I can't believe he caught it! How to clean my dog of Squirrel? Not for the squeamish!

Factual Questions
1

My office faces the entire back yard - Yes, because it’s in a tree - and I was looking out this morning and wondering how my dog saw fit to play in the sub-zero temperatures of this extremely freezing Connecticut day…Anyway, my dog loves to chase squirrels…he’ll sit Idle for half and hour sometimes, not moving an inch…waiting for the little vermin to come close enough for him to lunge at. He never comes close…they are just too fast.

Well, you guessed it…this morning was diferent. I was sitting in my office watching Griss romp around the yard (he loves playing by himself) then I heard it. A noise that will not leave me for quite a while.

AAAAEEEKKK - short and quick it was. Death came fast for the little ball of grey fur. However, Griss did something I was not expecting…I was already out the door and down the stairs in my slippers…walking towards him. He was finished shaking.

Yes, I said shaking…he was holding a sinuous remnant of part of the squirrel…there was red all over the place, including in two distinct patterns adorning his back. He looked at me and I stopped walking when he turned his head. I said one word.

DROP

Out came the nasty carcass remnant and over he trotted. I didn’t pet him, I didn’t bend over, I just stood there in gawking disbelief that he actually caught the grey lightning creature. Half wanting to praise him for his speed and agility, I fought that urge and merely said in a strong voice.

BAD, BAD, GRISSHOLM

Staring right at him, his tail immediately lowered and we both walked into the garage. Where he got the coldest bath of his life…So my question is actually this.

Has anyone ever seen a dog catch a squirrel?

Why the - never before seen - shaking, behaviour?

Should I resume training against a seeming instinctual behaviour?

I mean I do not want him to get better at catching them…I can see it now: Uhh sorry Phlosphr, we can’t come to your BBQ because we remember what happened at your 4th of July Picnic last year. And we don’t want our children exposed to the grizzly squirrel killing beast etc…etc…

Grissholm is a very well trained animal. The breed tends to be on the arrogant side, and they like to be independant. But I was sure to establish the alpha male role early in his life…so he does listen to me. I think I may just limit his time in the yard for a few days…that will be enough operant conditioning I hope…

2

Back when I had a pet dog, he used to have a stuffed toy. He also would shake it in the way you described. Don’t know why, but if two dogs are doing it, it may be instinctual in some way.

3

He has plenty of toys…a couple of Kong toys are his favorite because he can’t destroy them…(except when he was a puppy…his teeth were sharper) but he never shakes anything like he did that squirrel. I think it had something to do with it being alive, and prey…

4

By shaking do you mean quivering, like as if he were cold, or thrashing his head about with the carcass in his mouth?

If the latter, it’s to kill it. My dog does it all the time with toys. He’ll hold it in his mouth and thrash about wildly. I think he’s instinctively trying to snap it’s neck.

If you meant quivering kind of shaking, I’d say because it’s, what 25 degrees out there?

5

Shaking helps to kill the prey.

My dog caught a squirrel. He ate the entirety of it. The other dog licked the remnants of of him.

Let him have his fun- dogs will be dogs.

AFAIK, it’s okay healthwise for a dog to eat a squirrel

6

I have seen my dogs catch snakes, coons, rats and once to my dismay - a skunk.

I think you hit it on your last post. Everything I’ve ever seen them get is shook as you describe. Growing up on a farm all the dogs there would shake anything they caught. It seems to be a their way of making sure its dead. I’ve seen my doberman bang a snake against the ground while shaking to kill it. (He hates snakes).

This is just my best guess from watching the behavior. I’ve seen cats do the shaking thing as well. It seems to be a way to do further damage and ensure that what they’ve caught is dead.

7

If he was quivering, it could have been excitement and shock. Excitement because he caught it, and shock because of what happened to the squirrel. (After all, none of his toys ever sprayed blood all over the place.) He may have been a bit confused. Instinct was telling him to do these things, but he’d never experienced them before.

Then, he sees you marching across the yard like the Wrath of God, and suddenly, he realized you thought this was a Bad Thing. It’s enough to make anyone tremble.

Likely, the behavior will never be repeated. He was lucky: usually, he wouldn’t be fast, or sneaky, enough to get a squirrel, but this one he caught with its proverbial pants down. He’ll probably never be able to catch one again. He will try: your discipline is fighting against a million years of instinct.

Just be glad you don’t have a cat. You’d be finding dismembered corpses all the time.

8

You shouldn’t discipline your dog (e.g., by saying “BAD, BAD, GRISSHOLM”) when it does something you ask (e.g., drops what you asked it to drop). Very confusing.

9

Its the wild animal break the neck instinct. Quickest way to kill prey.

10

I was thinking this very thing when we were walking back to the garage. I think it went right over his head though. He knew what I was talking about. He’s got that look, you know the look - when you’ve had a dog for a while you know the look - where you are talking to it, not in short words but actually talking to them…they understand everything you are saying. The first time I told Griss to, “GO GIT MOMMA!!” he took off and in a minute or so my wife appeared saying to me, "Your Dog is looking at me very funny…running into our room, staring at me, running out of the room…then repeating it till I followed…what gives?

Oddly, I had never refered to my wife as momma, yet he knew what I meant…I only said to to joke a little between he and I…I didn’t expect him to do it. :slight_smile:

Ridgebacks are wierd dogs…very head strong, and can be seen as arrogant at times…but when it comes to a guardian or endurance, I’ve never seen their equal…except maybe a mutt we had as kids…damn dog came to us at 10 years old and was keeping up with us boys till past 20 human years. :slight_smile:

11

Probably has something to do with the fact that I’m an evil bastard, but your OP made me laugh, Phlosphr.

12

Well Lord - had you seen it, you may have let out a little chuckle…I was supressing it so the dog didn’t sense that I thought it was ok :slight_smile: Heh!

13

A have a chocolate lab that used to catch birds out of the air. I witnessed it on two occasions, they’d fly to low, he’d jump and snatch them. My mom was horrified, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, talk about mix training signals.

14

To a dog, catching a squirrel must be a thrill akin to catching a last-second hail mary touchdown pass.

The shaking about was just his cute canine way of doing a celebratory endzone dance.

15

A bloody end-zone dance at that!

16

I personally would try to keep the dog from catching squirrels. Squirrel are cute little things when they are bounding from tree to tree or when they are chirping at you for daring to cross their territory. But actually they are just nasty large rats. They have flea–ick ick ick. Also in California they have been known to carry The Plague.

I also have a Ridgeback cross and while playing with her stuffed animals and ropes she shakes them back and forth right before she throws them up in the air to play catch with herself. I always assumed it was a way to soften the “prey” before tearing it apart. Sorta like meat tenderizing.

[sub]you are right about them being stubborn. Sasser took a bit to train, but now is a great dog. Plus she has great instincts about people and will be cautious around those who are not of good character.[/sub]

17

I have a squirrel-chaser, too, and just the other day I was wondering aloud to my husband about what she’d do if she ever actually caught one. She caught a baby rabbit once but just held it in her mouth gently squeezing it…it was making a squeaking noise just like one of her toys. In fact, that’s what I thought it was until she wouldn’t let me get near her. She let it go, a little damp, but no worse for wear.

What your dog has done is part of his “prey drive.” Some dogs are more prey-driven and some are more chase-driven. My dog is a border collie, and more chase-driven, which probably explains why she didn’t kill the rabbit. Your dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback (great dogs), has probably been bred to be more prey-driven.

More on dog behaviors:
http://www.digitaldog.com/behaviordrives.html

18

Welcome to the world of conflicted emotions and pet ownership. My last cat used to perch (while on her lead) on the bulkhead to the basement and nab chipmunks. Given the speed of chipmunks and the handicap of being on a lead, I was always surprised when she got one. Still, I’m a bit more comfortable with the idea of an 8 lb cat being a steely-eyed killer than a Ridgeback – I know that if I ever run out of pet food, I stand a better chance against the cat.

19

Deb said:

Anecdote from a good friend of mine who turned me onto the ridgebacks many years ago. and it has to do with human character.

He was walking in town one night, not a star in the sky, but very cold and dark. He lives in Nova Scotia and owns a large female full blood Rhodesian. Anyway, they were walking along when she started to grumble a little bit, a few more steps and my friend saw what she was grumbling at. There was a group of four or five young men, all chatting and carrying on. When they spotted him they all turned and started saying things like, “Hey fella, what are you doing out so late…You got a light??”
Needing to get home, my buddy knew he had to walk by them, he looked to his side for his dog and she was no where to be found. She had disappeared. Cautiously walking forward he was trying to give the kids a wide birth by walking into the road…several walked out as if to meet him. Then it happened. Just out of the lamp light popped the auburn massive head of his dog…only the head, the rest was shrouded in shadow, she was growling very loud, full on teeth growl…they all backed away, back towards the curb. My friend walked past them, and when he was perpendicular with his dog, she heeled next to him, not taking her eyes off the bunch of kids.
This is what I love about the Ridgeback. They are guardians to the core.

And, serial squirrel killers :slight_smile:

20

Our 185-pound Great Pyrenees used to catch chipmunks and play with them awhile. Sometimes she’d let them go, eventually. Occasionally she’d eat one. Most often one of the kitties would steal it from her. She didn’t shake the chipmunks, but on the occasion I saw her catch a raccoon she did the “shake-it” thing. No blood, but it did kill it.