Livestock and rodents though. My sister found out her dog had a monstrous prey drive the hard way. Took it on holiday out in the country side and it killed a rabbit, attacked a sheep, and tried to fight a fox. An otherwise very normal and even timid city raised dog.
Wow interesting. I am surprised a dog could catch a rabbit, seriously. I didn't think they'd be fast enough but clearly I am mistaken.
Maybe it's a breed thing. Anyway clearly I shouldn't generalize the way I did, clearly it's a call that has to be made on a case by case basis. At any rate I think there are some instances where it's ok to let a dog spend most of its time outside, but definitely not for cats
It is surprising, yeah, considering it was not a specialised hunting breed. Could've been a dozy old rabbit I suppose.
I'd be less surprised if a whippet or a borsoi caught one. I also wouldn't be surprised if a Jack Russell came back with any sort of rodent in its maw.
But yeah, otherwise true. But then isn't it cruel to make a cat live a life indoors? Once upon a time they were wild and free to catch as many birds as they liked.
Surely there are different areas cats could roam free - rats and cats from colonist ships destroyed flightless bird populations. But where were cats and rats native in the first place? What's a safe place to be for them to exist as a non-invasive species?
I don't really have a strong opinion considering I don't, never have, and never will own a cat.
Dogs on the other hand of course get to rule the roost. I think they can be domesticated much further away from their wild side, unlike cats.
A dogsitter of my dogs now trusts them to hang out unsupervised with their uncaged guinea pigs and rabbits. One of my dogs is completely unbothered by their existence. The other approached a gerbil - the room went silent in anticipation of an urgent gerbil rescue mission - only for the dog to give it a huge lick and then wander off, uninterested.
In fact, that dog once brought back a baby squirrel in his mouth. I was anticipating a bloody cleanup, but no, it was completely alive and well, and he set it down in front of me and stayed by it, licking it every now and again. The local wild animal rescue team came by and said it had probably fallen out of its tree and been left to die. They said it was fine but in a shocked state, and took it away, presumably nursed it and released it.
I was shocked. Up to that point, given his overall demeanor as a scrappy squirrel chaser, who often didn't quite understand the boundaries of play fighting, I thought he would've ripped that thing to pieces.
Livestock and rodents though. My sister found out her dog had a monstrous prey drive the hard way. Took it on holiday out in the country side and it killed a rabbit, attacked a sheep, and tried to fight a fox. An otherwise very normal and even timid city raised dog.
Wow interesting. I am surprised a dog could catch a rabbit, seriously. I didn't think they'd be fast enough but clearly I am mistaken.
Maybe it's a breed thing. Anyway clearly I shouldn't generalize the way I did, clearly it's a call that has to be made on a case by case basis. At any rate I think there are some instances where it's ok to let a dog spend most of its time outside, but definitely not for cats
It is surprising, yeah, considering it was not a specialised hunting breed. Could've been a dozy old rabbit I suppose.
I'd be less surprised if a whippet or a borsoi caught one. I also wouldn't be surprised if a Jack Russell came back with any sort of rodent in its maw.
But yeah, otherwise true. But then isn't it cruel to make a cat live a life indoors? Once upon a time they were wild and free to catch as many birds as they liked.
Surely there are different areas cats could roam free - rats and cats from colonist ships destroyed flightless bird populations. But where were cats and rats native in the first place? What's a safe place to be for them to exist as a non-invasive species?
I don't really have a strong opinion considering I don't, never have, and never will own a cat.
Dogs on the other hand of course get to rule the roost. I think they can be domesticated much further away from their wild side, unlike cats.
A dogsitter of my dogs now trusts them to hang out unsupervised with their uncaged guinea pigs and rabbits. One of my dogs is completely unbothered by their existence. The other approached a gerbil - the room went silent in anticipation of an urgent gerbil rescue mission - only for the dog to give it a huge lick and then wander off, uninterested.
In fact, that dog once brought back a baby squirrel in his mouth. I was anticipating a bloody cleanup, but no, it was completely alive and well, and he set it down in front of me and stayed by it, licking it every now and again. The local wild animal rescue team came by and said it had probably fallen out of its tree and been left to die. They said it was fine but in a shocked state, and took it away, presumably nursed it and released it.
I was shocked. Up to that point, given his overall demeanor as a scrappy squirrel chaser, who often didn't quite understand the boundaries of play fighting, I thought he would've ripped that thing to pieces.