rabbit catcher

[horselady]

I've gone right off my Golden Retreiver! We were on a lovely walk this morning and she disappeared into some long grass, I heard some horrible squealing and up she popped with a young rabbit in her mouth. She seemed astonished to have caught it and dropped it straight away, but then she kept pouncing on it, like she would with a toy. I was absolutely screaming at her to come away, which was probably wrong 'cos she thought I was joining in the "game". Poor little rabbit hobbled away, I hope it survives. Thing is, next time we go to that field (tomorrow) I know she'll go and try to find rabbits again. Any tips? She is normally well trained and will always leave things when told, she was just beside herself with excitment because she had a moving "toy"

[teag1rl]

um, isnt that what dogs do? not meaning to be horrible, but she was just doing what comes naturally. if she does it again, she'll need to know it's wrong and I'm sure an expert dog trainer on here will tell you how-I'll get shot if I tell you to smack her

[crispetcrave]

Try 2 find a knew field to walk her in, the knew atmosphere might make her forget the rabbits, but if she continues 2 do this then watch her actions carefully 2 see if anything is wrong if you find nothing unnatural about her everyday behaviour she probably feels she is being forgoten try getting her a new toy maybe a moving one preferabley not a rabbit 2 try 2 take her attention away from the rabbits, this might release some xtra energy that she is placing on the rabbit. hope it helps.

[sweetdor]

thats what animals do...like cats catch birds i could go on and on but ill stop there ..sorry to be blunt but that's nature

[lankeela]

You should have either let her kill the rabbit or kill it yourself as it was very probably badly injured and will die a slow and painful death. Or at the very least take it to a vet so it could be put to sleep. Even if your dog had only mouthed it it would probably eventually die of shock anyway.

People forget that they are dogs and do not have the same feelings as humans. This is the natural way of the world and if nothing was ever killed we would be overrun .

[horselady]

Thanks everyone. I know you're right and that's what dogs do, it just gave me a bit of a shock. I also know the logic of killing the rabbit myself, it takes a tougher person than I to kill anything I'm afraid.

[drgnrdr]

make sure she is under control, leash, long line, rope something, that way you have MORE control over the situation, because apparently she is not trained to "drop it" or "leave it" and "come", when she will obey you better then try to take her out OFF leash. Find a good trainer in a training class, they can help you. This would upset me also, I do not want my dog to kill anything, but she is trained to do the things I mentioned above, and when she goes after an animal I tell her not to, and she returns to me. Good luck...~/:\~

[horselady]

drgnrdr-thanks for your advice. I think the bit that shocked me most is the fact that she was trained as a pup (she is 4 in June) and heels beautifully, obeys all the sit, down, stay etc. commands, sits at kerbs, leaves when told, always comes immediately on recall. This is the first time I have ever been disobeyed since she was first trained. We live in sheep country and she's been trained to ignore them (though always on a lead when walking among them of course) As you can appreciate, I can't believe what she did. I took her back to the field just now and she ran towards the long grass but came back to me immediately on recall, so I hope it won't happen again.