I adopted an 18 month old male from the German Shepherd rescue 3 weeks ago. Kuuma has a strong pray drive with squirrels, cats, and flies. He will spend hours chasing and catching flies or watching squirrels in trees.
The problem is that he show zero interest in a ball, toy, rope, sack, stick, or anything else that most dog love to play with.
I watched the 101 E video and purchased the ball with the rope. I played with the ball, flipping it in the air, the ground, etc., but Kuuma just watch with total indifference. I played with a stuffed animal toy, with a cloth puppet, with a sack, etc. but no reaction from Kuuma.
Is there anything that I can do to stimulate his pray drive other than having a live squirrel or a cat on my shoulder?
Ed Frawley Administrator Reg: 07-11-2001
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It is not uncommon for an older dog who has never been exposed to drive training to not identify a ball as a prey item. Just like older dogs need to learn that a bite sleeve is a prey item, a new handler needs to find a way to teach his dog what prey items are. No one ever said this was easy - for many people its not.
Try tieing the ball to a horse whip and flip it around. Wait until the dogs nose is on it (even if its just to smell it) and jerk it several feet away.
I have a male GSD out of SV and DDR lines that I got as a pup that never showed any interest in the ball, rag or tug from the beginning, but goes crazy after squirrels and cats.
Ed Frawley Administrator Reg: 07-11-2001
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Dogs don't demonstrate prey drive for a toy for 3 reasons:
1- the handler has not done the right job in training the dog that a specific toy is prey,
2- the handler has not allowed the dog to catch the prey enough during the actual work for making prey (chasing) - hence the dog looses drive because he thinks he can never catch the prey
3- the dog does not have the genetic factor for prey drive.
If it's genetic - and the dog does not have food drive it should not be trained in schutzhund. In fact if it's genetic and the dog does not have prey drive it should not be trained in schutzhund.
Some dogs should just be pets. They fall into the catagory of "you cannot train a farm horse to run in the Kentucky Derby."
Some dogs have prey drive but don't chase because handlers don't let the dog catch the prey enough - they do too much focus work. The rule of thumb is to let the dog catch the prey 20% of the time. This builds and maintains drive. The less drive a dog has the more it should catch and fight.
There all differant in some way. My bitch was like that. Little to no pray or food drive.She didnt react untill I got the ball and tug out of my hand. I would drop it on the ground with a line attached and 'kick' it around. She would go for it if I kicked it. If it was held in the hand she ignored it. Now at 12 months she is doing well.
Ron
I wouldn't give up on his drives just yet. I would try a variety of different toys if you haven't already. For instance, I've just found that my dog is just as crazy for a frisbee(a soft frisbee) as he is for a ball. Not all dogs take an interest to the same toys. Some like a small tug better. But the key is in how you put motion into the toy to build frustration.
To get his food drive up, don't feed him as much. And try different foods; pices of hotdog, bacon, steak, something extra special. Just keep him hungry so he's willing to work for it.
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