Blog · The methodology
What is drive in a dog?
The 2am test, why "he should be exhausted" explains nothing, and why the ball-obsessed dog has a real drive and a junk outlet.
Drive is the urge your dog was born with. It aches when it is blocked, it does not care how tired your dog is, and you cannot train it away. You can only give it somewhere to go.
The 2am test
Think of the thing you love doing most. Now imagine someone calls you at 2am to do it. You would get up.
That is drive. Tiredness is not part of the equation, which is why "he should be exhausted, we walked 10km" explains nothing. A dog in drive could be called at 2am too.
Why ball obsession confuses people
The ball-obsessed dog looks driven, and owners feed the obsession because the dog "loves it". But repetition causes obsession. Throwing a ball on repeat is not play, it is lazy play. No brains, no relationship, no boundary setting, and you are just training an athlete. There is no difference to giving him an iPad.
The drive is real. The outlet is junk.
You cannot delete it, so give it somewhere to go
Trying to starve drive out just makes it leak somewhere worse: the fence line, the cat, the shadows, your ankles. What you can do is reroute it through PLAY. Real play, with you, with a start and an end, with the toy moving like a rabbit, and not an epileptic one, because if you have an epileptic rabbit, it is not fun.
Done properly, play does three jobs at once. It builds the bond, it gives the drive a licensed exit, and it eats fear, because a dog in confident drive is not a dog rehearsing worry.
The 2am call should be you
Not the ball. You.
If your dog is "so well exercised" and still climbing the walls, drive without an outlet is usually the story. How to play is the place to start, and my programs teach the rest.
Common questions
What is drive in dogs?
An innate urge the dog is born with. It aches when it is blocked and it ignores how tired the dog is, which is why a long walk does not settle a driven dog. You cannot train it away, only give it a proper outlet.
Can you train drive out of a dog?
No. Starving it out just makes it leak somewhere worse: the fence line, the cat, the shadows, your ankles. Drive gets redirected, never deleted, and PLAY is where it goes.
Is throwing a ball good exercise for a driven dog?
It is lazy play. Repetition causes obsession, and a ball thrown on repeat builds an athlete with no brains, no relationship and no boundaries. Real play has you in it, with a start and an end.
