Jenny47

Hi - my parents have a 1.5 year old poodle named Sammy. He is a 13 lb. miniature, and the most gentle, loving, patient dog they've ever had. In fact, we are considering making him a service dog since he is so good with everyone, including kids, babies, and other dogs. Like any dog, he barks and chases squirrels and small animals in the yard where he lives in Pennsylvania. But in the last 6 months he has been catching birds mid-flight and ripping them open! Then two days ago, he brought in a bloody, frightened young rabbit and proudly placed it on the couch in the living room!

I know poodles were originally bred to be retrievers, and a lot of people who hunt WANT that trait in their poodles, but we're afraid he'll either try to take down something bigger than he is and get hurt or killed, or he'll hurt a neighbor's cat or family pet. We don't think he would ever attack a dog because he's been around a lot of other dogs and he's very sociable and good with them.

We thought about getting him a bell for his collar so the animals hear him coming, but this won't stop the behavior. How can we train him to stop catching and hurting small animals?

Thanks,

Jenny

spoospirit

I will be anxiously awaiting the answers to this problem. Our spoos have a very high prey drive too. We have to watch them all the time with our house cats. We live in the woods and I have never seen them come home with a small animal; they just seem to have an obsession with cats.

We have tried 'leave it' with praise for doing it. It worked at first but then they began to ignore me and I had to physically take them away and put them in time-out. But, that hasn't solved the problem either. So I have not been successful in training their desire to stalk our cats either.

Olie

I have never dealt with a high prey dog, long term or that was my own. I have read that it is very very difficult to change prey behavior because it is such a high driven trait in that dog.

There is a lot on the internet about high prey dogs. Maybe a behavorists is a good route.

Teffy

Is it very wrong to be in awe that your dog can catch a bird mid-flight? And he's mini too, how in the world?! Sheesh. One of mine has a high prey drive but has never actually caught an animal or brought one back to me. When I recognized her drive for all things small, fast and flighty, specifically swallows, I decided the only prevention is to never let her off leash where swallows and similar birds reside. Like Olie said, the trait came with the package, it's not learned...so unlearning may be like swimming upstream. However, it doesn't hurt to keep practicing those recall games, you never know when you'll need it.

Some people have dogs 'drop' on command (like in the CDX but in real life), I've seen a rottie do a full on charge towards a chow and this tiny, maybe 100 pound woman yelled in a low voice 'drop' and BOOM, this massive dog was on all fours while she walked up to him calmly, leashed him and practiced some heeling patterns before walking away. Maybe that is another thing you AND I should work on.

Spoospirit reminded me about my cat situation, Buffy likes to chase the cats once in a while, not to kill or hurt but to chase/run, really harmless but can be stressful I'm sure. The 'leave it' command works EVERY time, I say it one time with a serious tone, she complies, I praise and have her do a series of tricks/exercises and jackpot her with treats/praise/ball games. This distracts her, gets her focused on me, she becomes tired and forgets about the cats.

Vibrant

Jenny, You're mistaking the desire for retrieving for prey drive! You wouldn't want your hunting dog to tear the duck to pieces, and the retrieve is made after the duck is (hopefully dead) on the ground.
I have a very high prey drive poodle, too. Cheers spends her days on 'cat watch', has emptied my pond of frogs, and has killed a few rabbits in my back yard and on walks. The attraction is the movement, and the thrill comes in the chase. Once they're dead or still, she loses interest.
Troy, on the other hand, loves to retrieve and carry....bumpers, balls, dumbells, ducks...but his prey drive is much lower. He enjoys barking at Cheers while she is busy chasing things, and he actually got a baby bunny from its nest this summer and held it very gently in his mouth. I was able to return it, unharmed, to its nest.
Prey drive is a very strong instinct. Sammy's not being bad, he's just doing what comes naturally to him. I don't think you can stop it, but you can protect the victims. The idea of a bell to warn cats, birds, bunnies is a good one. Otherwise, keep him on a leash when he's in situations where he's likely to encounter irresistible chasing opportunities!!

Teffy

ooo, yes Buffy is not a prey-drivey dog...she has a chase-drive if there is such a thing, she doesn't retrieve half the time. She's the stereotypical prissy poodle who can't get her feet muddy, forget about the blood.

I'm still in awe about the mid-flight catching...such athleticism...of course if that was a flying mammal I'd be horrified.