Quote Originally Posted by wolf_Q
Prey drive and human aggression are NOT the same thing. Just because a dog would attack a swan does not in any way mean the dog would attack a human.
I completely agree, but there is definatly a fine line between the two. Prey drive is often stimulated by a moving/running creature. When a chase is instilled, prey drive can have the same affect in a completely different manner than human aggression with the same result. Candy was a wonderful dog, and she had alot of prey drive. It was a good thing for us because we use toys as reinforcement, and she had a strong drive to chase them (moving/running item). However, the reason she came to me and did not stay with Marla, is that running children would also set her off, and she would chase the children and grab on to them when they ran. It could have been trained away, but it does show the correlation between prey drive and actually hurting a human.The dog does not understand that it is a human. It sees something, chases it, and sometimes grabs on. It is not the dog's fault, the dog should have been trained, but it shows a strong connection between the two.

Prey drive is the #1 thing that trainers look for in a protection dog. A schutzhund dog without prey drive is not a schutzhund dog at all. And yes, these dogs are trained to attack humans. Just because it is called prey drive, and not human drive, does not mean it is restricted to only one thing. Many schutzhund dogs are wonderful with the family cats.