I noticed on the Basic OB video Ed says he doesn`t recommend doing drive training with a pet. Why isn`t it good for pets? I can see why teaching the dog to bite would be bad but using a little prey drive makes it so much more fun and easy for the dog and owner.

The primary goal of basic OB training is to make the dog mind, in differing conditions and distractions. In a positive fashion, of course, but the dog is working in pack drive during pet OB training.

There is a difference between rewarding a dog with a game of fetch for a job well done, or positive reinforcment with a ball, and drive training.

Prey drive is not a social drive. High prey drive is actually subversive to the social order, when you work your dog (which is why it must remain clear that the prey is yours, not the dog's). The dog is competing with you over your prey item, and wins. When a dog is training primarily in prey drive, there is sometimes conflict between the dog's pack position and desire for the prey, which one of the reasons why there is so much focus on running and bringing the prey back to the handler. The dog must be taught that prey+handler=good (or higher drive), and that out+handler=good (drive). When drive training, you want the prey to trump the social (or that the two are one); which makes the dog sometimes difficult to live with (esp around kids). Which is why working dogs, during the foundational period, are crated. They are out only when working (mostly), otherwise you have to squelch drive, and you want the dog to associate work and play on the training field and the handler and helper, there should be no difference (until later of course, when defense is built up. Then it is no longer a game).

One of the purposes of pet training is to bring drive down, make it subordinate to the pack order.

Also, the out is motivational for the drive trained dog; in other words, if the dog outs clean and stays out, he gets to rebite the prey. For a pet, this is not a practical (nor safe) way to train. Out means out because I say out, and leave it alone, not load up on it, waiting for it to move again. For a pet, grip is not an issue, so one doesn't care about mouthiness, or drive issues after the out.

That is NOT to say that drive trained dogs are rank monsters, and are never corrected (Well, some are, but that is a handler issue). Or that OB does not fit into the picture. Or that the handler is not the boss. Or that pets cant have fun too. Just that the training relationship and goals are different.

I was waiting for someone with more experience to answer this question; I think it is a valid one, and it took a while for me to understand the difference between the two.

If I don't have it right anywhere, someone will set me straight, I am sure. This is just what I have learned from the last year.