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What do dog breeders mean when they talk about prey drive?

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dylanalexander55

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We are looking at several breeds of dogs in the small to medium size. We've talked to several breeders. They ask about our family's activities and have mentioned a puppy's prey drive. Why? We don't intend to have our dog chasing squirrels and rabbits.
 
It means that the puppy may start to chase squirrels and rabbits even if you don't want it to. :)
Then you can't let the dog off leash, because when they sense prey, they just start to chase and they don't hear you no matter what you do. Dogs that have strong prey drive also need activities where they can use their noses, that's how they stay calm and don't get stressed.
 
All dogs have some type of prey drive, it goes back to their wild roots. Some breeds will have a higher drive than others, for instance, dachshunds are a hunting breed and therefore should have a high drive. BUT that is not always the case, there are some doxies who could care less that a squirrel just ran across the top of its fence. My boy has a decent drive, he won't tunnel during an earth dog test, but let him track something down and he's a happy boy.

The breeders are mentioning it because they want you to be aware of it before you take a pup home and then call them back in a panic wondering why the pup acts the way it does. Most Hunting (Hounds), Sporting (Retrievers, Pointers, Setters & Spaniels) Working breeds (Huskies, Malamutes) and Herding breeds (Collies, Shepherds) tend to have high prey drives as do some terrier breeds. The best way for you to tell if the breed you're looking at is going to have a high drive is to look at what it was originally bred to do. (Even mutts will display high drives, depending on their cross)

Good luck in search for a new family member!
 
Our Oscar has caught and killed both squirrels and rabbits in the backyard. It's amazing how fast he can move when there is prey on the ground. He couldn't care less about anything in the trees where as our Italian Greyhound was always barking at anything in the trees.
 
Yep, although dachsies are hunting dogs, not all of them have strong prey drive. Our Manu has seen a live fox and tried to play with it. :D And he doesn't care about squirrels or rabbits. My mom's dachsie was the same until he was 10 years old, then he suddenly found his inner-hunter and he decided that he's an elk-hunter. :D He's now 15 and they still can't let him loose in the woods. :)
 
I just wanted to clarify Steph...

Some Terriers? Terriers have the strongest prey drive I've ever seen! They were bred for the same thing as Dachshunds were (and infact, there's some controversy over their classification in the Hound Group) and have a seriously strong prey drive. I'm trying to think of a breed of terrier that doesn't have a seriously strong prey drive... but I cant. Oh wait, the Yorkie can be indifferent at times :)

If you want small critters, It's best not to have a terrier :)
 
True enough, LOL, I was still half asleep this morning, but you are right that ALL terriers have high prey drives.
 
Well we have a terrier dachshund mix that is totally indifferent to the squirrels and rabbits that frequent our yard. He just sits back and watches Oscar and LT go nuts trying to catch them.
 
Do you think it's possible to test a pup for this while young? I've seen Milo ignore ducks, chickens, other birds, cats, gophers and lizards. But not 100% of the time so I would not assume that any dog won't chase. Once he did stalk a chicken. Who knew he could get even lower to the ground. He seems to get turned on to moths at night.
 
Yes puppies can be tested for drives (play, prey, etc)

Some dogs have a high prey drive, but aren't turned on by things that you would consider as prey.

Scout, my first deaf dog, and a terrier x had a seriously high prey drive, though it was for birds and lights/reflections. Rodents and squirrels were of no interest, but a hawk flying way up in the sky (who knew a dog would even notice?!) deserves a chase LOL
 
PD likes to hunt big tree roaches. If he finds one in the house he barks it upside down. Then I come in and dispose of the roach. He'll chase them until he has been able to subdue them. Occassionally they do escape. I have a hard time convincing PD to "let it go" when that happens.

When outside, during this part of the year, he'll dig up locusts and eat them as a food suppliment.

His biggest prey was a small possum, which he brought into the house to kill, spraying possum blood all over the kitchen.
 
Two of mine have medium drive, and my little girl has SERIOUS drive
 
dylanalexander55 said:
We are looking at several breeds of dogs in the small to medium size. We've talked to several breeders. They ask about our family's activities and have mentioned a puppy's prey drive. Why? We don't intend to have our dog chasing squirrels and rabbits.
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They mean the puppy may start to chase different insects and creatures if their owner don't want to. When they just start to chase and sense the prey they stop listening from their owners. They will become aggressive.
 
Our dog loves to chase birds :( He is not supposed to but he loves it. So we dont let him off leach where birds are near. He is supposed to hunt rabbits with my dad, who is a hunter. So he gets to let his "inner hunter" out sometimes. He also loves bloodtracking, which gets him really tired and satisfied :) But he will always hunt those birds, Im afraid...
 
I learned the hard way about the prey drive. We adopted and older guy and one day he just took off after a scent and there was no stopping him. He ran towards the road as I was searching towards the woods and he got killed. It was absolutely devasting to me and my entire family. We have never had this happen before. Then again we have never under taken the adoption of an older dog. We have always raised dogs from pups. So scary when they block you out.
 
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