Evaluating Drive

Which "drive"? For a pup, I think high-energy (displayed in play or prey). But drives alone don't take into account the level of obedience you get, balanced with good focus on the trainer, or the threshold to withstand an appropriate amount of correction. Overall structure plays an important part in it's athletic ability (taller can jump higher, heavier can hit harder). A good working or sport dog needs more than just drives, and different levels between working or sport purposes.

I think the exact purpose should be defined, and measure the overall dog for it.

Even with tons of drive, the character of the pup/dog is as important. I want a bold, confident pup WITH good drives.
I think the year old dog is probably more of what your getting then a pup. Things can change more with a pup. What the parents ar like is just as important also.
I'm not much of a numbers (1-10) person. I've just always picked my pups because they hit me right. If any drive would be important (to me) over the others, it would be retrieve. That shows a combination of prey and willingness. From there, it depends on exactly how the dog was going to be used.

This is something that can't really be learned thru a discussion on the internet. You need to see a lot of dogs just to get an idea of what high middle and low looks like as far as sport. Then I think you can start to successfully evaluate drives.

There is a video that a not to be mentioned dog breeder came out with in an attempt to show the level of drive needed. According to this video, there was no such thing as a ten. The Mal they showed that was a 7-8 would not even be a dog that I would consider working. With that dog as a guide, Buko is an 18-20.

I do applaud the attempt to show the different levels of drive, but when my American showline GSD is more than 7-8 on this scale, something is seriously awry.

This is something that can't really be learned thru a discussion on the internet. You need to see a lot of dogs just to get an idea of what high middle and low looks like as far as sport. Then I think you can start to successfully evaluate drives.

There is a video that a not to be mentioned dog breeder came out with in an attempt to show the level of drive needed. According to this video, there was no such thing as a ten. The Mal they showed that was a 7-8 would not even be a dog that I would consider working. With that dog as a guide, Buko is an 18-20.

I do applaud the attempt to show the different levels of drive, but when my American showline GSD is more than 7-8 on this scale, something is seriously awry.

In my business, I don't deal with pups. I need dogs that are able to start training. As for evaluating. In single purpose dogs, those to be used for detector work, the dog must hunt. Lots of dogs will retrieve, but will they hunt. It's difficult to describe. As I told one person watching me evaluate some dogs, I said I was looking for the dog that was hunting to make him happy not me. When evaluating, I always remove the dog from their environment. Neutral ground so to speak. The "hunt" drive, (for the lack of a better term) is just something a dog has to have. As far as selection potential patrol dogs, I pretty much use the test we've already discussed.

DFrost

David Frost said:

In single purpose dogs, those to be used for detector work, the dog must hunt. Lots of dogs will retrieve, but will they hunt. It's difficult to describe. As I told one person watching me evaluate some dogs, I said I was looking for the dog that was hunting to make him happy not me.

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David,

A while back I read something similar to what you're saying here. And so one day I tricked my dog into thinking I hit a tennis ball out into a field when in actuallity I hit an old busted ball over a fence and in another direction. I then gave him a command to "find it". Half an hour later he was still running up and down and across the field, circling, sniffing and quite apparently looking for that ball. I thought enough was enough and hit one to him to reward him for his commitment. Is this what you're talking about?

David Frost said:

In my business, I don't deal with pups. I need dogs that are able to start training. As for evaluating. In single purpose dogs, those to be used for detector work, the dog must hunt. Lots of dogs will retrieve, but will they hunt. It's difficult to describe. As I told one person watching me evaluate some dogs, I said I was looking for the dog that was hunting to make him happy not me. When evaluating, I always remove the dog from their environment. Neutral ground so to speak. The "hunt" drive, (for the lack of a better term) is just something a dog has to have. As far as selection potential patrol dogs, I pretty much use the test we've already discussed.

DFrost

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I agree, David. If I need to tweak a dog with a ball or any props just to make it work when it should have been natural with a nicely-bred dog, I'd probably will have nothing to do with that dog. The work will just be too serious for any play-driven dog.

JMHO...