FIGHTING SPIRIT Fighting spirit is the dogs innate propensity to engage in the struggle (tug a war) for the sole purpose to fight over for example a rag without aggression. The behaviour can probably also without excessive generalization be attributed to a particular form of playfulness - Game where struggle torque is the essential ingredient. There are opinions that claim that the urge to fight (tug a war) is a variant of defence lust or vice versa. The urge to fight would thus not be considered as a special feature independent of defence lust. One can agree that the two traits often occur together and often appear to be affected by the same stimuli. Experience in the context indicates that there are two different genes, even if they are adjacent. It is not unique in any way to find a dog that is playful and engage happily in a tug a war but are practically hopeless to put in defence attitude, as easy it is actually to find the dogs those without the love for a fight (tug a war) yet very easily goes to defend themselves or their pack when they are threatened. There is no point to immerse in theoretical discussions about what is right and wrong in this case, the clearest we can get on this is the following: If we consider the attack lust with a underlying aggressive base as defence lust, and attack lust without aggressiveness as fighting spirit (tug a war) With set conditions during a test that is arranged to bring out fighting spirit should be without any threat that would tap in to the aggressive side of the dog. That is not to say that the test moment where threats are not part could elicit even combativeness reactions alongside any defensive desired reactions. It depends on how the dog perceives the situation. The part is designed to be threatening but if the dog does not feel threatened or only slightly threatened, for the assessments sake it is anyway easiest if the test can be formulated so that it only affects the feeling you intended to assess. In reality this is hardly possible, but you should aim for that way.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 21:19:05 +0000
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