Every dog has a prey drive, but some are just more driven than others! If your dog loves to chase birds, rabbits, squirrels, or even leaves and cars, this blog post is for you!
What causes a high prey drive?
Some breeds are prone to have a higher drive than others, as it’s what they’ve been bred to do. Spaniels have been bred to be interested in birds. Beagles and dachshunds were bred to use their nose to hunt. Greyhounds and whippets have been bred to spot small fluffy things at a large distance, and chase! Terriers have been bred to chase too!
The other thing that influences prey drive is life experience. If your dog chases a bird once and decides that it was SO much fun, of course they’ll be prone to do it again, and there’s not a lot you can do about it!
When will I know if my dog has a high prey drive and will my dog grow out of it?
It usually appears in the teenage stage, somewhere between 6 months and 2 years. 99.9% of dogs will not grow out of it, and in all honesty, you can’t ’train it out of them’ either.
Attempting to stop or reduce prey drive often has the opposite effect, and will reduce your bond with your dog. Early scientists found out that “denying an animal access to the thing they want will increase motivation in the animal to desire the thing more.”
So, their frustration will build, causing other behaviour problems in the meantime, and the end result will be they will likely end up getting it anyway at the first chance they can.
So what do you do?
You want to work alongside the prey drive, instead of against it. First, you need to work out what part of the predator behaviour sequence your dog loves:
Hunt / search / track
Orient
Eye
Stalk
Chase
Grab / bite
Kill / Dissect
Consume / Retrieve
You can test this by looking at them when they play or by thinking about their behaviour when they have chased something before.
Does your dog like to play find it games?
Do they love the chase?
Do they shake the toy once they’ve got hold of it?
Or do they love to shred the toy up into pieces?
Think also about your dog's breed. What part of this sequence was your dog bred to do? Border Collies love to chase, as they were bred to heard sheep, but they can also be nippy (if the sheep don't move!), so this is part of the bite section. Scenthounds were bred to hunt and track. Terriers like to stalk, and gundogs are usually very good at retrieving.
From here, you can give your dog outlets for their prey drive...
If they enjoy the hunt, play games like find it and search. If you want to go more advanced, try man trailing or gun dog training.
If they enjoy the stalk, use a flirt pole with a long string to mimic the movement of prey (Image to the left)
If they enjoy the chase, use chaser toys. If you want to go more advanced, try gun dog training.
If they enjoy the grab, bite and dissect, this is where you can use toys with food inside so your dog gets to take the toy apart.
Have fun! Most importantly, remember to work WITH the prey drive, not against it!
Thinking you might want some further help? Don't worry!
I have tons of advice, tips, and training techniques that can be adapted for every individual dog, family, and situation. Feel free to book in a FREE discovery call at a time to suit you: https://calendly.com/muckypupsdogtraining/free-discovery-call
Or, if you want to get started right away, check this out: Rebellious to Remarkable Recall! | Mucky Pups (muckypups-dogtraining.com)
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