Outta Here
Songster
- May 17, 2021
- 462
- 1,669
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Having had 3,000 dogs come through my classes as a career dog trainer, I'd like to debunk the old myth "once a dog eats raw meat, he will always kill." Dogs are predators and will kill the first time without ever having eaten raw meat and they will continue to kill if allowed. But training trumps "blood lust."
My 120 lb German Shepherd often catches and eats jackrabbits out in our desert. He also has been fed raw whole chicken throughout his life. Judging by how he sniffs my Cornish Cross intently, he knows my hens smell the same as his dinner. But he also knows they are off limits.
Most dogs can be trained not to bother livestock, cats, rabbits, hamsters, etc. If they've been allowed through lack of training or supervision to kill one, it's a little more difficult to train them to leave them alone, but it can be done.
The first day I brought my chicks home in their little cardboard box and set it down to go get the heater, he thought, "Wow, Mom brought snacks!" and walked off with one in his mouth. Of course he would have eaten it--that is natural. But I screeched and he dropped it, unharmed. Then I began to train him the chickens were off limits. He was allowed to see and sniff them every day and was told "No chickens" until they were four weeks old when, under supervision, I began letting them on the yard with him. Now he spends the days watching and chasing after any coyote who might wander too close. The hawks stay away, too. And as you see in the picture, he even doesn't mind serving as a perch now and then....
My 120 lb German Shepherd often catches and eats jackrabbits out in our desert. He also has been fed raw whole chicken throughout his life. Judging by how he sniffs my Cornish Cross intently, he knows my hens smell the same as his dinner. But he also knows they are off limits.
Most dogs can be trained not to bother livestock, cats, rabbits, hamsters, etc. If they've been allowed through lack of training or supervision to kill one, it's a little more difficult to train them to leave them alone, but it can be done.
The first day I brought my chicks home in their little cardboard box and set it down to go get the heater, he thought, "Wow, Mom brought snacks!" and walked off with one in his mouth. Of course he would have eaten it--that is natural. But I screeched and he dropped it, unharmed. Then I began to train him the chickens were off limits. He was allowed to see and sniff them every day and was told "No chickens" until they were four weeks old when, under supervision, I began letting them on the yard with him. Now he spends the days watching and chasing after any coyote who might wander too close. The hawks stay away, too. And as you see in the picture, he even doesn't mind serving as a perch now and then....
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