Is it possible for a dog to be in a drive other than defense or fight when in a new place fighting an unsuited,unknown decoy? Thanks, Luis.

Possible? I guess so.

Just because the dog is in muzzle doesn't mean it is working in a specific drive. It would depend on the dog, the experiences he has had, and the situation I think.

Originally posted by Luis Colon Jr.:
Is it possible for a dog to be in a drive other than defense or fight when in a new place fighting an unsuited,unknown decoy? Thanks, Luis. Of course.
What are drives other than artificially constructed names for groups of behaviors. Even the definitions are muddy among those of us that use drives as canine training shorthand.
The dog can certainly be doing a lot of different things in a muzzle once being trained in it.
But, the muzzle is used to bring civil (read decoy without training equipment on) activity to the dogs work.
Since the stimulation of equipment is not present it helps the dog to understand that these behaviors are OK on a subject that doesn't appear to the dog as a training decoy.
This isn't the whole picture but part of it.
In the process the dogs often shift their behaviors towards ones we call fighting or combat behaviors away from those we associate with the capture and vanquishing of prey items. But, here again there is no clear lines.
If the dog moves over into self-defense we identify this as problematic in the work and may even add visual equipment back into the muzzle work to keep the stress off the dog from becoming too much, and subsequently keep the dog from going over the edge into self-defensive behaviors we would assocaite with flight (running away, backing off, sniffing around, ignoring etc.).

This is a good thread, and I'd appreciate it if it could include a few elementary questions about muzzle work and drives.

Suppose you were to give the dog brief episodes of civil agitation, on a leash and (I should hope to shout) without bites, at the beginning of some of the dog's earlier training sessions, well before the muzzle work was undertaken. Would the tendency of the dog to go into defense during muzzle work be lessened, as the dog would be accustomed to agitation without equipment? Would the dog then be more confident in the muzzle? Are there other measures that would work better to prepare the dog for muzzle work?

In introducing muzzle work, the bad guy, previously seen as "soft and chewy, with a crunchy center," becomes a wrestling partner. Dog doesn't get a bite, much to wrestling partner's relief. Does this make frustration a problem with a sharp dog? Do you generally follow the muzzle work with a bite or two to unload the dog and build confidence, or is this unnecessary?

Thanks for any info and opinions!

In the basic muzzle work it is important that the dog initially be trying to bite the decoy, not wrestle with him.
If wrestling is the dogs first response to muzzle work you already have a foundations problem.
Most dogs go through a phase of initially trying to bite (what we want) and then after a period of time they learn (with appropriate decoy work) to use the muzzle to punch the deoy. They should then while muzzle fighting continue to try to bite. Adding wrapping sort of behaviors for the dog is also very good. But, don't start by encouraging rolling around and just entangling with the bad guy.
As to what will shift a dog in drives it really is an individual thing with a dog. To answer I'd have to see that dog.

Thanks very much, Kevin.