Is Your Dog a Hunter?

Tucker loves to chase small fuzzies. I don't know for sure that he'd kill them...he once stalked our momma rabbit (lives in the yard) who has become habituated to us. He was on his long lead and I wasn't going to let him get her. She just layed there and when he was like four feet away she just sort of hobbled off, started to run and then stopped short where she had been laying and ate her poop instead lol. But he has killed a mouse (and swallowed it whole) and when he is close to a wild animal and it takes off he does a banshee cry because he can't get it. So I think he would kill it, but I don't plan on letting it happen, I like the little fuzzies.

I am afraid Tucker might have a hard time living with cats other than our two, he still chases ours but doesn't hurt them. The way he reacts to cats outside is very concerning though.

My two would happily chase down and kill any critter (besides dogs). It doesn't bother me honestly. I let them chase critters at times, if the situation is right. They've only chased birds/ducks. They both have killed a few lizards/birds in the yard. Serenity once chased a Wallaby but I was a tad concerned about her being hurt and I didn't see the point in letting her hurt it so I was glad she came when I called her off from the chase.

Chloe doesn't really hunt, but she does critter. She's more of the type of dog that if the animal isn't making any sudden movements and isn't encroaching on her territory she'd be more apt to leave it alone than anything else. She gets along with whatever little fuzzy creature I bring home.

Rose hunts. Field mice, rabbits, moles, birds, squirrels, what have you. She used to chase and kill cats, but we broke her of that when we were adopted by the barn cats.

Cynder also hunts. Mike has a plethora of chipmunks living in his yard (I see more of them than I do squirrels ) and Cynder LOVES to chase the chipmunks. Any little creature outside is fair game, but she's also great with small pets.

Gracie and Cooper just sort of follow Cynder around. They don't really hunt, although I think Gracie would critter. Cooper just runs because everyone else is running. lol

Mick and Murph are both hunters - for awhile there, every time I took them walking off leash on my neighbor's 60 acres (heavily wooded), they would come back with something - squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, possum... Murph really, really would like to catch a deer but they don't play fair and generally sail over the fence.

Riley is in it for the chase, he'll run a critter down but the older boys are the ones who will finish it off. He's also the one who will dig up the moles but I don't think he kills them, he tends to play with them. I've seen Mick and Murph laying nearby while Riley digs - then I find little mole bodies in the yard.

Day before yesterday, Mick killed a raccoon in the yard. I don't mind the dogs killing vermin but they'll go after the barn cats, too, which is why none of them are allowed up by the barn. I wish they'd leave the cats alone, we've had a problem with raccoons being a nuisance around the barn and the dogs could take care of it, but not at the expense of our cats.

Kim loves loves loves a good chase. And if she can catch it she will eat it. Hasn't been a problem since she calls off but given the opportunity she really loves chasing deer, birds, and small fuzzy creatures. She's only actually taken out rabbits and mice. She tends to walk the line between wanting to control motion and wanting to take out the target.

Webster too loves a chase. Not sure he'd go after a deer...he's never had the chance. Cats, small wild creatures, etc. are all on his chase radar. He's only even killed mice but he's take out quite a few (all outdoors fwiw). He bears more watching and it took a while to convince him that our indoor cat was not on his list of chaseable creatures...no matter how much he wanted her to be...

Mira has a lot of prey drive but it's very highly modified. If she thinks it's retrievable she will go after it til the end of time but if told it's not a retrieveable item before she starts it ceases to exist to her. She's chased down animals with the other two from time to time but I always though she was just running with them for kicks until she grabbed a baby robin out from under Kim. And delivered it to hand unscathed. She was maybe 10 months old at the time?

Arnold has killed more things than I am proud to admit.

Shamoo is not safe with cats.

Backup and Sloan have never killed anything. They perk when they see rabbits and some birds but I tell them to leave it and they do. I have no valid reason for allowing my dogs to chase or kill other animals.

Oh yes. My JRTs hunt & kill anything that comes into the yard. Opossums, squirrels, raccoons, turtles, rabbits, moles, voles, mice, chipmunks, snakes, woodchucks...

Micki got Leptospirosis years ago from killing mice -- we almost lost him to kidney failure and we have since vaccinated against Lepto because of all the critters they kill.

They will chase cats that are not ours but have never killed one.

Jack barks at squirrels and chase chipmunks but that's the extent of his "hunting". He looses interst quickly.

^This is Ivan. Quietly stalking is.not.in.his.vocabulary.

Lucy does, to the point she rarely gets off the lead, because she will keep going until she catches and kills whatever she sees. Rabbits are OK, but she will also go for sheep, which I can't have her doing.

She is OK with small animals inside, but anything outside, it fair game to her.

Katy has some instinct, but its more chase to play more than anything.

Todd was terrible in his younger days. Anything that moved would have him a quivering wreck with anticipation for the chase, but rarely does he move these days! :lol-sign:

Gah, that's only happened a few times that I know of...and that was bad enough. I do not have the heart to put something out of it's misery. A skilled cat will either leave something alive to play with or one bite to the neck and it's over. Hideous seeing a creature mauled and suffering. Fortunately Soph almost never catches up with what she's chasing.

Yeah I'm grateful (?) that Murphy would have finished off Mu's squirrel if he caught it. I don't know if I could do it. I don't think she'll let go next time either - as far as I know that's the only time she's caught something so it was kind of a test run.

I want to clarify though that I don't let my dogs chase things that aren't in my yard - it's actually something I've worked on extensively with Mu. But we have a lot of trees in the yard and I swear that squirrel tried to commit squirrelicide. The one Murphy caught must have too because he's really not at all sneaky. And he's thoroughly convinced that barking at them will make them come out of the tree. Lol.

Sally has killed a raccoon, several possums, and a number of birds, all in our yard in the middle of town. She usually kills stuff "all the way" but DH has had to finish a couple of possums off that fooled her but were mortally wounded.

Jack just loves to chase things, I doubt he would ever try to kill it.

Although I don't want Sally getting hurt while going after something, the birds are the only things that I am really bothered by her killing. I detest possums and don't have many good feelings for racoons either. It would be fantastic if she would start killing the mice in our house though....

Bandit loves to chase yet he has never harmed something once caught. He no desire to kill things. He just gets excited at the motion of movement.

Yes! Cthulhu wants nothing more than to kill squirrels. And now he has decided that a bird that is on the ground must be a squirrel.

With birds they can walk in front of her and she doesn't even blink, the geese she's more like holy crap what IS that thing?

Thank you for the chuckle with squirrelicide. Also chipicide...they dart out right in her path-Sqeeeeeeeek, goodbye cruel world

Eve in general is not. She does crouch and stalk small things (and large things that she has no chance of moving, like giant bulls and horses) but she mostly wants to control them, not eat them. I'm actually not sure if she'd adjust her tactics if she was going hungry. She's extremely stealthy but I don't think she's got the instinct to "pounce and kill" finely honed.

Fish, on the other hand, are fair game. She's caught a few fish with her jaws before.

Dakota is a hunter. He'd kill and eat rabbits, squirrels, lizards etc. He did not have stalking in his vocabulary, he'd just outrun them.

Kat had killed at least one cat. Dekka hasn't killed a cat, but I think that is more from being told not too. She does kill rats, rabbits and the like. She eats the rabbits she kills. Snip was a cat killer, and snake killer. Kaiden only seems to kill frogs (he really has it out for things that hop) The whippets have killed young rabbits.

Other than Snips cat killng it hasn't ever been a problem.

Quinn is very gentle with pets but has a lot of prey drive. I've never had a dog that will track like she does - she is nose in the ground, super serious! She will absolutely chase squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits. She loves to tree the latter two. We have a 25 acre hayfield which comes with a lot of birds that she loves to flush out and chase as they fly. She will stand in the pond for hours waiting for frogs to surface. She's never actually caught anything yet (although has eaten half-dead mice the cat has brought her), but I can easy see her biting in her excitement if the opportunity presented itself. It depends on where we are, but I do give her the freedom to go and chase as much as she likes. She is great about coming back anyways and just a couple of weeks ago I called her off a turkey no problem, I was very proud.

Her breeder's dogs (Quinn's gdam, dam, and half sister) all more skilled in the hunting department but they've been more encouraged, I believe. I never really encouraged Quinn as a puppy to hunt mice, rats, etc in the barn or anything.

Snowy is a hunter and killer. Hard to believe with his fluffy looks, but trust me, there is a giant wolf in a body of this small dog.

Crystal has the chase drive. kitties, rolling balls and flying crow.

I find it interesting comparying the prey drive of Buster and Quinn. I would say both have high prey drive but where Quinn has masive chase/toy drive. Buster's is all for the kill.

Quinn is generally pretty good with other animals but I wouldn't trust her not to chase if they ran, that said - if she caught them she wouldn't know what to do. Buster on the other hand is always looking for a chance to take something on. You have to constantly watch him when in areas with cover because he tries to sneak off and if he knows you can't see him anymore you loose all verbal control over him. I've seen him try to take on a goat ( a BIG goat) that first just stood up and slammed him into the ground, didn't even slow him down. If I had an interest in it I think he would have made a great pig dog, he lives for the stuff.
I like taking him out in the paddocks here though. The grass can harbour Hares but so far so good with avoiding them and he LOVES looking for mice in the grass.