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Drives
- University of Virginia Press
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109 Drives Drivetrained dogs are very much more reliable. —Wendy Volhard N ow that we actually were on the United States Team, I needed to face the alarming forms that would allow me and the Mister and Missus into Britain. I had to involve my vet and figure travel arrangements. Instead, we three played hooky. When Wendy Volhard and her dogs crossed the bridge into the meadow she wasn’t happy to meet Luke and June. “I certainly hope those dogs are trained to offleash standard,” she said. Her small Labrador (mix?) was on lead, but two small terriers weren’t and rushed Luke and June. “Hi! Hi! Hi! Call me Julie!” June’s hackles raised—must she put these brash dogs in their places? —but she and Luke accepted their attentions stoically, if not enthusiasti cally. Border Collies are racists and though they recognize that other dog breeds exist they expect them to ride in the back of the bus. Wendy Volhard is thin and athletic and speaks with a slight British ac cent in complete sentences and paragraphs. With her husband, Jack, she has authored nine training books. Her recent books include Dog Training for Dummies and (without Jack) a treatise on holistic pet nutrition, Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog. The Volhards’ puppy test is the gold standard for evaluating puppies, and the couple has been developing their motivational training method for nearly forty years. Luke, June, and I were visiting their thirtysecond dog trainer camp. The brash Terriers and stoic Border Collies were already ignoring each other. Apologizing for her asperity, Wendy explained that all levels of dogs attended the camp; some dogs were untrained and unreliable offleash. The headquarters and guest quarters of Graves’ Mountain Lodge 110 mr. and mrs. dog sprawled along a steep ridge above the tenacre riverside meadow where a tennis court, volleyball court, and horseshoe pegs were disused and forlorn. It was early April and the lodge had just opened for the season. It was beautiful, this valley beneath the Blue Ridge. Spring grass was luxuriant and I could probably have drunk from the clear river running through the place (though not after the Labradors had their retrieving lesson). As I drove to the main lodge to check in, Jack Volhard and blue jacketed assistants were unpacking agility and obedience equipment. Twenty years ago, Wendy Volhard attended a seminar in Buffalo, New York, that, she says in all seriousness, “changed her life.” In Europe, some of Konrad Lorenz’s pupils had elaborated on his drive theory to train Schutzhund (protection) dogs. At that Buffalo seminar, the German in structor workedhisdemonstrationshepherdsilentlywithbodylanguageso subtle it was hard for experienced trainers to see what he was doing. “It was poetry to watch this man command ‘bite,’ ‘back off’. . . all with out a word,” Wendy recalled. “He was brilliant with the dogs but terrible with people. He told everybody their dog was worthless.” Maybe Wendy’s German Shepherd Katharina wasn’t worthless or maybe the instructor realized he’d made a human relations blunder be cause he blurted an explanation: “These dogs don’t have enough defense drive!” “Defense drive?” Wendy puzzled. Next morning, after a hearty breakfast, the dog trainers and I adjourned to a pinepaneled conference room for an introduction to Volhard meth odology and a quiz intended to individuate each dog’s training. Courtesy of the Volhards, here’s the test. You might take it yourself. Canine Personality Profile To help you understand how to approach your dog’s training, we de veloped Volhard’s Personality Profile for each dog. The profile cata logs ten behaviors in each drive that influence the dog’s responses [52.91.67.23] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:14 GMT) Drives 111 and which are useful to us in training. The ten behaviors chosen are those that most closely represent the strengths of the dog in each of the drives. The profile does not pretend to include all behaviors seen in a dog, nor the complexity of their interaction. Although it is an admittedly crudeindexofyourdog’sbehavior,youwillfinditsurpris ingly accurate. The results of the profile will give you a better understanding of why your dog is the way he is and the most successful way to train him. You can then make use of his strengths, avoid needless confu sion, and greatly reduce the time it takes to train him. Evaluating the Profile When completing the profile, keep in mind that...