# Why do dogs like to kill things? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326 "2018-01-23T21:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/41 "2018-03-06T05:56:37Z")
I’ve heard that’s true of wild weasels, but can’t find a reputable cite at the moment better than a shitload of personal anecdotes from backyard chicken owners. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/42 "2018-03-06T17:29:58Z")
Dogs descend from wolves. Some dog breeds still have high prey drive, like Huskies (I have one, he’s gone after foxes, rabbits, squirrels and skunks). They’be been known to tear apart smaller dogs for seemingly no reason. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/43 "2018-03-06T17:33:34Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Interesting thread. And you obviously have a lot of experience and interesting things to say. Thanks. I’d appreciate your take on a couple of things. > > We’ve had 4 golden retrievers over 30+ years. Yes, very soft mouths - carry clothes and things around but don’t chew them up. They do, however, at times like to chase animals - such as rabbits in the backyard, or rabbits/deer when out walking off leash. Seems somewhat at odds with the “wait and retrieve” behavior I’d expect they’d been bred for. More like a greyhound sight/pursuit behavior. > > I remember one time we took our 2 goldens to a dog park, where several clueless rabbits had apparently built nests. They found a number of baby rabbits, and when we told them to “drop it,” instead, they rapidly gulped them down. The behavior I would expect related to food scraps or garbage, rather than living things. > > Had a similar situation. Long story short, a mason disturbed several baby squirrels rebuilding a chimney, and placed them in a box he hung from our fence. My dog ignored them, but the mutt directly behind was going nuts. The neighbor mutt jumped the fence, tore down the box, and my golden joined her in a bloodbath. > > But a contrast was when I saw a prior golden out in the back yard. I thought she was playing with a squeaky toy, until I saw her gently toss the object, and it squeaked while in the air. Yep, baby squirrel (somewhat the worse for wear.) > > I’m not a cat person, but my impression is that housecats will kill for sport. In fact, if I hadn’t thought of terriers, I would have said cats were the only animals that killed other than for hunger. Do most people WANT their cats to kill mice and such, such that it has not been bred out of them? Do other species/breeds kill for sport/enjoyment.reasons other than hunger? Well, dogs are dogs. They are a predator species, or at least derived from a predator species. Given a tempting opportunity, like a baby squirrel, the primal drive kicks in for many dogs. That’s true ten times over if there is more than one dog (pack hunting drive). Lots of people are stunned to find that their three lolloping uberfriendly labradors left at large killed a whole flock of their neighbors’ sheep. Happens every day though. As far as “killing for sport” – well, tapping into your primal drives is very rewarding, folks. If it wasn’t extremely enjoyable to hunt down and kill prey, wolves would have died out hundreds of thousands of years ago. Mostly they can’t indulge in pointless murder, because hunting is an enormously difficult enterprise, if your prey has evolved right along with you to be almost but not quite impossible to catch. But given easy prey like small livestock, it’s very likely to be a happy bloodbath. Cats “play” with their prey is for a very different reason. As a rule, obligate carnivores such as felids cannot afford to get injured, especially solo predators. They will starve if not at optimal agility. Cats are not very strong, either. So the batting around of a live mouse is to bewilder and weaken it until it can be safely killed without the possible fatal occurrence of a rodent bite wound. A terrier of comparable size is capable of grabbing a mouse and swallowing it whole, or breaking a rat’s back with a quick shake of its neck. Cats can’t do that. Domestic cats which get regular meals don’t hunt from hunger, but from instinct. They have varying amounts of that, like dogs. Cats also learn to hunt from their mothers, so there’s another place for things to break down and only pieces of the hunting drive to be displayed. As for whether cat owners want them to kill things? Dunno. I’m not a cat person and their destruction of songbirds – they are one of the largest factors in the documented plummeting of songbird populations – is one of the biggest reasons. But cats, unlike dogs, reproduce mainly without human selection. So, if someone wanted to breed hunting instinct out of cats they would have a hard time making inroads. Lots of rural citizens keep barn cats to reduce the rodent population there, a function cats have served for thousands of years and are about as good at as they ever were. Those people certainly do want those cats to kill things. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/44 "2018-03-06T21:51:09Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > …As a rule, obligate carnivores such as felids cannot afford to get injured, especially solo predators. 😕 “obligate carnivores”? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/45 "2018-03-06T22:02:32Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “obligate carnivores”? [Obligate carnivores absolutely must eat meat; they can’t get by on vegetation.](https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/01/04/dog-cat-species-appropriate-diets.aspx) If you’re not an obligate carnivore, you can get by without meat. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/46 "2018-03-06T22:02:38Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “obligate carnivores”? [Here, try this.](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=obligate+carnivore) ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/47 "2018-03-06T22:54:33Z")
Our prior dog had a strong jaw and was able to rip open any plush toy within a few minutes in search of the “squeak” mechanism, to which she would chew into small, plastic bits. I am not sure how much of an authority Caesar Milan is considered these days, but I remember seeing an episode of his a few years ago where he explained why dogs like squeaky toys. His explanation was that the squeaky toys resemble the squeak of a rodent as it is being crushed in the dog’s jaws. Watching that video from the OP lends credence to that thought. It seems domesticated dogs still may harbor some of that “kill” instinct, but can be satisfied via artificial means. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/48 "2018-03-07T17:41:47Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > [Here, try this.](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=obligate+carnivore) You actually went out of your way for a customized gif without a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326/49 "2018-03-07T20:17:43Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > [Here, try this.](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=obligate+carnivore) **Moderator Note** From the GQ Rules: > [@](#): > > [W]e aren’t interested in hearing about how stupid the question was because a search could have answered the question. Nor are we interested in hearing how simple it was for another poster to find the answer in a search engine. If it’s that simple to find the answer, go ahead and post the answer. **SmartAleq** , you actually put more effort into being snarky than it would have taken to answer the question. No warning issued, but don’t do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-dogs-like-to-kill-things/807326.md?page=2)