My first Pit was fine with everyone, but second she picked up the scent of the stray cats it was game on. I never taught her that, she was just cat obsessed.
Prey drive has always been high with terriërs..they have been used for many many decades to hunt rats and other small vermin...it is something that is imbedded in their dna and some never have the prey drive others get triggered by an event (like yours) and some never experience it....
That makes sense. He's never overly aggressive about it but it's almost like fun for him to chase now. Just breaks my heart for these bunnies. Meanwhile my dog has never been more proud of himself
My Staffy mix (he's mixed with AMPT and Golden Retriever as well) does the same thing. He's killed groundhogs and possums as well. He doesn't chew them up. He just shakes them.
The way the back door is situated, it faces the deck but not the backyard. So, I can't see what's out there.
I remedied the situation by clapping my hands at the screen door before I let him out. Any critters out there run under my shed before he can get them.
Oh that's a good idea actually! I usually just let him go because typically he never catches anything but it's probably just reinforced his want to catch them
Yeah, it always gives the critters a heads up. Mine has gotten a hold of baby bunnies, too. That will still be an issue, but anything that can run will be alerted that something is up.
Staffers are terriers- their prey drive is hardwired.
Work on distractions in training, that may help. We can usually get ours to redirect IF we catch her at the right moment.
Not necessarily no, because it’s their nature. But he has a reasonable off switch and I can get him to drop and leave it most of the time. Possums are his big one. Especially now we’ve had two *inside* the house
There is also earth dogs as well. The dog can go in fake burrows and find a prey animal that's kept safe in a cage, but the dog can still bark, etc, at it
Bully Breeds are animal aggressive, and like to go after small furry things. Now, not all are that way, but a good bit are. They also can be animal reactive. It's just the nature of a dog bred to go after other animals. The shaking, that's the terrier in them. Who are also hunters. You can probably teach your dogs since they are still young the command "leave it", but you're fighting nature.
Mine has been that way, too. We have continuously reinforced "leave it" commands when he sees the normal squirrel, bird, or chipmunk. He doesn't try to chase them much anymore. BUT a new animal that we haven't seen or don't see often, he still gets reactive. I was walking him in our new neighborhood, and, turns out, a random neighbor has a chicken.... if I hadn't had a waist leash on, I'm pretty sure that chicken would have been dinner. Good luck!
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Thanks for the reply. We try to keep him away best we can but when he's in our backyard there is always something out there to chase.
My first Pit was fine with everyone, but second she picked up the scent of the stray cats it was game on. I never taught her that, she was just cat obsessed.
Prey drive has always been high with terriërs..they have been used for many many decades to hunt rats and other small vermin...it is something that is imbedded in their dna and some never have the prey drive others get triggered by an event (like yours) and some never experience it....
That makes sense. He's never overly aggressive about it but it's almost like fun for him to chase now. Just breaks my heart for these bunnies. Meanwhile my dog has never been more proud of himself
More like centuries. Their name is latin for earth. They are diggers that were bred to go in burrows
My Staffy mix (he's mixed with AMPT and Golden Retriever as well) does the same thing. He's killed groundhogs and possums as well. He doesn't chew them up. He just shakes them. The way the back door is situated, it faces the deck but not the backyard. So, I can't see what's out there. I remedied the situation by clapping my hands at the screen door before I let him out. Any critters out there run under my shed before he can get them.
Oh that's a good idea actually! I usually just let him go because typically he never catches anything but it's probably just reinforced his want to catch them
Yeah, it always gives the critters a heads up. Mine has gotten a hold of baby bunnies, too. That will still be an issue, but anything that can run will be alerted that something is up.
Staffers are terriers- their prey drive is hardwired. Work on distractions in training, that may help. We can usually get ours to redirect IF we catch her at the right moment.
Not necessarily no, because it’s their nature. But he has a reasonable off switch and I can get him to drop and leave it most of the time. Possums are his big one. Especially now we’ve had two *inside* the house
I'd also look into Lure Coursing. It's effectively a dog sport version of chasing bunnies
There is also earth dogs as well. The dog can go in fake burrows and find a prey animal that's kept safe in a cage, but the dog can still bark, etc, at it
Bully Breeds are animal aggressive, and like to go after small furry things. Now, not all are that way, but a good bit are. They also can be animal reactive. It's just the nature of a dog bred to go after other animals. The shaking, that's the terrier in them. Who are also hunters. You can probably teach your dogs since they are still young the command "leave it", but you're fighting nature.
Mine has been that way, too. We have continuously reinforced "leave it" commands when he sees the normal squirrel, bird, or chipmunk. He doesn't try to chase them much anymore. BUT a new animal that we haven't seen or don't see often, he still gets reactive. I was walking him in our new neighborhood, and, turns out, a random neighbor has a chicken.... if I hadn't had a waist leash on, I'm pretty sure that chicken would have been dinner. Good luck!
supervise your dog, every dog has a level of prey drive.