our dog....TMI

[arwen]

ok..we got our newest dog awhile ago...she's really sweet :hearts
she was abused and left homeless before she was got and put into a foster home....

anyway...she's a good mouse catcher :tu

but has now taken to catching squirrels and eating their insides :eek :eek :eek :td

i love squirrels! they are so sweet and cute...i love watching them and the kids love them too...how do we stop her?

or is she just a hunter?

[newdawn]

what breed?
And I think all you can do is train that there are bad consequences for going after them. And especially for the eating part.

One of the dogs in our family would dig up baby rabbit nests and kill all the babies. There was nothing they could do. She wasn't smart enough to figure out it was bad behavior.

Our own dogs, extremely intelligent, wouldn't harm our own rabbits or guinea pigs (unless one ran, and they wouldn't mean to harm it, they just wouldn't know any better)...they both would give the little guys kisses, even. But anything wild...it's just in their blood to chase & take it down...they wouldn't eat them, though. Both were under voice control when extremely well-behaved not to chase squirrels & rabbits (& skunks!), they wouldn't dare try to take off more than alot of tugging after the critters while leashed...big punishment for doing that. Once in awhile, I'd say, "Go get it!" and they'd take off like lightning after it, but couldn't catch them, ever.

One of our dogs died a few years ago, around the age of 13 or 15, but helped train the other one, who's about 8 or 9 years old now. The older one was a lab-beagle, the one still alive is a retriever-collie-English shepherd (not to be confused with German shepherd, totally different) mix. The beagle was good at getting moles out of the ground, grubs, too, ick. She could also track my rabbit when he got out.

[arwen]

she's mixed...
saint bernhard...something else? don't know...
could be shephard...german...
i def. know the difference between english and german...we have a german as well :tu

the thing is...they stay outside alot...when it's warm they love it...i can't get them to come in until it's nite...and then on warm nites they want to saty out.

sooo, that said...i don't see her chasing or killing the squirrels.

i guess there's nothing i can do. :shrug

[Sanveann]

You could talk to a trainer and see if he/she has any suggestions.

[BlessingsX4]

Some dogs just have a strong prey drive. Our rescue has had a few that do the same thing to cats. :(
You can get some tips from a trainer on how to work with her on it.