I really do think the way some folks talk about working herding breed dogs crosses over into the way people think all working bred dogs are like.
Good working drive in many breeds is calm, unchaotic, able to settle. Not to paint too rosy of a picture (I try not to I hope you all see that) but good sled dogs need to be able to settle in a sled bag or settle when you stop on the trail, good hunting dogs need to work in a calm, focused manner and even wait in hides for hours on end before they get to do anything. Good service dogs need to be calm and focused to complete their task.
The way we talk about drive to work is so skewed because of the way people talk about working herding breeds that I think many of us fail to remember that not every dog breed’s ideal working self is a quivering bundle of excess energy that needs a lot of mental stimulation. It’s just more nuanced than that.
Also; herding breeds aren’t meant to be an unmanageable ball of energy 24/7 either. That would be an absolute nightmare, and I really hate that that’s become their image (largely thanks to badly bred or wildly under-stimulated dogs).
In a working day dogs will spend a lot of time doing… not a lot. Either tied up, sitting on the back of a vehicle, camped with the horses, or if they’re good, just hanging outside of the yards while stock are worked. People love to imagine that all stock work is a wild Western movie charge-across-the-plains type deal, but a lot of it is plain boring, especially if you’re a dog. Dogs can’t read tag numbers or open gates. In an off day some dogs don’t go off the chain/out of their run at all. Some just chill around the farm, depends on the owner.
I think a lot about the way the internet particularly talks about drive is skewed by sport people (especially Malinois people). A lot of what I see praised as ‘amazing drive’ is a super frantic dog that can only ever be worked incredibly hot or it can’t think. Thanks, but no thanks. A dog that can’t take the time to think over the rush of working (or attempting to) is a liability. And a dog that you have to work, before you can work it, is just plain annoying.
Yes, yes, this. Good working dogs have an off switch. A dog that sleeps works better than a dog on its last nerve because its been awake all day. Yet some people think installing or encouraging an off switch kills drive and go out of their way to prevent their dog from developing one.
A light switch does not reduce the amount of electricity that reaches a bulb when you need light, it just prevents you from wasting a ton of unnecessary energy when you don’t. It also allows you to sleep at night.
Drive is worthless without control.
