Work Ethic and/Perseverance in the Hunting Retriever

[Olddog]

In my mind more of what is called work ethic is related to prey drive rather than desire to please the owner, the stronger the prey drive the stronger the work ethic.

[thelast2]

When I think of work ethic in dogs; the completed job itself is the reward. That the owner is pleased is secondary.

I understand that allowing the dog to retrieve is a reward. I will use a hunting dog for analagy. Just seems that for a dog who is praised a lot for doing a good job would be more willing to perform his job in order to keep his master pleased and continue to take him hunting. As opposed to a dog who is never praised and or abused by its master who would rather run and hide at the site of shotgun than go hunting.

[John Robinson]

I think good work habits and perserverance can be the same or two different things. I'll take my two dogs for instance; one dog is very high drive and very-very birdy, he will go through hell or high water to get a bird and never-ever gives up. That said, he tends to be lazy in his work ethic and is a reluctant team player. My other dog is also birdy, maybe not to that crazy extent, but plenty birdy for our game, the thing I like about him so much is his intense desire to please me. He is much more a team player and always tries his hardest to make the right decision when he runs. You can actually see the wheels turning in his head as he runs or swims on a complicated mark.

I also think good work habits can be ingrained into a dog to a certain degree, that's why I think it is important to set aside a set time or two each day starting when the pups are young to train. It starts out informal, but it isn't play time either. That sit-stay-here stuff we do with little guys turns into formal obedience and yard work later. Balance that with the fun field stuff and you are well on your way to having a happy dog with good work habits.

John

[twall]

I second describing the behvior as prey drive.

I placed a male lab with a sheriff's department in KY to be trained and used as a drug detection dog. We met at an exit off I-75 to give him the dog. He did a quick assessment of the dog. He used a rolled-up white towl, that looked a lot like bumper as the reward. He tossed it for the dog a couple of times. The last time it sailed over the fence along the interstate and landed on the other side. The fence didn't deter the dog and he ran into the fence and pushed agaist the tension wire at the bottom. The deputy loved his prey drive.

Tom

[John Robinson]

In my mind more of what is called work ethic is related to prey drive rather than desire to please the owner, the stronger the prey drive the stronger the work ethic.

To follow on to the post I just made, I kind of disagree with you on this. The example I just made of my lazy dog who is off the charts in prey drive. He is so birdy he just wants that bird by the fastest easiest method, it is only through intense training and pressure that forces him, against his will to not cheat water and not take the fastest-easiest route. Now he will take the diciplined route to the bird, but only if he has to, that's where training come in. One thing is sure with him, in a field trial, good route or bad route, he is getting that bird.

My other, lower drive dog is much more willing to "work" hard and take the diciplined route to the bird, he has a much better work ethic, he always tries his hardest.

[FieldLab]

I think the point from a hunting stand point, how far and how long a dog will go to recover the bird weather cripled or not
I think you cant train that dog has is or not I have a dog just under 2 yrs old who has made some great retrives and other times given up on birds that were crippled but very makeable so its a matter of prey drive or in my case hoping maturity

[John Robinson]

I think the point from a hunting stand point, how far and how long a dog will go to recover the bird weather cripled or not
I think you cant train that dog has is or not I have a dog just under 2 yrs old who has made some great retrives and other times given up on birds that were crippled but very makeable so its a matter of prey drive or in my case hoping maturity

To me that is called perserverance and doesn't have any thing to do with work ethic. For field trials I want a dog who has both qualities, but I love that never give up attitude.

[BuddyJ]

What would you call the main differences between good work ethic and perserverance?

[John Robinson]

What would you call the main differences between good work ethic and perserverance?

Did you read my first two post at the top of this page, I think those are good examples.

[thelast2]

To me that is called perserverance and doesn't have any thing to do with work ethic. For field trials I want a dog who has both qualities, but I love that never give up attitude.

+1 Exactly my thoughts