Like I stated before I think of the prey a dog is displaying as falling some where on a continuum. With play on one end and I want to (kill something) prey on the other. All dogs with the right stimulation will fall somewhere between the two.
One of the keys for me in imprinting puppies very young for this work is to, in the beginning, is to get on your knees and try to separate your moving arms from you as the human. move them as you would a puppy tug. I do this in the beginning by not making any sounds. Get the puppies all wrapped up in chasing your arms in the prey mindset and they seem to forget they are attached to a human. I have proved this to my self by, with a really good puppy (displaying serious prey to the point he seemed angry) completely change his demeanor and come and give me the human kisses in the face by simply speaking to him. I would not recommend this in imprinting, it was something I did once or twice as I was trying to understand the dynamics of what I was learning. I try to move my arm as much at the elbow as I can, and try to catch the pup back on my arm aways. It is easy to get them incorrectly, targeting the hands. Being at the far end of your arms, the hands tend to move faster than the rest of the arm. If imprinting is what I am trying to accomplish, then I do not want to imprint the hands as a target area.
A young police dog I was the training decoy for from 6-7 weeks old all the way through certification was the dog I said earlier was not as serious in his prey work as I would have liked. Like I said before, I believe the difference between play and prey is not yes or no, but on a continuum.
What I did to combat this is was, when I felt the dog could handle it, I stung him pretty good with a reed stick combined with some threatening postures and sounds. Got his hackles up just slightly and he would bite harder and give me a shake. Like I had made him mad. His handler would praise and I would be defeated. Then in agitation, I started being more threatening and would sting him, and the seriousness of his prey came up and as I like to think was approaching fight drive. He is a police dog to be used in apprehension. These dogs because they are sent on long sends as well as searches and tracks, I feel should work in serious prey, or on the prey side of fight drive.
Fight drive I believe is an area between true prey and defense. A balance if you will. I believe you can get one dog there from working in defense and another dog there working from prey. I find, those getting there from the prey side tend to show less signs of defense, growling, hair standing up, the more guttural bark, but are if brought there correctly, are just as serious. I also find that some personal protection people think when they watch these dogs work do not realize how serious they are because they are often more comfortable in the work. Like the man who is so sure he can whip the other man that he looks very relaxed. lol Like they view the bad guy as dangerous prey, prey being inferior, with no question of being defeat-able.
Topic: What Is Your Says .... 7 Weeks Old Pup? (Read 3561 times)