Re: An interesting perspective on ‘Predatory Drive’
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:51 pm
I am late to this party but enjoyed reading through the thread from start to finish. It seems to me that so much of the discussion is really about semantics and the exact meaning and emotion each person associates differently around what on face value is a simple word like "command" ,"cue" or "correction". I may be in even more dangerous water as though we share a common language a lot of usage has evolved differently in NA (even differently between USA and Canada). Certainly when I pip the stop whistle at my little spaniel I don't feel any of the emotion of a drill sergeant sternly commanding "halt" or else! If there is a human equivalent I guess I feel more like the coach of a kids team. I am trying to impart the right skills and behaviours to lead to success but within the context of an activity we are all participating in because it is FUN!.
in addition to my gundogs for over thirty years we have also had successive generations of Rottweilers in our home. They are my wife's chosen breed. When I travelled a great deal for work she liked having an imposing dog around. Each of these dogs she has trained to quite a high level with a formal obedience club. This is where I first encountered the term "prey drive". In this case it was used quite literally, as in you better get some good control on that dog or it will be killing your neighbour's cats. It was only much later when I encountered it being used in retriever training circles. They were describing dogs I would have said were just keen retrievers as having "high prey drive". It never sat well with me in a gundog context and I would only use it to describe a dog with a high desire to kill small stuff.
in addition to my gundogs for over thirty years we have also had successive generations of Rottweilers in our home. They are my wife's chosen breed. When I travelled a great deal for work she liked having an imposing dog around. Each of these dogs she has trained to quite a high level with a formal obedience club. This is where I first encountered the term "prey drive". In this case it was used quite literally, as in you better get some good control on that dog or it will be killing your neighbour's cats. It was only much later when I encountered it being used in retriever training circles. They were describing dogs I would have said were just keen retrievers as having "high prey drive". It never sat well with me in a gundog context and I would only use it to describe a dog with a high desire to kill small stuff.
And then it all changes a few years down the line but still dogs get trained. 
