Yesterday we talked about Subordinate Drive and how a dog with too much Subordinate Drive is willing to accept a position in the pack from any pack member. Today we are talking about Rank Drive which is the opposite of Subordinate Drive. Rank Drive motivates a dog to continually seek the position at the top of the pack. Dogs with high Rank Drive may be the pack leader, but not always. If they are not the pack leader, they will continually challenge the pack leader for that position.
From a training perspective, dogs that possess high Rank Drive will continually challenge the trainer for the dominant position. This is not a desirable trait in a good hunting dog. There will be occasions that arise during the course of training, when working with a dog that possess high Rank Drive, will be a challenge to say the least. When this happens, you end up dealing with the issues created by the dog’s high Rank Drive, rather than working on the material you planned to cover during the training session. Dogs that possess high Rank Drive need to be trained and handled by a trainer with experience dealing with this type of dog. The average dog owner is not capable of dealing with this, although I know from personal experience, some think they are. Unfortunately, depending how training plays out with this type of dog, those owners are usually mistaken.
Tomorrow: Pack Drive
Rank Drive
by
Tim Harris
of Rug-ged Retriever Training
(
13-Apr-2012
)