To give you a better understanding of your dog, we have grouped instinctive behaviors into three drives

• prey
• pack
• defense

These drives reflect instinctive behaviors your dog has inherited from his ancestors and that are useful to you in teaching him what you want him to learn. Each one of these drives is governed by a basic trait.

Your dog and every other dog is an individual who comes into the world with a specific grouping of genetically inherited, predetermined behaviors. How those behaviors are arranged, their intensity, and how many component parts of each drive the dog has will determine temperament, personality, and suitability for the task required. It also determines how the dog perceives the world.

The Three Major "Drives"

Prey drive includes those inherited behaviors associated with hunting, killing prey and eating.

It is activated by motion, sound and smell. Behaviors associated with prey drive are:

• seeing and hearing
• scenting and tracking
• stalking and chasing
• pouncing
• high-pitched barking
• jumping up and pulling down
• shaking
• tearing and ripping apart
• biting and killing
• carrying
• eating
• digging and burying

You see some of these behaviors when your dog is chasing the cat or gets excited and barks in a high pitched tone of voice as the cat runs up a tree. Your dog may also shake and rip soft toys, or bury dog biscuits in the couch.

Pack drive consists of behaviors associated with reproduction and being part of a group or pack. Our dogs are social animals who evolved from the wolf. To hunt prey mostly larger than themselves, wolves have to live in a pack. To assure order they have to adhere to a social hierarchy governed by strict rules of behavior. An ability to be part of a group and to fit in is important, and, in the dog, translates itself into a willingness to work with us as part of a team.

It is stimulated by rank order in the social hierarchy. Behaviors associated with pack drive are:

• physical contact with people and/or other dogs
• playing with people and/or other dogs
• behaviors associated with social interaction with another dog, such as reading body language
• reproductive behaviors, such as licking, mounting, washing ears and all courting gestures
• the ability to breed and to be a good parent

A dog with many of these behaviors is the one that follows you around the house, is happiest when with you, loves to be petted and groomed, and likes to work with you. The dog may be unhappy when left alone too long, which can express itself in separation anxiety.

Defense drive is governed by survival and self preservation, and consists of both fight and flight behaviors. It is more complex, because the same stimulus that can make a dog aggressive (fight), can also elicit avoidance (flight) behaviors, especially in the young dog.

Fight behaviors are not fully developed until the dog is about two years of age, and sometimes later, although tendencies toward these behaviors will be seen at an earlier age. Behaviors associated with fight are:

• hackles up from the shoulder forward
• standing tall and staring at other dogs
• standing ground or going to unfamiliar objects
• guarding food, toys or territory against other people and dogs
• dislike of being petted or groomed
• lying in front of doorways or cupboards and refusing to move
• growling at people or dogs
• putting the head over the shoulder of another dog
• biting people or other dogs

Flight behaviors demonstrate that the dog is unsure. Behaviors associated with flight are:

• hackles that go up the full length of the body, not just at the neck
• hiding or running away from a new situation
• a dislike of being touched by strangers
• general lack of confidence
• urinating when being greeted by a stranger or the owner
• flattening of the body when greeted by people or other dogs

Freezing -- not going forward or backward -- is interpreted as inhibited flight behavior.