Prey drive = temperament fault?!

[AbbyK9]

DH and I happened to find out about a local AKC dog show while we were out shopping yesterday, and decided to go today and see a bit of the show, as well as all the vendors.

We got to talking to some of the dog people at the event, and were told by one of the breeders / exhibitors at the show that prey drive is a FAULT in German Shepherds, and Belgian Sheepdogs (Malinois, Tervurens, etc.) because "prey drive means they will go and kill other animals, like sheep or cats."

Opinions?

Overall, I have to say we were not impressed by the GSDs and Belgians we saw at the show. The one GSD we saw looked like his hind end belonged on a completely different dog as his front end. And both the Malinois were really skittish and nervous. The vendors did have loads of neat stuff, though.

[RavenSophi]

Sounds hilarious to me.

[Xeph]

Prey drive is kinda necessary for, I dunno...herding.

Strauss is a pretty **** sound dog, and he has prey drive out the yang.

[JerzeyGSD]

Maybe in their show dog world it is... especially considering that this breeder's dog probably couldn't run with it's frog-like back legs anyways. So sad....

[G-burg]

Interesting!

The comments some people make!

[AbbyK9]

The person who told us this was showing a Malinois and a Tervuren at the show. She claimed to have "one of the top Malinois in the country", that she had been "breeding Malinois for over 20 years", and that she "sold and helped train Malinois for police departments in Virginia".

We let her talk and thanked her for her time at the end.

[Amaruq]

Prey drive is necessary for herding and police work. It is pretty darn sad if they consider THAT a fault but not the structural issues in the breed.

[Chicagocanine]

Bianca has plenty of prey drive, but she is perfectly fine with my cats. I have 7 cats right now (including the fosters) and she never tries to chase them even though she loves to chase (or try to chase) wild critters.

[Liesje]

Jigga whah?

I'd be interested how many working GSDs this exhibitor has trained...

[Castlemaid]

I know several high-prey drive dogs that live peacefully and harmoniously with cats in the house (or outside). Falkor does only so much as glance at the cats when we are outside, yet will bring me his balls and frisbee for an hour of fetch and chase.

A balanced dog will know when to turn the drives on, and when to turn them off. Falkor for example will watch with curious interest snowmobilers zoom by within a few feet of us, bicyclers ride by, or in the winter, skiers and snowboarders swoosh down a hill, without even trying to chase. I think a dog that goes crazy for anything that moves may be showing some nerve issues, lacking an off button.

Falkor has enough drive that both our helper and an RCMP dog handler has shown interest in him, yet even when in drive, I can call him back to me when he takes off chasing a bird or a ball. I think the people you talked to were only repeating things that they have heard from others, without actually having personal experience living with, and working with a high-drive dog.

Though I must admit, both Falkor and Keeta HAVE caught and killed field mice though . . . so perhaps, that person was right? (tremble all you mice in the field! The prey-drive is unleashed!)