Informative essay
Alpha Dog
Have you ever been driving down the road in your town and you noticed a Police cruiser with a K9 sticker on it? Well that obviously means that the Police Officer is riding around with a Canine partner, a 75 lbs., black and tan, gorgeous German Shepard. He is equipped with a nose that can track a man for miles and 42 razor sharp teeth ready to tear up anything that gets in his way. If you have ever wondered what type of training that K9 has been through, to be able to be part of one of your towns finest, I will explain the background and some of the basic training it takes to get a dog to that caliber.
In order to effectively train a dog you need to first understand their drives and motivations.
The term drive, refers to the “needs” of the dog, the term motivation, refers to the dogs “wants”. The primary drives include; Oxygen, water, food, and pain avoidance. The first three are self-explanatory. A dog trainer utilizes pain avoidance in order exploit the dog’s behavior. A dog will avoid objects and actions that it has learned to associate with pain or discomfort. The dog must know the task before this drive can be exploited. As long as you meet the dogs “Primary Drives”, dog training can continue.
Second, you need to understand the secondary drives. The secondary drives are; Socialization (alpha and beta), Play socialization, Prey drive and Aggression. It is important to know where the dog your training views himself in the “pack”. Is he a dominant (alpha), or is he submissive (beta)? Depending on his place in the pack is going to determine how you’re going to train the dog. The next secondary drive is play socialization, this drive is hard to define, but there is definitely a need for it in dog training, stemming mainly from a rapport stand point. If you have a good bond with the dog you are training, the more receptive he is going to be to the training. Prey drive is an expression that comes from the dog’s natural tendency to chase, bite
Have you ever been driving down the road in your town and you noticed a Police cruiser with a K9 sticker on it? Well that obviously means that the Police Officer is riding around with a Canine partner, a 75 lbs., black and tan, gorgeous German Shepard. He is equipped with a nose that can track a man for miles and 42 razor sharp teeth ready to tear up anything that gets in his way. If you have ever wondered what type of training that K9 has been through, to be able to be part of one of your towns finest, I will explain the background and some of the basic training it takes to get a dog to that caliber.
In order to effectively train a dog you need to first understand their drives and motivations.
The term drive, refers to the “needs” of the dog, the term motivation, refers to the dogs “wants”. The primary drives include; Oxygen, water, food, and pain avoidance. The first three are self-explanatory. A dog trainer utilizes pain avoidance in order exploit the dog’s behavior. A dog will avoid objects and actions that it has learned to associate with pain or discomfort. The dog must know the task before this drive can be exploited. As long as you meet the dogs “Primary Drives”, dog training can continue.
Second, you need to understand the secondary drives. The secondary drives are; Socialization (alpha and beta), Play socialization, Prey drive and Aggression. It is important to know where the dog your training views himself in the “pack”. Is he a dominant (alpha), or is he submissive (beta)? Depending on his place in the pack is going to determine how you’re going to train the dog. The next secondary drive is play socialization, this drive is hard to define, but there is definitely a need for it in dog training, stemming mainly from a rapport stand point. If you have a good bond with the dog you are training, the more receptive he is going to be to the training. Prey drive is an expression that comes from the dog’s natural tendency to chase, bite