Before you can use the results of the Profile, you need to look at what you want your dog to do or, and this is often more important, stop doing. For example, when you walk him on leash and want him to pay attention to you, he has to be in pack drive. Your dog, on the other hand, wants to sniff, maybe follow a trail or chase the neighbors cat; he is in prey drive.

For most of what you want your dog to do, he needs to be in pack drive, such as

• come

• walk on a loose leash

• sit

• down

• stay

For most of what your dog wants to do, he is going to be in prey drive, such as

• chase the cat

• follow the trail of a rabbit

• retrieve a ball or stick

• sniffing the grass

• digging

You can readily see that those times when you want him to behave you have to convince your dog to forget about being in prey drive. Most often it is prey drive that gets dogs into trouble. The dog with high pack and low prey drive rarely even needs training.

Such a dog doesn’t

• chase bicycles, cars, children or joggers
• cats or other animals
• roam from home
• steal food
• chew your possessions
• doesn’t pull on the leash

In other words, he is a perfect pet.

Theoretically, your does not need defense drive (fight) behaviors for what you want him to learn, but the absence of these behaviors has important ramifications. It is pivotal and determines how your dog has to be trained.

The beauty of the drives theory is that, if used correctly, it gives you a tool to overcome areas where your dog may be weak.

The basic rules for bringing out drives are as follows:

1. Prey drive is elicited by the use of motion -- hand signals (except Stay) -- a high-pitched tone of voice, or an object of attraction (stick, ball or food), chasing or being chased, and leaning backward with your body as the dog comes to you.

2. Pack drive is elicited by touching, praising and smiling at the dog, grooming, and playing and training with your body erect.

Pack Drive                                          Prey Drive

3. Defense drive behavior is elicited by leaning or hovering over the dog, either from the front or the side, checking (a sharp tug on the leash), a harsh tone of voice, and exaggerated use of the Stay hand signal.

So you can see that what you do, and how you handle your dog, makes a great difference to his behavior. If you want a dog to run away from you, then you lean forwards towards him when he comes to you! In his language you are pushing him backwards and putting him in defense drive, when he was in pack drive all along.

If you want a well trained dog, you will have to learn how to switch these drives back and forth.