Hunter headed out to do his harvesting of the Frost bitten plants for pig feed today only to find a sad sight. A group of a few neighbor dogs had slipped into the garden through the squares in the fence and we're actively attacking the chickens. Not chasing, attacking. He soon discovered several dead chickens laying around. They are"sport attacking".
What does that mean? Well, like it or not, birds are the natural food for dogs. A dog's natural instinct is to attack birds in some form. A pack of dogs, easily falls into natural herd behavior to hang up on birds and attack for the sake of attacking, not for food, but for sport.
It's not the dogs fault, it is their instinct. It is what a dog is. Sure, it's possible to train it out of them, but puppies come with a natural desire to Chase and kill birds. It's just reality.
Today, Hunter succeeded in chasing the dogs off, but damage was done. 3 dogs had already killed 3 chickens, wounded 4 more unrecoverably, and 2 more were simply missing (feathers but no body). These same dogs had killed 2 or 3 more chicken earlier. A total of 12 birds.
Birds and dogs are a challenge, because dogs kill birds unless their training is stronger than their instinct. That's just how it is. But don't get me wrong.. I love dogs. Yet with any animal we must keep in mind that they are animals, driven by instinct that is molded by training. Still, down inside, they are dogs.
What does that mean? Well, like it or not, birds are the natural food for dogs. A dog's natural instinct is to attack birds in some form. A pack of dogs, easily falls into natural herd behavior to hang up on birds and attack for the sake of attacking, not for food, but for sport.
It's not the dogs fault, it is their instinct. It is what a dog is. Sure, it's possible to train it out of them, but puppies come with a natural desire to Chase and kill birds. It's just reality.
Today, Hunter succeeded in chasing the dogs off, but damage was done. 3 dogs had already killed 3 chickens, wounded 4 more unrecoverably, and 2 more were simply missing (feathers but no body). These same dogs had killed 2 or 3 more chicken earlier. A total of 12 birds.
Birds and dogs are a challenge, because dogs kill birds unless their training is stronger than their instinct. That's just how it is. But don't get me wrong.. I love dogs. Yet with any animal we must keep in mind that they are animals, driven by instinct that is molded by training. Still, down inside, they are dogs.
posted from Bloggeroid
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