Have your dogs eaten a bird?

MariaM, nah you shouldn't be worried. Your dog is a retriever and it's their instinct to hunt. My dog is a beagle and has killed several birds over the course of her life (she's 8). I scold her, but my father says not to because it's in her blood to attack animals because she is a hound. Has she ever killed rabbits since she's a beagle? I haven't seen her do that..she's chased some rabbits off but that's about it. But basically, if you have a breed of dog that has an instict to hunt animals (or in your case, eat them), you really can't do anything about it if they come to you with a dead bird in their mouth..you just have to let them be!

Flute actually jumped up and swatted one out of the air once. I managed to rescue it before she inflicted any real damage to it. But we sure don't get a lot of birds in our yard know.

eww, thank gawd no. I doubt he would ever try to kill or eat a bird... he would try to herd it, or just lay down and stare at it for a long time though.

Yes, there's still a few feathers from the cardinal she ate still blowing around out there *sigh* huskies are extrodinarily efficient at killing things. (I tell myself -what a good provider she would be in the wild!) Her favorite seem to be rabbits - especially babies. I'm always amazed to find leftovers INSIDE the kennel - dumb bunnies.... but she only eats the birds & rabbits. (she's also killed numerous squirrels, possoms, raccoons, mice, and a skunk) Sherman ate a rabbit or two last year, too.

she is not fast enough to catch a bird thankfully... but she never gave up trying to chase them.

Honey has killed birds before, but she has never tried to eat one. She just carries them around in her mouth like a proper Retriever. :rolleyes:

Autum has broughten me an overtired goldfinch she caught in our frontyard, but she didn't hurt a feather. She also tried to fetch a blue teal in our backyard but it was too big for her. I wish I was a hunter so I could try her out in the field sometime, but nither of us like killing animals. If she came across a baby bunny or a squirrel she would try to get it to play, but Pepper would kill it in seconds. Only thing Autumn kills are the bees and wasps we get all over our yard. She likes something that will put up a fight.

*sighs* Muffin ate my lovey-pet Skittles when Muffin first came home. I now keep my birds clipped so they cannot fly (which is what brought on the hunting instinct)

This is not something to be worried about, because dogs are animals. They still have the instincts to survive in the wild, including hunting for meals. Dogs are carnivores. It's very sad when they kill something innocent without reason, but there isn't much you can do.

*hugs to you*

>.< A case of the instincts. I about cried when Odie ran through my legs and pounced on a baby robin and killed it. =[ I couldn't really yell because it really wasn't his fault. Awe.
Rip, for the little birdy.

Sadly, yes, Drake has eaten several birds in his lifetime :( Birds are not the only lil creatures that Drake has "hunted" and consumed. It has been a while though since we live in an apartment now. He has gotten ahold of a few bunnies in the nature park. I shrieked so loud that it startled him and he dropped them numerous time. Fortunately, the bunnies were able to hop away unharmed.

We found a dead baby robin in our yard many years ago (before Nebo or Syd lived here)....not sure if Reggie or Smokey did that. I also found some feather in the yard not too long ago, I don't know if one of the dogs killed/ate a bird or a cat did it...there's several cats that roam the neighborhood and they've been in our yard before.

My mom said that one day she saw Sydney in the corner of the yard all excited and she wouldn't leave the corner. So my mom went down there and there was a baby bird, Sydney had not harmed it. I think Reggie and Nebo were in the yard at the time too but they may not have seen it.

Whenever Nebo sees the birds or small animals at Petco he acts like he wants to eat them, so I'm sure he would if given the opportunity. He doesn't react that way to cats he's seen (they have them in a cage for adoption at Petco...he just sniffs and wags his tail like he wants to play with them) so I'm hoping he would not harm a cat.

The only animal Timber can't stand is birds. She hates them. Every time she sees one she chases it (although she has never caught one). One time I brought her over the her playmate's house, and they had a cage with doves in it, and one of the dove's tails was sticking out. Timber walked right up to it and carefully pulled the tail feathers out. Atleast she was ladylike about it. :rolleyes:

Otherwise she loves small animals. She would never hurt my rats ever.

Forgot to mention -- Timber once found a dead bushrat. My grandpa had found it, dead, and he through it in the bush and Timber ran after it. It took a while for them to get her to finally let go of it.

Maximus chewed on a dead rabbit once, we believe it was dead when he found it because he is not that fast, however, we found it in the living room floor the next morning.

Maximus got sick, would not eat so we took him to the vet and he said that Maximus got some kind of intestinal virus from the dead rabbit.

but dont know if birds would be the same.

Kevin

No, but she will beat the snot out of any bug!

Only the chicken I give her from my leftovers.