This is so not true. I am not saying the OP does not know her dog, not at all. But if you have a dog with high prey drive you can't just 'train it out of them'. Now you can train them to some degree to ignore it. But never to the point of being 'safe'.
Even if you raise them with the prey animal. I speak from experience. Dekka and Snip were raised with a cat. They were fine for a long time. Then at about 1.5 Snip starts to watch Mr Wellington (the cat) with far more interest than I was comfortable with. I tried training him to ignore the cat etc. You could see him getting more intent as time went on. I rehomed Mr Wellington. Later Snip killed a couple of cats he found in the barn....
If you can just train it out, then your dog didn't have much drive. Its like saying you could train a working bred BC to have no interest in herding. You can modify the dog's behaviour, but you can't take away the innate wiring.
Now in this case it looks like Maddy has no prey drive so the buns and her are safe together. No amount of training would make Dekka safe with buns...
I agree, I should not of used the word "train out of them" what I should of said was to control the drive to a degree. With supervising and boundries. If that makes sense.
Like I said I would never leave my dogs alone with any kind of rodent. . I know that My dogs do have tons of prey drive. My Past westie Maddie had tons. She was our ratter and helped us keep our farm clear of rodents, but she was also gentle to our rodents. And would actually treat the guinea pigs like her babies. But would we leave them alone together NO NEVER!!
Now Teagan will chase Buns if given the chance. Yes, It has happened but she was raised around buns and I have taught Teags her boundries. One look from me will send her backing away from buns.
Casey is another story. He has prey drive, but its low. He will go after mice and other rodents outside but even when Buns got out of her cage outside Casey would not bat an eyelash. He is the
only dog that I would trust with Buns but he is a fail Terrier. Would I leave then alone together NO. Now Teagan would chase her if she got loose from her outside pen.
It was a process to get Teagan used to my lovebird. And I consentrated teaching her just to ignore the bird. But would I leave then alone together NO. I am pretty sure Teags would take advantage of me not being there.
I've had lots of dogs that were great with pets, but if it was say a strange cat in our yard or a wild rabbit. Then thats another story.
