# Blood Lust in Dogs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-lust-in-dogs/696164 "2014-08-22T03:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-lust-in-dogs/696164/21 "2014-08-23T16:27:57Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Terriers are pretty much hardwired to chase and kill small critters, even more so if they are deliberately bred from hunting/working lines (as opposed to the random-bred terrier-y looking mutts in a shelter, which may or may not be instinctive hunters). Actually, most dogs will chase small quick-moving things and occasionally large quick moving things, what differs is how long their interest lasts (nanoseconds to hours) and what they do with it if they catch it. > > With a Parson Russell, I wouldn’t worry that a chipmunk kill will lead to attacking random humans, but if you have cats or there are cats in the neighborhood, that I would worry about. Chickens too. > > I would start serious recall and “leave it” training like yesterday, and practice it often. And if you have any doubt that there mights be tempting critters around (wild or otherwise) you’d be wise to keep the dog on a leash. We don’t have any cats in the neighborhood, but since we are adjacent to a national forest all kinds of wild critters wander onto our property. Everything from deer and elk, to bears, wolves and coyotes. When he is outside off leash he stays close to the house and barks at anything large that gets too close. He will chase deer and bears off the property if need be, but it’s the squirrels and chipmunks that he is obsessed with. He will circle the house waiting for them to come out of the underbrush. Once he sees one he chases it up a tree, and there the standoff begins. He barks, the chipmunk squeaks, he barks… this goes on for an hour. Eventually the chipmunk or squirrel will jump to another tree and he will try and follow it. The critter makes his way close to its hole and it’s over in the blink of an eye. Ten minutes later the show begins again… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-lust-in-dogs/696164.md?page=1)