So, Drive.... Again.

[Konotashi]

Sorry, guys - I know I'm probably driving you nuts with this stuff.

I don't want to necessarily limit myself to JUST WGSL breeders. Of course, I want a dog that will best suit my needs, whether that be WGSL, WL, DDR, or ASL.

So here I come with another question about drive.

Say you have a dog with high drive. (Or medium-high drive, which I think would be more realistic). If the dog has the proper temperament, could this dog live happily in a pet home, AS LONG AS it gets adequate exercise and some type of venue to direct that drive into, such as agility or flyball - not necessarily SchH.

I apologize if that doesn't make much sense, but hopefully you can get the gist of it.... Basically, with a WL dog, which are known for higher drives than the showlines, if it is given a 'job' or regular activity, could it be happy in the home without driving its owner insane?

[GatorDog]

My dog is half WL and half WGSL which I really like. He can turn on when we're at training and I need him too and when he's in the house he's lazy as can be. I do Schutzhund with him, and I know he's never going to be a national level competitor, but he does love to work when we go to club He is primarily my pet or club level schutzhund dog, though so it definitley is possible to find one with a similar temperment.

[LaRen616]

My puppy is Czech/West German Working lines.

She has medium/high drive. Inside the house she is calm but needs chews and toys to keep her busy. She is also a huge cuddle bug, she loves to lay next to you or on your lap. Outside the house she is a beast. She will run and run and run, it takes alot to wear her out, she is very active. She is very curious and adventurous. Right now she is strictly a pet but I want to get her involved with agility, herding and dock diving, she would be perfect for all 3 sports.

She is an excellent companion.

[Konotashi]

Originally Posted by LaRen616

My puppy is Czech/West German Working lines.

She has medium/high drive. Inside the house she is calm but needs chews and toys to keep her busy. She is also a huge cuddle bug, she loves to lay next to you or on your lap. Outside the house she is a beast. She will run and run and run, it takes alot to wear her out, she is very active. She is very curious and adventurous. Right now she is strictly a pet but I want to get her involved with agility, herding and dock diving, she would be perfect for all 3 sports.

She is an excellent companion.

That's kind of how Ozzy is. If he doesn't get his hour of fetch every day (at LEAST), he makes me want to pull my hair out! He's usually settled in the house, but as soon as you reach for his chuckit, he's waiting for you at the door, ready to go. Now, I don't know if that's drive or high energy. I'm going to go with energy....

[LaRen616]

Originally Posted by Konotashi

That's kind of how Ozzy is. If he doesn't get his hour of fetch every day (at LEAST), he makes me want to pull my hair out! He's usually settled in the house, but as soon as you reach for his chuckit, he's waiting for you at the door, ready to go. Now, I don't know if that's drive or high energy. I'm going to go with energy....

I messed up in my post, I meant she has medium/high energy.

She does have high ball/stick drive, she could chase a ball forever if I let her.

[LaRen616]

I saw you mention in another thread that you dont know if you can handle a WL, I absolutely think that you can.

You exercise the heck out of Ozzy and you have done a great job training him. He looks and sounds like a very athletic, high energy dog and I think you would do a fantastic job owning a WL GSD.

Whichever line you choose, showline or working line, you will be a great GSD owner.

[AgileGSD]

Originally Posted by Konotashi

Say you have a dog with high drive. (Or medium-high drive, which I think would be more realistic). If the dog has the proper temperament, could this dog live happily in a pet home, AS LONG AS it gets adequate exercise and some type of venue to direct that drive into, such as agility or flyball - not necessarily SchH.

I apologize if that doesn't make much sense, but hopefully you can get the gist of it.... Basically, with a WL dog, which are known for higher drives than the showlines, if it is given a 'job' or regular activity, could it be happy in the home without driving its owner insane?

IMO and IME yes.

My WGSL Jora was a very high drive, high energy dog. She loved agility, obedience, trick training, scent work and just hanging out with me. For a few years, she came to work at doggy daycare with me. She followed me around all day, every day chewing on a tennis ball and waiting for me to throw it for her. As an adult at home, she would lay around all day but jump up the minute you suggested something more fun might be going on. I had taught her to do the flyball box for fun (we had one at my work). My work was set up at a pet expo where a Flyball team was doing demos and offering a free Flyball lesson afterwards. I took Jora over to play around with the flyball stuff a bit. When she easily ran the whole lane, got the ball out of the box and ran back down the lane, the Flyball people said "What team are you on?" They couldn't believe she'd never done the full set up before and I had only trained her to do the box for fun. They told me I should start my own team when I said we didn't have Flyball in my area. At the same Expo she got to do lure coursing, which she absolutely loved. But while at my work's booth, she was so quiet laying under the table in our crowded space that most people were surprised when they saw her laying under there "wow I didn't even know there was a dog in here!". Quite a lot of people probably never noticed her.

So high drive, high energy doesn't mean a dog has no off switch or has to be entertained 24/7. I do think some people make the mistake with such dogs of trying to keep them busy 24/7 as puppies and young dogs. It's important these sort of dogs learn how to be alone, how to just chill out when nothing is going on and how to amuse themselves with toys if you can't play with them. If you are constantly trying to keep the dog busy, you are teaching them to expect to be constantly kept busy.

For fun, here's Jora lure coursing at that Expo:

[gagsd]

Out of my three "young" working lines..... Ari and Akina are both pretty easy in the house. Akina's favorite thing is to snooze on the couch.
We do have a good-sized yard for them to run. I train/exercise several times a week off property. I don't really kill myself trying to wear them out though.

Anik is a bit more difficult. Pretty destructive at times, and was a complete counter-surfing-fool ....(at top speeds).... back-of-the-couch-leaping devil as a younger dog. Due to an injury, he has not been out and about as much as the other two, so that has something to do with it.
But mainly.... they have a better off-switch than he. And that was pretty obvious from puppy-hood.

[lhczth]

Yes. All of my dogs are pets first. A GSD should have drive to work, but not mindless energy just to "do".

Agility is a very thinking sport and, as long as a dog is structurally designed to do it, is a wonderful way to have fun with a GSD. A round of agility can be exhausting to a dog because it is both a mental and physical sport.

[carmspack]

a hyper active dog may not have any focus or persistence to work - just lots of random energy .
hyperactive is not high drive .
If a dog can not have that off switch I don't use it for breeding . They must be keenly interested in working , to a workaholic level even when asked to work, would work more if you allowed them BUT when it is over they need to level off and find their calm .

Find that kind of dog and you will have an amazing pet , or working partner .

PLUS -- they are healthier than the hyperactive , too sensitive to stimuli in environment dogs because their adrenals aren't activated with stress hormones (aging) .
Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs