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A List of Drives in Protection Work

By Ed Frawley

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View our glossary of terminology used in protection work including the various types of drives.

General Protection Training Terms

Drive: Subconscious impulses to react to stimuli
Temperament: Attitude towards life
Courage: Absence of fear towards objects or situations
Hardness: Resiliency toward unpleasant experiences
Softness: Remembering unpleasant experiences
Sharpness: Tendency to react aggressively to stimuli
Sensory Threshold: High / Low Amount of stimulus to obtain a reaction

Types of Drives

Hunt Drive: The drive to pursue objects (out of sight, etc.)
Tracking Drive: The drive to follow ground disturbance odors (animal or human tracks)
Air Scent Drive: The drive to follow wind born scents
Retrieve Drive: The drive to bring back prey (objects) to handler (pack leader)
Prey Drive: The drive to bite and kill prey (refusal to release when playing tug of war, or when sleeve happy)
Fight Drive: The drive to measure physical prowess with rivals (same as rowdy human)
Guard Drive: The drive to warn intruders by barking, growling, or biting to stay out of territory (yard or patrol car, in layman's terms, defense)
Protection Drive: The drive to defend the pack (family or handler)
Rank Drive: The drive to achieve higher rank in the pack (biting or growling at handler while under stress)
Trainability: The drive to please the desires of the pack leader
Survival/Fight Drive: The drive to flee from real or imagined danger
Homing Drive: The drive to return to territory or pack (handler)
Play Drive: The drive for physical contact with pack members
Activity Drive: The drive to move and act (digging, chewing, running fence, etc.)
Pack Drive: The drive for emotional contact with pack members

Voice Tones

Command Tone: assertive
Corrective Tone: harsh and guttural
Permissive Tone: high / low tones (eg. FES--gift)
Priase Tone: high and happy tones
Agitative Tone: low and suspicious (eg. pas--auf)

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About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder of Leerburg. He has been training dogs since the 1950s. For 30 years, Ed bred working bloodline German Shepherds and has produced over 350 litters. During this time, Ed began recording dog training videos and soon grew an interest in police service dogs. His narcotic dogs have been involved in over 1,000 narcotics searches resulting in hundreds of arrests in the state of Wisconsin. Ed now solely focuses on producing dog training courses with renowned dog trainers nationwide. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.