Drive. It's something we are always looking for, especially in agility. And I think it's tough to tell in puppies, especially berner puppies. Shasta's drive? I don't know yet. I know she isn't a slug. I know she isn't insane. But there is a huge range in between and it seems to me she could still be anywhere in that range.
I've been a tiny bit concerned about it. When trying to analyze it unemotionally, I think her drive is pretty good. But I'm not sure. Am I seeing something that's making me wonder? Or is it just the natural questioning I've usually done at some point with every puppy?
I know part of it could be the "Sonic" factor. He's so incredibly driven in agility, and that's what I've been working with lately and that's the most recent puppy I've trained. How much has he understandably skewed my viewpoint?
The following statement is true with all dogs but I think it may be more of a factor with Shasta than the average dog. And that is that her drive will depend greatly on her confidence. I don't say that because she is a worrier, she isn't. I say it because I believe she is a thinker. Not to humanize her too much, but I believe she wants to understand what it is I am asking of her.
The irony of posting this tonight is that I trained her somewhat briefly tonight, after being at a show all day yesterday and today, on a hot and humid evening, and she was pretty much flying through our mini-sequences. That said, we were not introducing anything new, supporting my theory that she will be fast if she understands the task at hand.
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