Dog behaviour: is this aggressive/playful/inquisitive?

morganafay

I'm just wondering what kind of behaviour does a dog have when it wants to hunt something, like if a terrier saw a mouse or something? Because one of my dogs is obsessed with my guinea pigs, and I dunno if she wants to eat them or just to see them!

She will run around and around their run, and then stop and stare at them, standing completely still, with her tail half raised. And every now and again she'll bark like she really wants to get in to them. I think that probably means she wants to eat them!

I have let her sniff them before and she just licked one! But I don't trust her anymore and won't let her near them. The other two dogs just ignore the guinea pigs. None of my dogs have ever hunted anything, so I don't know how much instinct they have!

And I have baby rabbits now and if I'm holding one then the dogs will all watch it and want to see it. But the rabbits look just like week old kittens, and my dogs have often been around newborn kittens when they younger, and they never hurt them (they actually would cuddle up with them and lick them) . . . so can dogs sense that a rabbit is a prey animal, even if it's that young?

I'm guessing people's answers will probably be that dogs are predators and would always want to eat prey animals, but I'm just curious.

peasant

morganafay wrote: »

stop and stare at them, standing completely still, with her tail half raised.

That certainly is step one of hunting behaviour. Whether step two will follow isn't certain, but it might. You're right to be cautios in this case.

EGAR

It depends on the breed/cross of the dog as well. Collies stare and display *hunting* behaviour which in their case was diverted into herding.

Many dogs would hunt animals not known to them but would leave the sqame species alone at home.

Many dogs live happily along the cat at home but would chase a strange cat when out on a walk or if it comes into *their* garden.

morganafay

Yeah I thought the staring probably was hunting behaviour. They're Cavaliers. Sometimes she'll just look at them and wag her tail, then sometimes she'll stand still and stare. She's better with my two more tame guinea pigs that aren't that scared of her. But with the two that are scared of her, she seems to want to hunt them more.

That's true about the cats. My dogs love my cats, but will chase any strange cat. But if they see me feeding a strange tom cat, or rubbing it or if it seems friendly with the other cats, then they leave it alone. I know they would never kill a strange cat though, they would probably kill a rabbit or mouse or bird or whatever, if they were fast enough . . . Which they're not!

doggiewalker00

If its a terrier theyll hunt it and probably kill,I had a terrier that wouldnt let a single bird in the back garden.And she was very good shed catch it kill and burry it in the ground.

The cavs wouldnt harm a fly,their just curious and will just say hello to the little guiea pigs and give them a good lick:D

they have alittle bit of spanial in them...not much
theyve got some hunter instincts left in them but they wouldnt know what to do with it
ocaisonally you might see them nose to the ground,then sniffing the air,then one paw up,like a gun dog

meathstevie

In a zoo you can't keep prey and hunter in the same area for obvious reasons, why do you think it would work in your garden ?
You can train a dog not to go in for a kill and some breeds have been developped that way ( pointers ) but when push comes to shove a dog is a hunter.

morganafay

doggiewalker00 wrote: »

If its a terrier theyll hunt it and probably kill,I had a terrier that wouldnt let a single bird in the back garden.And she was very good shed catch it kill and burry it in the ground.

The cavs wouldnt harm a fly,their just curious and will just say hello to the little guiea pigs and give them a good lick:D

they have alittle bit of spanial in them...not much
theyve got some hunter instincts left in them but they wouldnt know what to do with it
ocaisonally you might see them nose to the ground,then sniffing the air,then one paw up,like a gun dog

I know! They have the chasing instinct but not really the killing instinct! One of mine definitely knows she's a spaniel since she just wants to chase a ball all the time! She did grow up with a Springer though

morganafay

meathstevie wrote: »

In a zoo you can't keep prey and hunter in the same area for obvious reasons, why do you think it would work in your garden ?
You can train a dog not to go in for a kill and some breeds have been developped that way ( pointers ) but when push comes to shove a dog is a hunter.

Oh I know I would never leave them near each other. They are fine living together as long as the guinea pigs are in a secure hutch or run, but I wouldn't trust them to be loose together.