Squeaker toys encourage aggression?

ACooper

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#1
I was watching something the other day, I can't remember what it was and it's driving me nuts! I don't remember if it was a video, commercial, or various training show! ARGH!

Anyway, I heard them say something about squeaker toys imitating the cries of "prey" when they are caught and screaming. This encourages aggression in high prey drive dogs or some such :eek:

I never really gave it much thought before, but I know Orson ADORES his squeaky toys! He has never harmed another living creature (except a mole he brought in once), not even Marty the parrot when he's out walking/flying around. I do believe he would kill a squirrel if he could catch them in the backyard, but they are quick to scurry up the tree or over the fence. Not sure about cats, he's never really had the chance, and he does have DA, but am I creating a "would be" killer of small animals by suppling these squeaky toys that he loves? :eek:
 

JessLough

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#2
oh yah... Rosey has ALWAYS had squeaker toys, only toys she will play with. She is vicious, vicious vicious vicious. I swear, I cannot trust her around ANYTHING anymore.















OK, who am I kidding?
This is the 50lb dog that was cornered by a 2lb ferret..... I think that is pretty much bull, imho lol
 

Dekka

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#4
Agression and prey drive are not really the same thing. At least not how most pet people see it. If their cat kills a mouse the don't assume its going to start killing other cats and attacking humans.

But a dog kills a cat and somehow that makes it 'aggressive'

I bet sweaky toys could be argued to be a good outlet for prey drive 'needs'
 

dogsarebetter

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#5
we get our prey outlet from a flirt pole with a squeeky fox tail made from REAL fox hide.
some might not think shelties have prey drive, but thats what herding is. modified prey drive.
 

ACooper

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#6
OH! I bet you are right dogsarebetter! He's on reruns here late at night, I am a channel surfer when Kevin starts snoring.........I bet anything that's where I heard it (Cesar Milan while falling in and out of sleep, OY! LOL) That was the only part to stick out in my subconscious........squeaker toys = bad! LOL

And that sounds good Dekka! I didn't mean I thought him playing with squeakers was going to make him get blood thirsty and attack US or anything, LOL, I just wondered if I were helping turn him against smaller animals or keeping his DA going/getting worse by encouraging his squeaker love, LOL

He really does love them, and I would hate to take them away from him. I hope it's a good outlet, I know he enjoys them like nothing else!
 

Cheetah

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#7
Erm... maybe it encourages aggression... towards the squeaky toy. Shippo loves to violently kill his squeaky toys... but he hasn't become a blood-thirsty beast towards anything else yet. XD
 

misfitz

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#8
I think it can encourage aggression...in owners! Pup, stop squeaking the @$#*! squeaker already!!! :D
 
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#9
we get our prey outlet from a flirt pole with a squeeky fox tail made from REAL fox hide.
some might not think shelties have prey drive, but thats what herding is. modified prey drive.
I have a fox tail flirt pole too! And a coon one! Fantastic for providing some great work outs!
 

dogsarebetter

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#10
i would be lost without mine!

And i work on the leave it command with my flirt pole to. I will get them all crazy over it and then in mid flight tell them to leave it. until i give them the release command.
 

Brandyb

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#11
I can certainly say that squeakers in my house bring drives up to a whole new level, that is sometimes way out of hand. I don't think they can cause aggression, however, for certain dogs, they are just too much to handle and cause reactions that are way over the top.
 

Gypsydals

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#12
I dunno here I have the exact opposite problem. The one with the horrible prey drive AND the know how to catch and kill a smaller animal has NEVER been interested in squeaky toys. The one who loves squeaky toys, has never killed a smaller animal. He just doesn't have the know how to do so. But oddly enough, the small animall killer can be out and around the birds. He has this thing that if it is in the house it is OFF LIMITS it doesn't matter what it is. Ivan on the other hand does not get to roam free when the birds are out though. I wouldn't let them be out together when Ivan was a pup, more for Ivans safety than the birds.
 
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#13
Armani is not happy unless he is squeaking a toy at all times and he wouldnt hurt a soul.

Actually, the only dog we have that has any bit of DA is Elle and she has ZERO interest in squeaky toys.

I dont think the two things are related... either way Im not taking Armani's toys away anytime soon.
 

FoxyWench

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#15
charlie LOVEs squeekies...or it could be he HATES them, he squeeks and squeeks and squeeks and chews untill the squeaker pops...once its "dead" thats when it becomes his carry around and put in my doof bowl toy...
(i dont know why but he insists on putting his toy IN his food bown when he eats then leaves it there...)

yet this dog is possibly the softest sweetest dog on the face of the planet.
this is the dog that let our pet rats crawl around all over him, who took in out kitten puss puss at 4 weeks old, groomed him and raised him...the dog who just a couple of days ago gave 2 "tiny" ducklings a bath and just wanted to snuggle with them.
the same dog whos allowed 3 chihuahuas and 2 chinese cresteds to jump all over him, take his toys, eat food from the bowl WHILE hes eating.

jasper likes squeekies too...
he will hunt and kill rodents.
seems ok with small animals hes introduced to, but running outside...
ruby doesnt realy like squeekies.
she will hunt and kill rodents, same as jasper.
cresties are proven ratters so...i dont belive squeeky toys encorage their behaviour...

the wowies...
rosie likes squeekies, has no interest in hunting what-so-ever, no small animal agression, nothing...

dodger...
well hes not a big toy or hunting fan

and vixie loves squeekies, she hunts bugs!
 

Todax69

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#16
Hey ACooper. First, I found out what I did wrong - I didn't see the "non-pet" sign.
About the squeeky toy, I really just think its because dogs just like to make noise. The only other real option they have is to bark or whine. I let my guy play with my empty water bottles. (under supervision of course) I put the top on and squeeze just a tad bit of air out of them and close the cap tight. Bane will keep mouthing it for 5/10 minutes while making a real bone scathing racket until I finally hear it pop. He genuinely seems to like just making noise and even bringing it in my face as if to say, "See, I can make noises, too."
I allow him to chew off the top and ring, but as soon as they come off he has to bring them to me. Puts them in my hand and seems very aware of why I want to see proof that they haven't disappeared. He'll go back to flattening the bottle, but because a tiny bit of one of them did disappear, he loses it as soon as its flat.
I also agree with prey drive and aggression don't go hand in hand. I test prey drive by waving my hand past their face once very fast. If their drive is still in tact, I find them easy to train. I see aggression as more of a state of mind rather than a trait of their hardwiring. I also seperate aggression and aggressive behavior as well. I find the most trainable pups are the aggressive ones because they are always moving forward and taking on new challenges head on. After all, if you hire an employee, don't you look for an aggressive demeanor as far as the job goes. Snapping at the interviewer would be bad aggressive behavior.
Bane loves to chase squirrels, but they start it. LOL. Hell, they even taunt me by purposely trying to bean me in the head with acorns. Caught them doing it on purpose many a time. Bane did go after a deer recently and got one quick catch of a doe's leg. There was a fawn and another small doe with her, so she lagged and even stalled her run to give her fawn time to sprint away. Just as Bane went to munch on her leg, she sprang away, just a second late tho. And note, deer on the run make no noises or "squeaks" at all. That was pure prey drive. He also obeyed the "leave it" command instantly when I saw him grab her.
 

ACooper

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#17
That's very good he obeyed the "leave it" when he was in full chase of a deer......I'd be very impressed with any dog that would do that.

Orson, I'd say he'd ignore me under those circumstances, never been put to the test, but I highly doubt he'd want to give up and listen. Phoebe (our other dog in the siggie) is 110% recall under ANY circumstance.........mid chase of ducks/geese/cats ANYTHING and she stops dead and returns to us no problem!

As to my original post, I was just concerned as to the "squeaks" in the toys imitating "death squeals" of smaller prey and I'd never heard or thought of that comparison before. I definitely don't want to encourage Orson to be aggressive towards smaller animals, nor do I want to worsen his dog aggression. I am glad to see so many of you who disagree with that theory :D *phew* Because like I said, Orson TRULY lives for his squeaky toys!

Oh and Todax, Orson loves water bottles too, LOL..........I definitely agree that he loves making as much noise as possible with those bottles! haha
 

Todax69

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#18
I also had another incident with my last two dobes

They were brother and sister. The rabbits around here are just plain stupid. One year the mom plops her kids right next to a fence, unfortunately on the wrong side of that fence. My kids were finishing them off before I found out what they were up to. Horrible sight seeing a full baby rabbit being vomitted back up.
The next year she hutched them ten feet from the bottom of my back stairs. You may not be aware, but baby rabbits have virtually no scent. Instinct tells them to freeze and when I saw three week old bunnies all looking like statues one day, I realized just how true that was.
But one got scared and caught my boys' eye and off they both went. At first I just told them to back off, but soon enlisted the boy's aid in helping me coral them until I got six of them in a trash can to rehome them. Half way thru my efforts, I saw and heard Dizzy, the daughter, holding one in her mouth. I told her "baby" which means to protect and be careful, and to my surprise, she never hurt that little fellow one bit. When I saw one tiny leg hanging out of her mouth, I told her to bring it to me and she very willingly gave him up to me, unhurt. The point being, baby rabbits do squeal when you squeeze them just like a squeeky toy, but not until after they're caught and in the jaws of the dog. I don't believe there is any correlation in the squeek and prey drive. Prey drive to me is the instinct to go after anything that moves quickly and is totally hardwired in dogs.
 
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#19
I've heard that before too but I've also heard that squeak toys can be good for dogs with high prey drives because it gives them an outlet. In that case it's good for your dog to love squeak toys! I doubt any dog is going to lose his/her drive just because you don't give them a squeak toy. It makes sense that being able to play with them would make a real squeaking animal less novel. As long as they're not obsessed with the toy and that's no good either way.

I really don't know which one is true, if either, I think you just need to judge how your own dog seems to act with the toy. If he/she isn't obsessed and doesn't suddenly start trying to kill cats/squirrels/etc. then just let 'em have fun! :)
 

Doberluv

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#20
No way. I don't buy that for one minute. CM up to his usual make-anything-up-that makes dogs look like idiots that can't tell the difference between a toy and being aggressive....or would that be "dominant?":rofl1:
 

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