Images Of Dogs "in Drive"

[corvus]

This confuses me when it comes to prey drive being a fixed action pattern there are several stages to prey drive, stalk, run pounce. I have been told/read (can't remember where from) that for an animal to complete this sequence (brain circuit) they need adrenaline as a buffer against slight pain as they need to ignore pain as it may stop them from catching their dinner.

I am sure that's true, but Abrantes doesn't think it's a component of all drive, because he's talking about what gets an animal up and doing something for their own survival. You don't need to be adrenalised to go find some food. You do to catch the food once you've found it.

The same can be said for defense drive (as in fight or flight) to feel pain and worry about it could cause them to die if in a fight or fleeing from something. Or have I completely missed the point Maybe he is saying that drive is a fleeting moment of emotion bought about by a stimulus to make the body prepare for action. This to me would be drive initialization Terminology interpretation sheesh

Yes, but the same can not be said for, say, scavenging. I don't think he is saying it is a fleeting moment of emotion, and I don't think it's necessarily about preparing for action. I think he is saying it is what compels an animal to do something for their safety or their survival. He doesn't even really call it food drive or prey drive. He calls it self-preservation drive, which encompasses heading out to forage, flight or fight, and finding shelter or water. I have to admit I don't really like it. But at the same time, predatory aggression is what we are calling prey drive. It's not even aggression, but no one has a better term for it. It's not a drive in itself under this definition, but is covered under self-preservation drive. It works, but it really jars my mind and I think it's entirely too much of a shake-up to be of much use to trainers, for all that Abrantes gets very irritated about semantics and terms like "dominant-aggressive" and "defensive aggression" and "fear biter" and I can certainly sympathise with that.

[BJean]

I feel that "drive" is being used a bit freely to describe several different things. For the sake of clear communication (and the fun of looking at doggy pictures and videos), post your pictures/videos of dogs "in drive" here.

Defence drive:

Brasco has spotted something in the next paddock. He is in full gallop (after suddenly leaping up from a lolling drop position from where he observes his territory), hackles are raised and he is totally focussed on getting to what he thinks should not be there so that he can remove it.

Note the other dogs in the background have just stopped what they were doing in reaction to brasco's sudden launch forward.

They were playing, while Brasco was on lookout.

Edited January 25, 2010 by lilli

[MonElite]

I was thinking about this thread the other day, as to what are the "symptoms" of a dog in drive.

My 12 month old pupp has not had a training session since beggining of December (naughty naughty) and I thought Ill give her a go, just in the yard. She found a dead tennis ball out of somewhere and brought it for me to throw.

So I said - ready? and she got all excited, jumped up (nearly giving me a black eye), barked at me and put herself automatically in a heel position, tail wagging, ears forward, smile on her face and ready to do stuff.

She was a bit out of the postion when I heeled and droped on the angle, as I had the ball in my right hand, I swaped to the left and she wa better, when I put it behind my back she was a smartie pants and and grabbed it out of my hand

But a minute later she was back to nice heel and not so crazy, I could walk and throw the ball from one hand to another and she wasnt going mad, jsut waiting for word "break". And then she would go mad for the ball, regardless if I threw it far or up or whatever.

She never lost the enthusiasm - and I think this enthusiasm is what I call drive - prey or play drive.