We feed birds in our front yard (the better to taunt the indoor kitties looking out the windows) and keep a sweet, stupid dog in the back yard. And for years she had barked up at the evil furry squirrels running through the tree canopy and over the house. But birds are messy and squirrels are greedy and the front yard yeilded the Big, Fat, Glossy Squirrel. Beautiful and bold, the BFGSquirrel would sit in the drive-way and ignore the car-beast until the honking, with which the monter squirrel would lope across the yard, lunge at a window, grab the window screen and scurry up the brickwork and onto the roof. Then we noticed that BFGSquirrel was missing the hair from the last inch of it’s big glossy tail. And then one day, I saw BFGSquirrel in the back yard, taunting the sweet, stupid dog. Dog did not appreciate the chattering and lunged at the squirrel. The race was on, BFGSquirrel loped across the yard, lunged at a window and slid down to the ground. There are no screens on the back windows. By the time I got to the door, it was too late. The shaking had commenced. Although it wasn’t bloody, I’ve never seen a dog so proud of anything in my life. The sweet, stupid dog proceeded to toss the BFGRemains up in the air and catch them, hiding with it under the shed if I tried to take it from her. It lasted for about a week and was quite gruesome.
All that to say, the shaking is the doggie way of making sure the prey is dead. The blood is because your dog really really wanted the squirrel dead.
My mother has a min-pin (miniature doberman pinscher) that is smaller than most squirrels. He caught a fox squirrel this fall that was quite a bit bigger than himself. I would have thought the wild animal would easily bite through and kill the little dog, but nope. Pretty fascinating.
My parents have an American Eskimo dog and peek-a-poo. BOTH have caught various wildlife items and shaken them to kill them. Squirrells are generally too fast, but if the eskie gets a good start, the squirrell’s toast.
She’s pure white and the blood cleaned off with a bath.
As someone already pointed out, he’s probably not going to catch very many, even if he gets better at it. The squirrels will probably adapt even faster. I’m sure it’s great exercise for him both physically and psychologically. I also know lots of people who like to grow tulips and other bulbs and can’t because of the squirrels. They’d love to have your dog.
The only concern I’d have is does he understand the difference between a squirrel and a neighbor’s small dog that got off its leash and wandered into your yard? I mean, is it squirrels specifically, or will he try to catch and kill anything that’s small and runs?
My dog caught 2 rabbits last winter (she’s fast, but she only caught them because rabbits can’t climb fences) and shook them to death right in front of me. I was chasing her around the yard (crying, of course. I love bunnies!) and she was shaking away, thinking what a great game this is!
Anyway to get to the point - even though it was the dead of winter (2" of ice on the ground) she managed to get fleas from these rodents. So please keep an eye on ol’ Griss and watch for fleas. I assume you have his rabies vaccienes up to date too, right?
I’m gonna tell my Dolly what Griss did. She will be mighty impressed!!! (the “drop” part is what impresses ME most)
My dad had a lab mix that at his peak would catch 1 or 2 squirrels or chipmunks a week in the hour he would take it to the park each day. The park was fairly over run with the rodents. It really enjoyed its hunting.
It was interesting to watch because it had tricks to catch them. For example (according to my dad) it would bite piles of leaves that rustled to get chipmunks. I watched it sneak up very carefully several times on squirrels even those that were fighting.
I had a mutt when I was a kid. IIRC the vet said he looked like a combination of toy collie, terrier, and irish setter. He “caught” a box turtle one time and shook it to death. But, when the neighbors’ cat had kittens, and they somehow got into our fenced yard, he just followed them around and sniffed at them. This was in spite of the fact that he usually hated and chased cats.
The guides at Wolf Haven, the rescue park here in Washington State, regularly tell the tour groups stories about how the wolves will occasionally startle guests by leaping straight up (exploding from a lying-flat position) to take a crow out of the air eight or ten feet off the ground.
I don’t know how much of an instinct it is, at least with cats. I mean I’ve had cats through out my life and only my current cat knows how to kill with a neck bite. (He is going to be my last outdoor cat btw.) Every other cat I’ve had harassed their victims to death. I guess in a feat of similar unbelivability this “pit kitten” has attacked at least 3 squirrels, killing one, ripping the tail off of another, and getting to do really nasty stuff to the third before I sprayed him with the hose. (Funny thing is when he’s in the house he’s just a sweet 16 pound teddy bear. However once he’s on the hunt he’s just too damned effective.)
Well, uhm, it may be that it’s not that they don’t know how to kill, but that they enjoy “playing” with their victims. Some cats don’t want their prey to die too quickly. Some do. It’s all a matter of kitty’s personal preference, I guess.
I watched my aunt’s cat with a field mouse, once. He injured the mouse, and then proceeded to torment it. He would let the mouse go, and it would try to limp to freedom. Just at the moment it seemed the mouse would escape its doom, he would catch it, bat it around, bite it, then let the poor thing make a run for it again. He finally finished it off when the poor creature was too mangled to run any more.
Actually that’s kind of how my current cat is. He plays with the animal and then finishes it off when he’s “done.” (The worst is his tendency to “Spite kill”. Basically if I see him with an animal and then I go out and try to get it away from him he tends to kill immediately.) I never remember any of my other cats intensionally killing.(Just batting the animal until it died. However at least I could get them away from it.) Oddly enough this cat is also the only one I’ve never seen twitch his tail or wiggle his rump while stalking prey. (I know, it’s sickening talking about little fluffy being a vicious hunter.)
Cats, as it has been pointed out, are odd when it comes to killing. My ferret (who passed away a couple of days before Christmas) was decended from creatures who were used for “ratting”. I think modern ferrets can be used that way, but the two weasel-family breeds they were crossbred from were.
Her favorite toy was a little mouse made of plastic covered in a piece of rabbit fur. How did she play with it? Bit it where the neck would be if it was a real animal, then give short, hard shakes, as if attempting to break its neck.
Cecil himself stated that wild cats don’t seem to play with the food. Spoiled house cats do this to get in practice with something they don’t experience often.
There was a book that I must have read 25 times as a kid called, ’ The dog that came to stay" by Hal Borland. About a guy who takes in a dog ( fox hound or soemthing) and how
the dog would kill the farm critters, (gophers and skunks).
Then dig them back up a few weeks later and roll in the gunk in happy canine bliss.
In other Canine News: My cousins german shepard, after years of faithful attempts, caught a squirrel by its tail once. The tail came off and the squirrel turned around and slashed the dogs nose. Had I not witnessed it, I wouldn’t believe it.
As per those wondering about the tree office, yes I built it with some friends last summer. I had been fascinated with tree houses since I was a boy, now that I had the means and the location I decided it was time. It nice, friends like to come and watch t.v up there, I have no running water but it has full electrical and cable modem. My desk is up there and it’s fully heated. Oddly my dog won’t go up in it though…he stays pretty much grounded…maybe it’s because he’s not allowed upstairs in the house…
As for the carcass, I threw it away, as with much of the hair…
