Pete (@TidyWeekender)

Why do domestic dogs have such a problem with chasing wildlife? I'm talking in generalisations, I know there are exceptions. Whenever I watch a wildlife documentary it strikes me that the predatory animals only ever chase other animals when there's a hunt on, so essentially just for food. Why are domestic dogs different, or in need of being taught not to chase? Well firstly we have to examine what dogs are. They are classified as facultative carnivores. So they are meat eaters. In the case of the dog's ancestors, Wolves, that means they are both active predators and scavengers. That is the lineage of todays domestic dog. As an aside I was gobsmacked to learn that there is a contingent of the Force Free crowd that are pushing the narrative that dogs are not predatory animals, and are using institutional machinery of a few trainers guilds and vet behaviourist guilds to force their members to agree with this false narrative. These people are certifiable and should not be near your or anyone's dogs, but this is a topic for another day. Back to the topic at hand, so wild predators of all species do not randomly chase prey animals except when they are puppies / kittens. The biggest reason for this is that chasing something takes a lot of energy and nature has set up very finely tuned systems. Only the young generally have the energy to waste doing this because life is really damn hard and most mammal hunters have a sub 50% hunting success rate. Adult predators just don't have the energy or interest to spare frivolously chasing things. Not to mention that for many species its prey is much larger than it, and so to chase invites the chance of the prey fighting back and thus major injury or death. Back to the domestic dog. The catch for our pets is that they have the same predatory instincts as their ancestors (but these have also been tweaked by human selective breeding) but they often have no real use for it, we feed them. So what happens over time is that our dogs are forced to exist with this innate desire or need to chase and hunt (to varying degrees, breed dependent) with no outlet. They also don't get the lessons of the hard knock life like wild animals do. Wolf carcass studies show many wolf fatalities are caused by prey injuries. A Bison hoof to the head is not a fun experience, but for the wolf it's do or you & your offspring die. So when something triggers dog's suppressed hunting instincts in a domestic setting it really shouldn't be a surprise that the instincts come roaring out at full throttle, the domestic dog hasn't had the benefit of the schooling nature is so very good at giving. So we have to teach them not to chase. That's not easy. But I have a solution; So I like to give my dogs the opportunity to hunt and chase. I stick to hares and rabbits, which are a nuisance invasive species here, but giving my dogs an appropriate outlet for that instinct really helps to bring fulfilment to my dogs and translates into much "nicer" behaviour in other contexts in their life. Synthetic chase options are available too, it doesn't have to be real live animals. The picture is one of my two hunting a rabbit. Dogs are smart enough to understand that there is a time and a place for the chase, in my experience it is easy to teach them this concept and the benefits are well worth it.