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Drive intensity vs Depth of drive

Cferg

Notable member
I posed this question in another thread but felt I was hijacking the thread.

One aspect of drives in dogs that fascinates me. And I’d appreciate your guys thoughts or opinions on. Is intensity and how it relates to depth of drive.

For example I’ve seen hunting labs that will play fetch until they dropped dead but they are just going through the motions their intensity is at a 3. Stassi will play fetch at a 9 but will lose interest way before the lab will stop. And I’m looking for more of answer than just labs are bred to be calmer. Because I’ve made similar observations between Stassi and other working breed dogs I’ve been around.

Whenever people that aren’t used to working dogs are around Stassi. The one observation they have is that “Everything she does is intense”. For instance she doesn’t just “mosey” around the house she is “moving” around the house.
 
Haha, I answered over there but here's what I said:

This is an interesting topic, but I don't have an answer for you. I think it's totally breed related according to what the purpose of the breed originally was... a (working) lab was in the field for hours doing his job, where as a Doberman was suppose to be able to go into action with a lot of intensity to drive away the bad guy, but not chase him down for hours. Mentally and physically what you've described is very much according to the original design.

I think even the Dobermans who are mostly bred for lower drive and kind attitudes still move with intensity and purpose. I rarely see one mosey anywhere!
 
I think a lot of it has to do with the intelligence of the dog breed and what they're bred to do. Dobermans don't mess around and spend their energy getting the task at hand done.
My friends IG acts like he was born with springs on his legs and he's fast. On the other hand my friends Mastiff has the "whatever" attitude and is never in a hurry to get anything done.
Our trainers Beaceran is super high drive and needs to be taken for many mile runs along side the vehicle just to take the edge off. Same with some Chessies in our club.
 

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