06/06/2026
BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT BIG DRIVE
Why are millions of people around the world so deeply impressed when they see a dog functioning almost like a robot? Why do we admire a dog that rushes to position itself between a person's legs, that stares continuously at its handler's face as if nothing else in the world exists, that responds to every tiny signal within fractions of a second, that seems to wait eagerly for the next command so it can perform it? And perhaps the most interesting question of all: what exactly is it that we are admiring? Are we admiring a dog that understands? A dog that collaborates? A dog that genuinely enjoys what it is doing? Or are we admiring something entirely different?
I am not starting with conclusions. I am starting with questions. Because there are things we know, there are things we do not know, and there are things that may not yet have been proven but remain entirely reasonable scientific questions. If we truly want to talk about welfare, ethics, and science, then we must also have the courage to ask the difficult questions.
Let us begin with what we do know. Does the high level of precision we see in sports and systems such as IGP, Mondioring, K9 work, and Competition Obedience rely on elevated levels of arousal? To a large extent, the answer appears to be yes. The working dog literature is filled with concepts such as drive, motivation, arousal regulation, and optimal arousal zones. Trainers within these systems constantly discuss building drive, maintaining drive, and managing drive. High arousal is not presented as an unwanted side effect. On the contrary, it is presented as part of the desired performance profile. This is described in Stress, Performance and Learning Optimization in IGP Dogs (2025)¹. Likewise, in detection and working dogs, higher levels of arousal and reactivity have been associated with improved performance in specific tasks, as described in Silvestri's What Makes K9 Search and Rescue Successful? (2026)². In other words, high arousal does not appear to be something that simply happens by accident. It appears to be something that is, to a significant degree, actively sought after.
The next question is equally important. When a dog is operating at a high level of arousal, are adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine activated? The answer here is yes. This is basic mammalian neurobiology. Studies have been conducted on working dogs, agility dogs, and detection dogs measuring cortisol, heart rate, and other physiological indicators of arousal during training and work. One example is C. Collins Pisano's The Effect of Arousal During and Post Training on Memory and Performance (2025)³.
Dopamine, in particular, deserves special attention. Modern science has moved quite far from the old idea that dopamine is simply the "pleasure chemical." Today, dopamine is more strongly associated with anticipation, wanting, seeking, motivation, and reward prediction. Put simply, it appears to be more closely related to expectation than to the reward itself. This is discussed in New Study Sheds Light on How the Brain Learns to Seek Reward (2023)⁴.
And this is where the truly interesting questions begin.
If a dog has learned that every movement made by its human can predict a ball, a tug toy, a game, food, or any other reward, is it reasonable to wonder whether that dog lives in a continuous state of anticipation? Has this been proven? No. Can we say it with certainty? No. Is it, however, a reasonable question? I believe it is. The entire theory of learning is built on the idea that cues acquire value because they predict something the dog desires. And if science itself tells us that anticipation can have a powerful neurobiological effect, then it is at least worth asking where the limits of that process might lie.
Can we say that this creates hypervigilance? No. We do not have evidence for that. What we can ask, however, is whether chronic alertness and constant orientation toward a human being are always the same thing as relaxation, safety, and freedom of choice. When we see a dog monitoring every gesture, every shift in body weight, every movement made by its handler, it is reasonable to wonder whether what we are witnessing is simply intense concentration or whether there may be something deeper behind it. We do not know the answer. But the question deserves to be asked.
Even more interesting is the fact that we do not have meaningful long term comparative studies between free living dogs, companion dogs, working dogs, and competition dogs. Why? I do not know. But one would expect that if we truly want to speak about welfare, we would already have explored such comparisons over decades. What does a fifteen year old free living dog look like? What does a fifteen year old competition dog look like? What are the differences in the body, the nervous system, movement, resilience, and quality of life? We do not have enough answers.
Are there researchers who are concerned about chronic arousal? Yes. There are studies examining stress, physiological load, and recovery in working and sporting dogs. One example is Pastore's Evaluation of Physiological and Behavioral Stress (2011)⁵. It does not prove that these sports cause harm. What it does prove is that the question is important enough to be investigated.
And then there is the issue of biomechanics. This is where the waters become truly uncharted. One does not need to be Einstein to wonder what happens when a dog spends thousands of hours repeating unnatural movement patterns. Constant heeling with the head held upward. Hyperextension of the neck. Repetitive turns. Explosive starts. Abrupt stops. The continuous development of certain muscle groups at the expense of others. Do we truly know what happens after ten years? Do we know whether there is an increased risk of chronic pain, injury, or musculoskeletal problems? The honest answer is that we do not know enough. And when we do not know enough, the proper scientific attitude is not certainty. It is curiosity.
Another question that I personally find extremely interesting concerns the study published in Nature in 2025 regarding addictive like behavioral traits in pet dogs⁶. The study does not prove that dogs are addicted to adrenaline. It does not claim anything of the sort. What it does do is open a door to questions that, until recently, would have seemed almost unthinkable. Is it possible that certain patterns of excessive activation resemble mechanisms we observe in other forms of behavioural addiction? We do not know. But it is no longer unreasonable to discuss the possibility.
And at this point, I would like to step away from science for a moment and move into ethics. Human beings have a long history of shaping and manipulating the animals around them. We did it with horses. We did it with bears. We did it with lions. We did it with dolphins. We have done it with almost every species we were capable of influencing. Even today, we use learning theory and positive reinforcement to train animals to cooperate during veterinary procedures, provide blood samples, or participate in practices that ultimately improve their health and welfare. In those cases, there is a clear purpose.
But what happens when the purpose is not health? What happens when the purpose is not survival? What happens when the purpose is a human competition that never existed in the natural world of the dog? What happens when we take an animal and transform it into something that nature itself would never have created on its own?
And eventually I arrive at the question that concerns me more than any other. Why do not all people have this need? Why do some individuals experience deep satisfaction when they see a dog functioning as an extension of themselves, while others do not? Why do some people feel compelled to shape, control, and mould another living being, while others are content to observe, understand, and coexist with it? Could there be a common psychological pattern behind this need? Could it be connected to control, egocentrism, or the desire for validation? I do not know. But perhaps the most interesting question raised by this entire article has nothing to do with dogs at all.
Perhaps, in the end, it is about us.
© Artemis Tzoulianna Antoniou
CR PDTE Greece
Calming Signals Specialist
Listen With Your Eyes™.
References:
¹ Stress, Performance and Learning Optimization in IGP Dogs (2025)
² Silvestri, What Makes K9 Search and Rescue Successful? (2026)
³ C. Collins Pisano, The Effect of Arousal During and Post Training on Memory and Performance (2025)
⁴ New Study Sheds Light on How the Brain Learns to Seek Reward (2023)
⁵ Pastore, Evaluation of Physiological and Behavioral Stress (2011)
⁶ Addictive Like Behavioral Traits in Pet Dogs, Nature (2025)
