Dealing with high prey drive

Hi everyone

I don't post on here much but I'm after some advice about my staffy x. Long story short, she killed my next door neighbours cat the night before last. It happened in our own back garden and there was nothing I could do. I'm absolutely devastated about the whole thing. At home, Roxy is the most laid back and placid dog with the most lovely nature, however, she has an extremely high prey drive. If it moves, she will chase it. I was just wondering if any if you have a dog like this and how you deal with it?

Many thanks

The only way this accident may have occoured is partly your dogs instict to protect their property as it were . id use a distraction in this case but other people may have some better advice than myself as mia loves cats. unfortunately these accidents do occur and you can't prevent a cat coming into the garden r.i.p the wee cat .

Hiya Jo! Yes, my girl has a very high prey drive - she's on a lead of some form at all times in public and I monitor her when she's in the garden, though luckily cats rarely come into our back garden (though they love to poo all over our front garden!!!)

A lot of the time it's just management really, for Bug there's nothing more rewarding than the chase. She will distract with high value food and knows "leave it" which is command that we use if around livestock (we live on Dartmoor so walk amongst sheep/cows/ponies regularly on lead), but she has never learnt that other animals are not for chasing.

I know that there is some livestock training available, but from what i've seen a lot of this involves cruel methods such as prong/shock collars and old fashioned methods. People train in fear, because it's such a self-rewarding behaviour and a behaviour that is not easily eradicated by positive methods. However, I think management is much more reliable and useful in these instances. I've had Bug for 3 years and she has fortunately never injured another animal, and have managed this with leads and constant observation when outdoors. I have seen training discs used within livestock training (they don't hurt the dog, just startle them) but I have no personal experience with them.

This is a tricky one as I can't help thinking that some "old school" methods are kinder to a dog than life on the lead but I am not an expert and certainly not saying I am right in thinking this. My TInks has a high prey drive and will sniff out a small furry obsessively the whole walk and bolt the second she gets site of one. We are now on extender lead but problem is we have two dogs and when one is off lead and she is stuck on lead it causes immense problems. We went to see a PR trainer who suggested walking them seperately until they are both matured and trained but I don't think our staff will ever be that well trained where we could trust her not to bolt when she is off the lead. So what are we dealing with here, seperate walks for both our dogs for the next 12 years? Or walking them both on the lead for the rest of their lives? Not sure I can handle the thought of either of those outcomes. I grew up with in a two dog/one cat household and it was always old school training methods that my parents used. I am completely for postive reinforcement being the kindest way to teach but if it can't help me stop my staff chasing small furries then what else is there?
Thankfully she has never caught anything and until I read this post I had though that even if she caught that darned squirrel she wouldn't know what to do with it, but OP has made me consider whether this is the case. I simply do not know how I would have coped in your situation. Being a cat lover I can totally empathise with how utterly awful you must have felt knowing your sweet furbaby could make such a dreadful mistake XX

This is where a long line is a god send! Mine is 50ft long, attached to a harness and left to trail. She has the freedom of being off lead, but I can step on the line or grab it if she looks like she's going to bolt. She's never gotten away so far, you do have to always be looking ahead, and then line does get grubby and wet and muddy! But it's a small price to pay really

My Flo will chase small furries in the garden or out on walks but has never caught one to date, in fact she has snuck up real close to squirrels and could have easily caught one if she tried. Most squirrels etc will get away in the wild, however, if there are livestock anywhere near she is back on lead straight away as I just wouldn't take the chance.

With the cat situation, they don't come into our garden very much these days because Flo is always out there but she has chased them off in the past. Whilst I can only imagine how upsetting it must have been to see Roxy do this I'm not sure what you can do whilst she is in her own garden however much training you give her. In my experience cats keep away from gardens where dogs are for very good reason.

Understanding what Prey drive actually is will be your first step.
the term "prey drive" is a blanket term that covers 5 main characteristics of a dog.
In its most loose term it is the instinct of a carnivore to catch and devour its prey.
broken down into basics its as follows,
1/ search
2/ to see
3/ to chase
4/ to bite
5/ bite kill
all dogs have prey drive but usually dependent on breed and what we have asked them to do sequencing of the above varies to some degree. for example a border collie may have on a scale of 1 to 10 on the above of 1/9 2/10 3/10 4/3 5/1 which would enable it to do its job as a herder and not hurt the livestock. now take a lurcher and your probably scoring 10 on each drive.
It is a model that has helped shape dogs to do the tasks we ask of them by selective breeding for jobs we needed them to do. for the fun of it, think of what a soft mouthed gun dog would do while working and then score them on the model. now your getting the idea.
Hopefully you are now beginning to understand what drives your dog? its is a primeval instinct and probably one of the hardest things to overcome if you have a high scorer in all categories.
I sympathize with your issue right now, my boy killed the neighbors cat too. it came into the garden and he cleared the hedge after it and dispatched it in front of the owners...not nice. they have also a fox and several squirrels to the count... to this day I haven't been able to train that out of them but instead have had to take precautionary measures instead. yet one strange thing, when they are being worked pulling they ignore everything, deer, squirrel, fox and dogs like they just aren't there so maybe distraction is something to work on.
one last thing, never ever ever mix up prey drive with aggression, they are totally different traits that always seem to get jumbled up together

Chaos has a high prey drive. We've lost count of what he's killed, I'm afraid, most of it in the garden and our fields - lots of rats, rabbits, various birds and a couple of our own chickens. He's even caught and killed while on a 10ft lead!

The key for me ties in with what Nathan said, both about understanding the prey drive instinct and about when they're working they don't do it (as much). None of mine work as such but I do keep a fairly tight rein when it comes to behaviour off lead. Especially with all 3 together, I need to know that they are all near and listening. The rule is that they generally stay behind me, except Millie who is safe as houses and can bumble on ahead as my scout. I call them to me a lot, and also ask for heel from time to time. They go on leads when I see another dog, especially one off lead, and in places where I know there are more squirrels and rabbits.

The only times Chaos has caught anything when out has been on lead. Once a rabbit pretty well jumped into his mouth, straight across the path it went, well it would have had it not been caught before it knew what happened, and twice he's caught partridge lurking in hedges at the beginning of walks when we were just getting ourselves sorted out.

I'm not saying it's been easy to get there. Nola in particular was a nightmare when we first got her, with such a high prey drive she spent most of her time trying to break out so she could go and chase rabbits. Plus she was appalling on the lead. And it doesn't mean you can't just go on a wander with your head in the clouds listening to the birds or whatever, you do need to keep the communication going, but it does mean you can go for not stressful walks.

Having said all of that, if you do feel you need to keep Roxy on a long lead, it's not the end of the world. I think our perception of a dog on the lead for large parts of a walk, if not for all, is worse than that of the dog. Yes, ideally they need a run, but you can play games in the garden that should help with that and you may well be able to think of fairly safe places where off lead is still fine. Those of us who have/have had dogs who were not safe enough to be off lead can tell you that a dog will still have all the pleasures of snuffling around and getting the essential stimulus of a walk while on lead.

Very well written LizP and answered some points I failed to

I cant help sorry, Katy doesn't chase anything other than squirrels. The rabbits in the field we walk in just look up & you could almost hear them say 'oh its only Katy' & carry on with what they were doing Cats she cant make out as some round here walk towards her to say hello

Gizmo's killed pigeons whilst on a metre-long static lead. We're desperately trying to get him to tolerate cats better because we don't want him to kill one but it's so hard.

He's also become fixated on squirrels/birds in trees and stands bolt upright on his back legs for ages trying to get them. I'm worried it'll mess up his joints but I don't know how to stop him.

Its one of the hardest things to train out and many just use it in a positive form for working. people forget that a stafford is a working dog by rights and needs an outlet for the desire to chase. I feel your pain goblin and my boy does climb trees , sometimes you have to roll with it and accept them for what they are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ8WWVQrNvc

He couldn't really walk yesterday because he'd strained muscles standing exactly like your two.

I'm not letting him watch the video, he'd use it for tips!

Nathan wrote:sometimes you have to roll with it and accept them for what they are

This.

Don't get me wrong, I hate it when one of the dogs - usually Chaos - kills something. But we mustn't forget that they are dogs, not odd looking people, and that their instincts sometimes get them doing things that we'd rather they didn't. The best we can do is channel them and give them the structure to do what we'd rather, but there will always be times that insinct breaks through. It's just that strong.

So sorry to hear this. I cant imagine how you are feeling.

Both my cats come walkies with me and T. They will walk all round the village with us.
He does chase sometimes them but they always get up high . They have not yet put him in his place like all my other cats who lived with dogs did.