Yesterday we talked about Air Scent Drive. Today we are talking about Activity Drive. Dogs that are physically active are showing Activity Drive. Personally, I enjoy working with dogs that possess high Activity Drive.
Don't confuse a dog that is physically active with a dog that has what we call "unproductive busyness", "hyperactivity" or some other type of abnormal behavior.
An abnormal behavior observed in dogs is a behavior such as pacing in a kennel with no apparent intent or purpose. More times than not, these abnormal behaviors are created by humans. For example, someone buys a sporting breed puppy either because it's cute; the neighbor has one or any number of other uninformed reasons. The cute puppy starts growing up. Now the puppy is becoming a handful. The puppy wants to work but the owner doesn't have time. So the puppy starts pacing or running aimlessly around the yard with no outlet for his natural instincts. This becomes an abnormal behavior. Not the dog's fault! It is the fault of the ill-informed owner, although few would ever be willing to admit to it.
Sporting, herding & working are groups of dogs that can have breeds with a high Activity Drive. Border Collies & Australian Shepherds are two wonderful breeds of dogs. Both these breeds are highly intelligent (sometimes more so than the owner) that could very easily develop abnormal behaviors. They have become very popular with the general public. Both these breeds were bred to do a very specific job, HERDING! Not a couch potato! Owners of these breeds, who are not meeting the dog’s inherent need to herd, may start seeing abnormal or destructive behaviors. They will in turn blame the dog. WRONG!
Several years ago I trained a pointing breed dog for a client. I was told if I couldn’t “fix” the dog, the owner would be getting rid of him. The dog sailed through our training program, and became one of the best pheasant hunting dogs I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. The owner didn’t have a dog problem. The dog had an owner problem!
Tomorrow, Fight Drive.