Aussie question

Just in general...

Aren't they typically considered a high drive breed? I was just thinking at agility that every aussie I've trained with practically walks the course. There's only one in agility that's even remotely drivey, but I've met a mini at the park that seemed pretty intense. Other than that though they're all really calm. Is that really unusual?

Then again the ACD in my class also is just BLAH about agility too and barely moves much past a trot.

Maybe it's jut the area or something?

Showlines I think are much calmer, less drivey than working line aussies much in the same way you see temperament differences between showline and working BCs.

I think it might just be the dogs you're training with. There are a lot of pet lines in Texas that sprung out of showlines and they've all been going for lower drive, 'easier to live with'.

Even Sawyer would go running about, barking his fool head off and he's not the driviest dog ever by any means.

Yeah these are definitely not show lines. One's a mini, one's smallish but I don't think she's a 'mini', one's big.

Now, the one we had in class in OK was pretty boisterous and bouncy and fast. These dogs are just so calm though. I don't think I've ever seen them move beyond a lope on the field.

I've found that even the drivey Aussies I see at trials don't ever actually *look* drivey. I'm not even sure what exactly it is, but there are a ton of them that always surprise me when I see their actual course times. They don't have that "shot from a bow, focused" run that the BCs have; they sort of bounce and frolic around the course. I can't think of a single Aussie, even ones that I know are speed demons and seriously competitive, that I look at and think "Holy cow, that dog is flying!".

Now granted, trotting is trotting, and never fast, just an observation I've been noticing lately. I'm a firm believer that dogs are as fast in agility as you train them to be; their owners may not be training and rewarding for speed.