Prey Drive

 

She's definitely still watching for dangerous, snarling dogs.

First, before I palaver on about prey drive in dogs, I want to express how grateful I am for the many friends who reached out to me last week when I had Stevie the Willful Dog here. It was an impossible situation, and extremely stressful. Beyond that, Maya, Jenny the Cat, and I were still grieving the loss of our big anchor, Sgt. Thomas Tibbs. Then the emergency situation with Stevie arose, and we were thrown into chaos for a number of days. If you called, sent a text, messaged me on Facebook, or simply commented with kind words when I posted about having to rehome her, thank you. I appreciate your caring and support more than I can say.

Next: Please don’t worry about that cute (and sassy) little lass. Stevie has moved on to a home with stellar humans who have great pack leadership skills (and no kitties, now or in the future) where she will be loved for the duration of her life. Happy ending!

As for my pack: Stevie wouldn’t work because she has a very high prey drive. A number of people have asked me what that is, so here is a brief explanation:

Puppies, kittens, coyotes, bobcats, lions, tigers, and other predatory animals are born with the instinctive drive to chase smaller moving animals that scurry or fly. Thus, you can attach just about anything (including a paper wad) to a long string, drag it across the floor in front of a tiny kitten, and be entertained endlessly by the little fluff ball’s stalking, jumping, and attacking.

In the same way, if you roll a ball in front of a puppy, chances are the puppy will at least follow it, though dogs have been domesticated to the extent that some puppies will just sit and watch the ball roll, not really engaged beyond curiosity. Other puppies, however, will somehow know that balls are for chasing, and a few puppies will be convinced from a very young age that balls are for chasing and killing.

When a dog is young, this behavior can be encouraged (“Get it! Get it! Good boy!”) or discouraged (“Good job getting the ball. Now drop it.”) Dogs, like children, learn during play. If you give a toy to a dog with strong prey drive, then cheer the dog on while it growls and shakes its head from side to side, you are encouraging the same behavior that coyotes and wolves use to kill their prey. That rapid head shake snaps the neck of the rabbit or squirrel—or small dog. Or cat.

When I went to meet Stevie at the shelter, I was able to see her interact with several other dogs, big and small, and she was good (although a bit overbearing, due to her lack of manners) with all of them. But that particular shelter does not “cat test” (which means taking the dog into an enclosure with cats to see if there is “interest” of a predatory nature), so I knew I would have to be cautious when introducing Stevie to Jenny the Cat.

Good thing I kept her on a leash. Her response was to lunge forward, stand on her hind legs, snarling and barking, trying to reach Jenny where she sat on my dresser. Yikes. I closed off the hallway with a gate so Stevie couldn’t get to Jenny, and the next day, after Stevie had some time to adjust to the house, we tried again. Same result. And later? Same result.

Yes, over time and with training, I could have extinguished the behavior in Stevie. But until that time, I would not have been able to trust her in the house alone with the cat. Which would have meant that Jenny—who claims the house, the yard, the patio, and the front porch as her domain—would have to be locked away in the bedroom for the weeks or months this correction would have taken.

That was not acceptable for either one of us.

In addition to all that, the entire point of bringing in a new dog is so that Maya will have another anchor, another big sibling to help her feel safer and more confident in the scary, peoply world. Maya found Stevie, with her need to jump and play, and her lack of good manners, as irritating as an annoying little sister.

My goal in getting Stevie out of the shelter was to right a wrong that had been done to her. In the end, that goal was met when Stevie was embraced by the folks who will now take over her training and care. Win-win. And when dogs win, my world is a happier place.