Today's podcast might rub some people the wrong way because today I'm going to be speaking

in defense of what I believe to be the most misunderstood group of dogs on the planet. Today, we talk about the

high drive dog. Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shape by Dog. And I can say high

drive dogs are the most misunderstood group of dogs on the planet because I too, at 1.25

years ago, really misunderstood these dogs. I've been in the fortunate position

to have owned and trained more than one high drive dog. And sadly for those dogs,

I did misunderstand them. Here's what happens. Today, so many dogs are being labeled over aroused

when I believe in a lot of these cases, these dogs are just overfaced

by the expectations of their trainer. And because of how these dogs express the stress of

their frustration, they're labeled red linings or they're over the top or they're blowing off

their trainers or they're on their own agenda.

And it makes me sad because if they were a dog who stressed low, who shut down, who got,

you know, looked at their owners worried, who tucked their tail and walked away from training,

there'd be a heck of a lot more empathy for those dogs. People would be, oh, buddy, you look

afraid. Oh, I'm so sorry. No one would be calling dogs. People would be, oh, buddy, you look afraid. Oh, I'm so sorry.

No one would be calling names. They would be helping these dogs to be more confident.

High drive dogs on the other hand, people put a ton of effort into, we've got to calm these

dogs down. We've got to get them to, you know, let's swaddle them or let's give them the essential oils

or give them some medication or let's get them to lower their respiration or lower their heartbreed.

So many things. And I'm not saying that there aren't over aroused dogs who could benefit from

one or all of those suggestions. But what I'm saying is

there's a lot of dogs who are just high-energy, high-drive dogs. Genetically, they might

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