Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[BarredBuff]

You can't blame a dog for having instincts.....my ridgebacks feel the same way about rabbits that greyhounds do. They were excellent with the goats and chickens so I expected more of them.

Henrietta, George the silvery roo is gorgeous!

I think its funny........... s

 

[savingdogs]

Yes, but the bunnies do NOT find it amusing, not one bit! Where my bunnies lived before there was only a little doxie. My 100-pounders probably remind them of monsters.

 

[BarredBuff]

No, I mean how my dog acts when he sees one. No I dont like to watch em get killed by other animals. But you oughta see how he acts its funny

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey SD!

your wish is my command...

http://adventuresinthegoodland.blogspot.com/2011/01/ohiofarmgirl-bloodaxe-varmint-killer.html

i dont think you were around for this one. you may have read it in the journal but here's your story

*hugs*

ps kai cant wait to charge into battle. she makes me tell her this story every night so she can dream of her future deed of valor. she's gonna be a bear killer alright. or some other kinda varmint

 

[savingdogs]

Oh my goodness, I am crying right now I'm laughing so hard. That is too hysterical. You seriously need to write a book OFG, your stuff is funnier than any funny novel I've read in years.

Thanks! I needed that................

I did miss that story.

 

[Rhettsgreygal]

I don't blame any of our critters for responding to their instincts.

Our greyhound, Icabod, had absolutely no prey drive. When we lived "down south" (for us, 180 miles south of Chicago is down south), we were out in the boonies on 17 1/2 acres. On one occasion, Roy unknowingly mowed over a rabbit nest. Icabod found the nest with the baby bunnies and he was literally nuzzling the bunnies. On another occasion (the acreage was completely fenced with barbed wire), a fawn apparently could not finish its jump over the fence and was caught on the barbed wire. Icabod never even noticed the deer. Roy was able to free the fawn from the fence and in payment for his good deed he was kicked in the face (we know it wasn't done on purpose) and his glasses went one direction while his cap went in the other direction. How many people do you know that have been kicked in the face by a deer?

Now Taffy was a world class mouser. One night we were watching tv and I was half asleep. For whatever reason I woke up and there was Taffy with something wiggling in her mouth. In my daze, I realized it was a mouse and screamed. Taffy dropped the mouse, it ran, and Taffy was in hot pursuit.

When we lived south of Madison (Wisconsin), we lived on a 1/4 corner lot that we fenced in. We put a bird feeder in the yard a fair distance from the back door. Rhett would go out that door full tilt and get songbirds and drop their dead bodies at my feet. It happened so fast (and only twice before we moved to feeder outside the fence) that there was no way to stop him.

Our critters are predators as much as we are. Every fall we are out deer hunting and if those turkeys keep coming to the bird feeder they may be our Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Annette

 

[abifae]

OMG ofg I cannot stop laughing. That was great!!!!

 

[savingdogs]

I don't blame any of our critters for responding to their instincts.

Annette

Exactly! If only more of the population understood this. A lot of my rehoming efforts have to do with people not understanding what an animal normally acts like. Or what a breed was created for.

Here are a few of the reasons people gave me dogs or gave up the dog I got:
1) Intact dog humps the other dogs (has happened twice)
2) Dog makes a path around the fenceline of the yard
3) Herding type dog is herding things (have had about four like that)
4) Dog barks at things (a sheltie!)
5) Dog chases something (this happened several times)

Are these not all instincts of the dog? My dog that killed the chicken was certainly in the proverbial dog house but I realize she is the type of dog that would hunt and sustain herself should I cease to feed her. How can I blame her for eating what I think tastes so good?

Now, that doesn't mean I condone it.....little turd....but it is her instinct. I believe we can train the to inhibit their instincts but only to a certain extent. We need to manage our animals to work with their instincts, not against them.

 

[AL]

My "Stink" chicken - so named because of her natural stink eye- that the dogs killed Tuesday night

Buddy... my former foster horse but soon to be mine

My 28yr old mare - I've had her 22 of those years

 

[savingdogs]

Sorry about Stink, Al.

Your horses are stunning. The palomino especially. And your 28-year old doesn't look too shabby either.