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It's a pretty straight forward question and I would like some thoughts. We have a couple of house bunnies that are kept in my office in a 4x4 xpen. They are free range rabbits in the evening however, since we got Sugar, we keep them in the office behind a baby gate. Now that I believe for sure that Sugar is a terrier breed, I'm just curious about prey-drive and how to possibly reduce it, or if it's even possible?
Some animals with a strong prey drive learn to make exceptions for the small prey-like animals (cats, ferrets, bunnies) they live with. I don't know if there's a way to accomplish this, or if it's just up to the animal in question to decide that the small critter is pack, not prey. I imagine it's something that comes with time and exposure.
My rescue lab/mix has a very strong prey drive. Just in the last week she has gotten two huge black snakes which are very fast by the way and a baby possum. Squirrels also drives her crazy. From what I can see this cannot be cured.
I have been hand feeding a squirrel here for 2 years. I always make sure she is safely up in the tree before I let my lab/mix Jenny out.
Do you even know if she has a prey drive? You never even mentioned that.
I just adopted a pit to a family with a chihuahua and a pet bunny and they all get along famously with no issues at all. She doesn't have a prey drive.
Please don't buy into any preconceived notions of what a 'pitbull' is. Instead, base your opinion of your dog on how she behaves. A specific 'breed' is good for giving people an idea of what your dog looks like, but these days dogs have all mostly had their original instincts bred out of them. It's actually difficult to find a good working dog anymore that truly has a prey drive in the terriers or herding in the herding breeds, etc. I know the department I worked for in Florida got so frustrated trying to find a true working GSD that they gave up and shipped their dogs in from Germany to get true working blood lines. Gorgeous dogs that were amazing at what they did, but they made lousy house pets! LOL
A canine's prey drive is not an illness that's "curable". A dog's prey drive is an instinct and that's controllable through proper training to a greater or lesser degree.
With proper training, the majority of dogs can learn that specific animals they live with are off-limits - although I'll say sight-hounds with strong prey drives are the most difficult ones I've experienced and some simply can never be trusted around small furries.
In the case of rabbits, you're aiming for tolerance rather than "friendliness" as it were - i.e. the dog merely has to learn he/she may not chase/kill the bunnies, but he/she doesn't need to befriend them. This isn't a situation where you'd leave them together unattended, so you're ultimate goal of "Bunnies Are Off-Limits" should be achievable.
The key is remembering how subtle canine language is - dogs will "speak" volumes about their intent and it's the owner's job, first and foremost, to comprehend what the dog is saying. Without this step, training becomes that much harder - that much more like two people speaking different languages and neither understanding what the other is saying.
I don't know if I am labeling her as a "hunter" per se. Sugar and the bunnies just got me thinking about instinct vs. training. She looks at them like she wants to eat them, and to me that's a warning sign. But I know there are ways to work on it. I need to get some commands down with her and once I feel she will listen, then we can move forward with integrating them.
I believe you can control this but the drive is innate. I would NEVER trust them unsupervised. If that dog ever pauses and stares at the bunnies that is the start of the hunt sequence which can escalate VERY rapidly.
Much training of working dogs utilizes part of the hunting sequence. Even herding is part of the hunt. Freezing and pointing also is although but has been bred in for duration without the chase and kill on the pointers.
Terriers have not had the "kill" part of the sequence bred out of them as killing vermin was their job.
Having had herding breeds and now both a sighthound and a herding breed. I have found you will never get them past the point of wanting to chase as it is an instinct bred into them. I have had luck with a very strong" leave it" command with the herding dogs as they live to please me.I issue it the moment they notice something meaning you can not take your eyes off the dog, If nothing else it buys me time to grab their collar.
I have never had mine around bunnies, Cats yes as cats can defend themselves to some degree but they could be snatched up from behind during a chase and their necks broken.. I have learned what usually happens is rather then the dog not chasing the cat the cat learns not to run from the dog so either stays put or slowly leaves and the dog may go over for a sniff but then leaves it, as what fun is a cat standing still?
Dazzle the sighthound was exposed to cats as a puppy by his breeder and from his reaction I would say he got scratched by them once or twice as he really thinks about bothering a cat.
I do worry when people bring small furry 5 lbs dogs into the dog park as they are fast and Dazzle loves to chase them, he would not hurt them on purpose but may grab one as above so I usually stop the chase real fast. Small dog owners just do not seem to get the picture that a group of large dogs even the nicest dogs around all chasing their small fluff ball are now in pack mentality and the small dog may get hurt or killed, just by one dog grabbing it as it runs past.
You can teach the dogs to leave them alone and reduce some of the drive as it relates to specific animals, but you can't really breed it out of them, and I'd never leave them alone together. I've seen too many instances of pets that were raised together, sometimes from puppies/kittens, for several years, where the dog has gotten overexcited and too rough and ended up killing the other pet [usually dogs from high-drive breeds left alone with cats, ferrets, bunnies, etc].
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