I’ve been asked several times to talk about the differences between drive and arousal so I wanted to do a quick post! I’ll likely expand on this topic later too.

Arousal is an emotional response to something a dog finds stimulating but doesn’t know why or what it should do with those emotions. Drive is an innate predisposed will to interact directed towards something specific which varies by breed, individual and even what’s been taught.

High drive looks like a dog who is willing to work under any conditions or circumstances. A dog that puts the “job” before other things. That can focus on it’s task despite outside stimuli. Even work through discomfort, high pressure, or pain - think police dogs who are being attacked by a human, even stabbed or shot but they still do their job, cattle dogs who get their jaw kicked out of socket and still finish loading that truck, hog dogs who get caught by a tusk and they still don’t let go. Those are a few examples of extremely high drive. Drive also falls into different categories. Prey drive, food drive, toy drive, social drive. Those drives can all vary within an individual as well. A dog with high drive is a dog who keeps coming back to the task at hand with just as much gusto each time even if it didn’t “go well” previously, especially if a reward history is strong.

Arousal looks like a dog who is very stimulated by outside influences, easily aroused by things, a hairpin trigger so to speak. Often they are loud/vocal especially in Border Collies, they often have their hackles raised at a moments notice, they have a frantic vibe about them when stimulated rather than a collected intensity. Prone to reactivity of either a friendly or aggressive nature, sensitivity, things like shadow/light chasing, they are often over threshold before much of anything even really happens, which can lead to volatility in some circumstances especially when poorly handled. Arousal can be fun too, it’s a dog who is really interested in what you’re doing and presenting, often a dog who is quite engaged when in drive, it can be funny and cute and playful.
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A dog can be both high arousal and high drive but that’s not always the case; you can have dogs who are high arousal and easily stimulated by the environment but aren’t particularly driven for any certain thing, and you can have very stable dogs who aren’t easily aroused but are high drive and carry a strong will to do or interact with particular things. Most dogs are a combination of both these things with differing levels and intensities.

I’ve gained this knowledge through experience over many years with intimately learning the behavior of hundreds of dogs, and it can be difficult for those with less experience to identify subtle differences, particularly if you don’t have other references to compare to. You could ask 50 different people and get 50 different answers but this is my opinion and experience. But if you’re wondering where your dog falls into this spectrum and would like help evaluating, I am more than happy to assist!

Happy to expand more if you have any questions, leave them in the comments!

I want to speak a little on gatekeeping in dogs and why it's problematic.

I'm going to focus on Border Collies but this is relevant to many breeds so feel free to fill in the blanks, so to speak.

Border Collies are extremely trendy right now. They have been increasing in popularity over the last decade and it's only going up. People see them in the media, they're so beautiful, so photogenic, they look so great in the hands of a trainer, they do all the things! It's valid why they're popular. They're awesome in so many ways!

I get new applications for pups every single day and (while it may take a while for me to respond) it doesn't matter if they are good fits for my program or not, I always give people kindness and support. Even if they won't be getting a dog from me.

I have friends who have reached out to many different breeders who have been in the breed a long time and have great lines, really nice dogs. But these breeders are straight up condescending. If you haven't been in the breed and been open field trialing for x amount of years, then you had better not even ask, because there's a good chance you'll be belittled.

I can understand why these breeders are hesitant, because Border Collies are experiencing the "Dalmatian affect", everyone wants one & at least half of them want to breed. It's problematic. There's no denying that.

However.

That gives no excuse to be rude, hostile & disrespectful. How about instead, take the time to kindly educate rather than ostracize?

Callousness towards newcomers WILL NOT stop what is happening to the breed. Although it will ensure that all of these newcomers will instead get dogs from unscrupulous breeders & shifty lines, further perpetuating the problem. It results in people having to start from ground zero trying to create good dogs, with little to no guidance. I'm a newer breeder myself, I'm not perfect and neither are my dogs. So I'm not making this post from a position of a gatekeeper but more from the side of the gatekept, because I do wonder sometimes where I'd be today if I had been welcomed instead of disregarded.

When you gatekeep the good genetics, you don't stop people from breeding. You stop them from breeding well.