A Jack Russell terrier, I think.
Because Barry is luring the squirrels in, for one thing, and for another wants to train the dog not to obey commands when in leash, but not to follow its instincts when off.
Good luck to Barry getting the hunting instinct out of a Jack Russell then.
I can’t imagine my dog catching a squirrel (she’ll chase them and whine when they go up trees, but I don’t think she could ever actually manage to catch one.)
If I’d done a better job of teaching her certain commands (drop, hold, heel, down), then there’d be a point to doing something about her not following them. I’m working on it.
But if she should manage to catch and half eat a squirrel, well, that’s what dogs do (especially a Jack Russell, that’s their entire raison d’être). Also, by the time he caught up with the dog and rebuked it, the dog had no idea what he did wrong. Barry’s a bit off here. Why is he feeding the squirrels in the first place? And why is he letting his dog out to run around where there’s prey, if he doesn’t want the squirrels to be chased and caught?
Yep. Barry would have better luck yelling at the sky. Jack Russells are born and bred to kill small vermin.
He’s got a hell of a challenge to stop that behavior. It can certainly be done, but I doubt Barry is the one to do it.
Doing some reading and killing is apparently not their raison d’etre. They were initially bred to chase foxes out of their holes but not injure them.
Our cattle dog/beagle mix caught a squirrel in our yard a year or so ago. I told her to drop it, and she did. The squirrel scampered up a tree minus part of its tail. I have no love for squirrels, but I didn’t want her eating a probably disease-ridden urban squirrel and I didn’t want to be saddled with disposing of a dead one.
JRT? He’s not going to train the hunting instinct out, and feeding squirrels etc in the dog’s yard and then expecting that breed of dog not to kill them is borderline cruel.
They CAN learn to ignore other pets, with a lot of good training starting as a wee puppy. Bit tats not training the hunting drive out, that’s teaching discrimination by familiarization - very different and ain’t gonna happen with squirrels.
If he insists on feeding the wildlife then he’d best do it where his dog can’t get to them.
A lot of people in the FB thread are asking him why he’s feeding the squirrels and otherwise pointing out the flaws in his reasoning. His answer is that all life is precious and he worries about them. Thank Athena he doesn’t live closer to the actual wilderness.
Corn fed squirrel sounds pretty tasty! Where does Barry live?
My two dogs are scary obsessed with the squirrels in my parents’ yard. They do nothing but stare out the windows then freak out to go outside when a squirrel comes through. They will do it all day long. They are good dogs but driven insane by the squirrels.
I asked their obedience trainer what I could do and she just had tips for keeping squirrels out of my parents’ yard. And suggested we keep the blinds shut.
I think feeding squirrels and wanting a dog to not chase squirrels are counterproductive.
Surprised the dog caught the squirrel btw. Must have been fat and slow from all the food.
Oh, my dog did catch and shake a skunk this winter. I admonished him for jumping the fence to do so. The skunk admonished him otherwise.
My previous dog caught 2 bunnies and 2 groundhogs. I cried about the bunnies but didn’t admonish the dog. The neighbor gave her praise for getting the groundhogs.
Thread of the week right here.* 
Can we get a webcam running? Now that Dog has found a fun new game, closely tied to his breeding, I’m guessing he’ll make like a furry little bullet for squirrel central as soon as the back door opens.
Which is all well and good until he meets Mr. Raccoon. Those SOBs are likely to be bigger than JTR, and meaner. I suppose coyotes may start hanging around the handy feeding station your friend has created at some point as well. They’re remarkably well integrated into urban life these days. And not too picky about whether they eat squirrels or terriers.
Are you sure “Barry” can’t be persuaded to stop feeding wildlife that really didn’t need his help before his dog gets hurt? Or at least move it somewhere else?
*I promise that what I find amusing is the different perspective that living in a rural environment has given me about things like squirrels and NOT the real possibility that DOG will get hurt. It actually makes me a tad cranky when idiot people do easily preventable harm to animals in their care.
I would pull a doggie treat out of my pocket, give it to the dog and say good boy (or girl).
Squirrels are evil little robbers. When they aren’t stealing the seeds from your bird feeders they are stealing and eating the eggs from the bird’s nests.
Dogs are predators; Barry is an idiot. As Barry is a friend, you might want to warn him that he might want to watch his dog for signs of tapeworm. My cats catch mice, and the vet told me that tapeworms are carried by rodents, so there is a possibility that the half a squirrel he ate infested his dog.
If he lived in the actual wilderness, he would be one of those “Fatal Attraction” morons we see on Animal Planet that gets killed because they decided to feed the bears!! :smack: :rolleyes:
Squirrels survive whether people feed them or not. They do not survive being half-eaten. Therefore, it actually makes more sense for him to not feed them, eh? If he refuses to stop, maybe he could string the corn up in a tree, and reduce the dog’s likelihood of catching one?
And don’t think the squirrels don’t know it!! I lived in a third floor apartment, and there was a tree branch that barely touched the window ledge outside my bedroom. Every morning between 8-10 am, the same squirrel would come and sit on the ledge and cuss out my cat. It knew the cat couldn’t get out, and it just LOVED to torment him. I worked third shift then, and I learned to wait until the squirrel had made his visit before trying to go to sleep, or they’d wake me up with their arguing!
25% of our bird seed goes to squirrels.
We have 8 cats, 7 of which are ex-feral or drops. They ignore squirrels unless it is acting real stupid and unaware right in front of them.
3 are 40% bird hunters. The rest are too lazy. Lizards are toast if seen or heard.
Dog ignores the cats unless they get in his food dish.
No raccoons have turned on 110# of dog on a mission.
Need more training but the best guard dog ever as is.
Squirrels are just rats with good PR.
I wouldn’t berate the dog for doing something I haven’t informed him he’s not supposed to do and that it’s completely natural for him to do. If I didn’t want him to do it, it was me who had to train him beforehand.
Now, if I had seen the dog go haring off and had called him “here Bobby!” and he hadn’t obeyed, that would be a different issue: then the issue would be with not obeying.
What’s next, crying because “my dog peed against a tree!”? “My shepherd dog saw some sheep and tried to order them around”? “My Portuguese water dog jumped into a pond”?
Not a dog, but a leopard in the zoo catching a squirrel. The little boy isn’t disturbed, but the father seems really dismayed.
Of course I would. Who gives a shit about instinct? If there’s something you don’t want them to do, you rebuke them for it. In no circumstances would I have taken either of my dogs out squirrel hunting.
I’d tell them “No ____, No. Bad dog.” And then they’d be taken inside. And then I’d not be stupid enough to take them by the squirrels I wanted to keep without having them on a leash.
And, yeah, I’d probably look into training and see if it’s possible. If it is, I try it. If it isn’t, I don’t, and just keep the dogs away. Or maybe try to teach the squirrels not to be fucking idiots since they can climb trees but my little dogs can’t.
Some dogs can be trained to ignore their prey drive and some can’t. With a Jack Russell, I wouldn’t even try. The modern dogs of that breed (and there are several official variations) are tough, tenacious, varmint-killing machines. Any furry little thing that runs is going to trip their “Gotta catch 'em all!” instinct.
I’ve had mixed success with getting dogs to stop chasing things. I’ve had a few dogs who could be outside without a leash. My current dog, although the sweetest tempered of all my dogs, and the second smartest, can’t resist the chase. I never let him outside without a leash because of this. If he’s in a fenced yard, I’m always out with him.
OTOH, dogs can be trained not to eat something if told to drop it. All my dogs learn that command because it can be a life saver. Another reason I always accompany a dog out in the yard is because they’ll just put anything in their mouths.
For your friend’s dog, I would focus on getting him to bring the kill back without eating it (or at least, to walk away from the kill). But whatever he tries is going to require him to be outside with his dog at all times until he’s sure the lesson’s sunk in. JRT’s are not really retrievers but he could probably be trained to leave his kill for his pack leader.
For your friend, I would recommend that you start lip syncing to Circle of Life every time you see him.