One for the dog lovers
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: One for the dog lovers
Indeed!
Every so often in the zoo world it happens that one or more dogs sneak onto zoo grounds somewhere in the middle of the night, and sometimes they'll spend their time there harrying various animals (especially things like deer and antelope) to death; they apparently do this just for amusement, as I don't recall ever hearing that they've eaten what they've killed.
My first German shorthaired pointer would pursue animals (especially like deer) we came across while hiking if I were to let him, but he just liked the chase and would never have attempted to kill what he caught up to (not that the chase itself can't result in animal deaths; see above). He also occasionally pointed things such as butterflies and lizards. My current GSP doesn't bother with things smaller than about a squirrel or bigger than about a large rabbit, but if I were to let her she'd run down some appropriately sized animals and dispatch them in fairly short order. She has always pointed medium-large holes in the ground out to me, although not in stylish fashion, as she picked up on my interest in gopher tortoise burrows when I'd take her hiking with me when she was still a pup in northcentral FL; of course, here in town that means that she stops for a lot of storm drains along our walks.
Fortunately, not nearly so many folks allow their dogs to roam unsupervised as do their cats. I prefer to think of it as a learning process for pet owners. Dog owners are somewhat ahead of cat owners at present, but they'll both continue to improve and hopefully both get to a truly good place at some point.
Gerry
Every so often in the zoo world it happens that one or more dogs sneak onto zoo grounds somewhere in the middle of the night, and sometimes they'll spend their time there harrying various animals (especially things like deer and antelope) to death; they apparently do this just for amusement, as I don't recall ever hearing that they've eaten what they've killed.
My first German shorthaired pointer would pursue animals (especially like deer) we came across while hiking if I were to let him, but he just liked the chase and would never have attempted to kill what he caught up to (not that the chase itself can't result in animal deaths; see above). He also occasionally pointed things such as butterflies and lizards. My current GSP doesn't bother with things smaller than about a squirrel or bigger than about a large rabbit, but if I were to let her she'd run down some appropriately sized animals and dispatch them in fairly short order. She has always pointed medium-large holes in the ground out to me, although not in stylish fashion, as she picked up on my interest in gopher tortoise burrows when I'd take her hiking with me when she was still a pup in northcentral FL; of course, here in town that means that she stops for a lot of storm drains along our walks.
Fortunately, not nearly so many folks allow their dogs to roam unsupervised as do their cats. I prefer to think of it as a learning process for pet owners. Dog owners are somewhat ahead of cat owners at present, but they'll both continue to improve and hopefully both get to a truly good place at some point.
Gerry
Re: One for the dog lovers
Score one for the cats.