Your Dog's Prey Drive: Good or Bad?

Brown and White Poodle Chewing on a Blue Ball (Courtesy: MobilityDog.org)

Prey drive – the predatory instinct – means life for your dog’s cousins, the wolf and coyote. The behavior of these hunting canines follows a fairly predictable sequence:

• Search and discover (using nose, eyes or ears).

• Stalk.

• Chase.

• Bite.

• Dissect; and consume.

Your canine has inherited some of these same proclivities. However, when it comes to those squirrels in your backyard, you’re probably trying to interrupt the sequence before discovery becomes chasing, and certainly before Daisy comes back with a rodent in her mouth.

Prey Drive in Modern Dogs

Through breeding and training, humans have modified a hunting canine’s innate prey drive, and in many cases, put it to work for our own use. For example:

Poodle Playing on the Grass Wearing a Red Leash (Courtesy: MobilityDog.org)

• Search and discover instincts are valuable in dogs used for detection (bloodhounds and beagles, for instance).

• Visual stalking comes in handy for herding dogs.

• We exploit the chasing tendency in greyhounds and value the grabbing and biting capabilities of varmint hunters like terriers.

For your beloved Daisy, prey can mean many things: sticks, toys, balls, insects, small animals (those pesky squirrels again), cars and even small children. A dog with an especially strong prey drive will chase just about anything that moves.

Fortunately, you can train your pooch to control her prey drive and help her avoid the most problematic behaviors. More on that below.

Channeling Prey Drive in Herding Dogs

Working Dog Herding Sheep (Courtesy: Pixabay)

When you see a herding dog at work, you’re witnessing an animal in a controlled state of prey drive, taking advantage of the natural prey behaviors of the sheep. To a sheep, a dog looks a lot like a wolf that may consider them a tasty meal. When they detect a predator, prey animals tend to form tight groups, with each animal moving toward the center to increase its distance from the predator. Animal behaviorists call this “selfish herd theory.”

The well-trained herding dog, calling on his stalking and chasing instincts, first zig-zags to push any straggling sheep back toward the center of group, and then drives them toward a target location (e.g., a pen or gate). The dog uses his wolf-like stare to tell the sheep where to go, and they get the message. This is where training comes in. A true predator wants to separate individuals from the flock, whereas a highly educated herding dog wants to keep the flock together and maneuver it as a single unit.

Over time, dogs and sheep became accustomed to their respective roles and confident in the process of herding and being herded. Sheep that respond calmly to the actions of a self-assured, competent canine shepherd are said to be “dogged.”

Taming and Redirecting Prey Drive

Poodle Sitting on the Grass (Courtesy: MobilityDog.org)

But suppose you are not training your dog to herd sheep, track escaped criminals or win races. How do you mitigate her prey drive and use it to enhance your relationship with your pet? Below are some tips.

• Determine the Strength of her Prey Drive. Does Daisy chase everything that crosses her field of vision or sends clues to her olfactory system? If more selective, what does she pursue and what does she ignore? Merely pricking up her ears when she hears a car pass is one thing; ripping down the street after every FedEx truck is another.

• Redirect your Dog’s Attention Away from Prey. On your daily walks, be vigilant and learn to spot potential prey at least as soon as your dog does. If you notice the squirrel first, your chances of distracting Daisy improve. Train your dog to respond to the “leave it” command so she knows that pursuit is inappropriate. Engage your dog with other commands (“heel,” “look at me” and “stay”) or speed up your walking pace so she must pay attention to you rather than the prospective prey.

• Reinforce Positive Behavior. When Daisy stifles the urge to pursue prey and continues her walk, praise her and reward her with treats. You want your dog to feel motivated to obey you, rather than to yank on the leash to go after the varmint that just ran across the sidewalk ahead.

• Don’t Encourage Inappropriate Chasing. Don’t provide incentives when Daisy, especially if she is a puppy, does engage in pursuit, especially of people or other animals. You’ll be fostering a chase behavior that will be difficult to untrain when the pup grows up.

OK you say, but what about training her to run after and fetch a ball? Probably OK, as long as you remain in control of the game. Teach your dog to stay focused on the one acceptable chase object, train her to bring it back to you on command and not run off to chew on it, and make sure your pooch knows you mean it when you say, “drop it.”

Fully suppressing a dog’s prey drive is virtually impossible. And you probably don’t want to eliminate the impulse entirely, since this natural behavior can be helpful when you’re training your dog (to participate in agility training, for instance) or just playing a game of fetch in the backyard.

Nevertheless, you owe it to yourself, your dog and the FedEx guy to train your pooch to control the negative aspects of her prey drive and avoid the most problematic behaviors. As with so much of dog training, the challenge is to strike a balance between preserving behaviors that are inborn and rewarding to you and to the dog and yet safe and sociable in the modern world.