praise or silence?

[ziplin]

I had to post what happened to day. warmish 56 in PA we were out side finishing last minute winterization. Zoe our two year old Rotti spotted a ground hog returning to his lair under our porch, in a matter of seconds she had the ground hog in her mouth (in its middle so it did not even get a chance to bite her) after she killed it she dropped it moved away with a look in her eyes like she knew she did something terrible. I went to her and told her every thing is ok and light praise. her eyes sparked and she was over joyed. we disposed of the varment and that was the end of it.
I hope this is not going to encourage this type of behavior with other dogs (small fluffy types) we encounter on our walks as she is pretty socialized with other dogs.
Thanks for reading.
ziplin.

[Ilovemypuppy]

I really don't think it will change the way she is around other dogs..large or small. It was afterall a wild prey and she did what comes perfectly natural to her.

My girl Bailey also grabbed a ground hog this summer, give it a good shake and released it when I told her to drop it (training kicked in :o)), but if I hadn't, she probably would have killed it...as it was it took such a shaking it probably didn't survive, althoug it wasn't there about an hour later. I didn't scold her, but I do work on the 'leave it' command when we are outside...as we live in a wooded area and there are other critters like skunks and porcupines around here too and I sure don't want her trying to shake or kill those...for her own safety.

Bailey does obedience trialing and we train with two MinPins in our sessions...they move fast and are tiny and Bailey ignores them...so I don't think you need to worry.

[ziplin]

Thanks for your input. Zoe is also familiar with the leave it comand. that is probably why when she saw me coming she dropped it and back away. it happend so fast there was not any time for reaction on my part. I thought as you said it was probably just her natural instincts concerning wild anminals. she is lying at my feet content and peaceful as ever. would like to think that she feels she had done a good job. who knows what goes through our rotties minds LOL.

[scooterjohansen]

When our dog catches wild prey instinctually we never praise for this. We ignore and forget about it. Don't really want to incourage this. The problem being the wild prey are feral cats. Not sure what to do here...

[StephanieandToby]

Originally Posted by scooterjohansen

When our dog catches wild prey instinctually we never praise for this. We ignore and forget about it. Don't really want to incourage this. The problem being the wild prey are feral cats. Not sure what to do here...

Feral cats are such a huge problem in Oz...on one hand you want to be rid of them...but then your dog won't know where to draw the line and could end up killing someone's pet.....
I think you are right not to praise a dog for killing a cat...

[dmoniz]

When I was young we had a free-range dog. We lived on 10 acres and the dog was outdoors 24/7. Not the way I would ever keep a dog again, but whatever, we were ignorant. In his younger years he would bring home 1-2 ground hogs a day and sometimes a possum. Never once did he bring home a small dog or cat. We lived in the country so I'm sure there were opportunities.

[ziplin]

Never had Zoe around a cat, she leaves our parrots alone, treats them as one of the pack..

[Burnsway]

Here is a thread I started a while back with a similar situation. Bruce Lanthier made some remarks on once the prey is caught the fun is pretty much over.

http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/gen...ght=Prey+Drive

[mkeefe]

My rott, named Miller, grabbed a baby rabbit this summer. I was slightly concerned, because he was only 3 months at the time. What really worried me was the fact that I had to pin him down and pry his mouth open to get the rabbit away. In retrospect, I feel that his behavior had a lot to do with his age. Now, he is almost 5 months old and I really don't worry about him confusing wild animals with pets. Besides, the rabbits stay out of my garden now.

[ziplin]

this is the next day, and we went for our walk before work and encountered other dogs and it was business as usual.
what I was worried about was her getting the taste of blood and how it would affect her behavior. As Burnsway had said the fun is pretty much over.

[Eichen]

Honestly, I don't think there's much you can do about it, as it's just in their nature. You can't really stop a cat from killing birds either, and it would probably be a waste of time.
My dogs are desensitized to animals they see a lot though. I walk them both at the pond across the street, and they don't even bother with the ducks or geese there. Now if it's a squirrel, I had better hold onto the leash with my 9 month old, though. The oldest doesn't seem to get bothered about any animals, unless it's a dog off the leash. Then I'm bothered too.

[Stubby]

OK, question. You praised your dog for killing a rodent. Dog goes.. "COOL!" I did something right.
What happens when your dog eyes up the new lamb on the farm and decides to eat it too?
Your dog can't tell the difference between a ground hog or a lamb. In its mind it's all prey.. Right??

So, by praising, are we possibly opening the door to another problem?????

[scooterjohansen]

Originally Posted by Eichen

Honestly, You can't really stop a cat from killing birds either, and it would probably be a waste of time.

In the case of cats killing birds we put bells on their collar. This alerts the birds as the stalking cat approches. You can do the same for your dog...
Know if we only had something to deter the dog from eating the cats..

[ZandoHOO]

If a little critter gets in my yard, then my dogs will try to immediately dispose of it. They (one German Shepherd and one Rottweiler) have caught mice,
rats, big opossums, squirrels, and birds. My Shepherd has caught large black birds in mid flight when they get too low. Both dogs will alert me if cats are in one of our trees.

There was one friendly little cat that kept coming into the yard. I would always find it up a tree trying to get down, but could not cause of the dogs. When I found out who the owner was, I told them if their cat keeps getting in my yard, I am not taking any responsibility to what may happen to it. I haven't seen the cat since that day.

Eventhough my dogs catch and may kill several critters, they still are well behaved when on walks and meet other little fluffy dogs. A neighbors dog (tiny poodle looking thing) dug a hole on his side and crawled under the fence to get to my side. When I came outside, I saw my dogs playing with the little dog. They did not attempt to kill and eat it.

Where I live, there is a problem with people letting their cats out to roam, or just dumping their cats here when they move. I say, if either of my dogs do catch and kill or whatever to a cat----Oh well! One down many more to go!

[TR Young]

Originally Posted by Stubby

OK, question. You praised your dog for killing a rodent. Dog goes.. "COOL!" I did something right.
What happens when your dog eyes up the new lamb on the farm and decides to eat it too?
Your dog can't tell the difference between a ground hog or a lamb. In its mind it's all prey.. Right??

So, by praising, are we possibly opening the door to another problem?????

I think that is an interesting question. I would have to say that our Rotties are intelligent enough, though, that if they are corrected when they attack a certain kind of animal, that they will learn not to do so. There are enough differences between a lamb and a groundhog that I am certain a Rottie could distinguish between the two. However, if one had a pet ferret, there may be a harder time convincing the Rottie that the ferret is not something to kill. I do think, however, that the Rottie could be trained to know the difference between something like a groundhog and a ferret. It may be tough, though. Still, I think the difference between livestock and rodents are great enough that our Rotties wouldn't have a problem discerning the differences.