so that everyone turns around and looks at you LOL. Also work on leadership at home - the NILIF program you can find on the internet.

But seriously, try to go and have a one on one lesson with a trainer who specialises in this sort of problem. Other DOLers will also have trainer suggestions for you but like I said, if you are in Vic feel free to PM me.

[RealityBites]

It's not so much a drive issue as it is his distraction level for other dogs. What you need to do is work on making other dogs not as interesting or important to him, so that they become a neutral thing when he's out and about. And to do that you are going to need the help of another dog who is completely switched off to other dogs, so you will probably need the help of a trainer. I neutralised my puppy by using other dogs that were not interested in playing with him, or being friends with him, and then made ME the best thing on earth by having balls and tug toys and food etc, so got other dog to completely ignore my puppy, even with him jumping on them, then I had a big play with him, so eventually he didn't see other dogs as a fun thing, I was a fun thing! It's different if it's aggression that he is showing to other dogs, in which case you will need to find out what type of aggression it is, and then work with a trainer on that, again just trying to see the threat of another dog as neutralised. Good luck! I have had dog aggressive GSD in the past and it's not much fun when out and about BUT you can fix it with time

[BC]

I would suggest a good dog obedience club to get him more socialised with other dogs and seeing other dogs around so they're not as interesting to him. You can then start to focus him on you. You need to be more fun than the other dogs.

I would also suggest as already said, get a professional in to assess him. It costs a fair bit of money, but it seems an issue you are keen to get around, and better for Buster too.

[Erny]

Amongst other things, work on "Pack Drive". Make yourself seen as the controller of ALL valuable resources. And I agree - go for a consultation. If you're in Sydney (sorry - I didn't look to see if your location was listed before I began posting) then yes, Steve at K9 Force would be a good option.

[B-Q]

thanks, i've got the name of a good behaviourist in my area that i plan on going to see very soon, (now that i can't make it to NT for a holiday i'm free to start job hunting 2moro so hopefully i'll have the money for it in a couple of weeks)

i've been relaly payikng attention to him, he can meet other dogs through our fence and relaly like them, he gets on relaly well with dogs he's introduced to inside our yard but as soon as he's outside i think he goes into his "attack is the best form of defence" mode. this also includes the car.

i'm very excited about talking to a good trainer and working this out wiht him though. he's a smart dog but i think he's a bit freaked out.

i can see a lot of things i can work on already at home to increase his trust that i'm the boss and he doesn't have to wrry. I'll start things like making him wait till i'm settled in bed before he can jump up, wait for him food and a lot of work on "heal" so that he isn't out front checking things out before me.