Hey Farmwoman, sorry about the carnage. My dog is part lab and I trust him nearly completely around my chickens and turkeys and ducks. In fact if the chicks are uncomfortable and start peeping my dog will hear it and go stand by the stable door (our brooders are in a converted stable) letting me know there is a problem in there.
But even with all that, he still snaps at the chicks when they do their little feeble flappy attempts at flying. He never comes close enough to actually bite one, but it’s just an uncontrollable part of his nature. I try to limit his interaction with baby birds as much as possible, fearing a mishap such as yours.
Well, ya know, it sucks, but labs were bred for bird hunting. Strangely enough, though, my lab mix likes to chase ducks, but doesn’t bother with small birds. Just big 'uns like the ducks, or buzzards, which drive her nuts.
Oh, and she also things baby-bunny season is the Very Best Time of Year.
Well, that sucks, but yeah, you can’t blame a predator for doing what comes naturally. My cats aren’t outside cats, or I’m sure I would get regular, disturbing glimpses into what my little fuzzy-wuzzies like to [del]torture[/del] do for fun.
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
One pregnant sled dog miscarried while the dogs were in harness and racing along at top speed. The dog right behind it gobbled up the fetus from the snowy ground and kept on going.
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“My God, I’ve never heard anything like that before in my life! What was the dog’s name?”
You’ll have to forgive the doggie, it’s just his nature. People often forget that they are predators and sometimes little things that resemble their squeaky toys just aren’t safe.
We had a similar problem with an eight month old German Shepard and 40 pullet (20 week old) hens. The puppy really couldn’t understand why the pullets were so flat after he caught them. Very much a Lennie and the bunnies thing.
I can truly say that I feel your pain,Farmwoman. Ever so often our dear sweet widdoe petsie wetsies have to rub our faces in the fact that they’re just one crunchy leap away from being fierce and bloody predators–it just keeps us respectful when we reflect on the fact that they watch us when we’re sleeping. :eek:
Something terrible happened with my black lab and newborn kittens. I shan’t go into details, but he really, really shocked me. This was a dog who wouldn’t go to sleep until his orange cat cuddled next to him. I had a hard time looking into his little doggie eyes for a few days.
[QUOTE=Queen Tonya]
Reading too quickly, I somehow managed to pull the word “assisstant” out of my ass and insert it in after “loyal black lab” in the first sentence.
Now that was a hell of a different story I was reading until comprehension dawned. :smack:
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