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I feel so bad!

4K views 41 replies 21 participants last post by  harleyboysmom 
#1 ·
I let Sam out to go pee, and what did he do? Nailed a rabbit.

I know they are a pest, but I feel bad. He brought it up to the deck, still alive, he dropped it when I told him to, sort of.
I think he thought it was a squeaky toy, because it was squeaking when he he caught it.

Anyone else have this experience, kind of nerve wracking!
 
#2 ·
Our wedding photographers did our engagement photos too, and we did those out on my mother's 11 acre property. We included the dogs in the engagement photos. Everything went great until Riddle dug up a nest of baby rabbits and proceeded to try and kill one while it screamed that horrible rabbit scream. I snatched it from her pretty quick, before she could do any real damage, but our photographers were still traumatized.
 
#5 ·
I guess this kind of stuff just doesn't phase me. I grew up on a farm where we butchered our own chickens, raised sheep and pig for the butcher, ect. Nola's snatched a bird out of mid-air and killed it before. She's a hunting dog; I'd be more worried if she WASN'T doing it.
 
#11 ·
Is it bad that I kinda enjoy watching G mow down small critters?

Something just very, I dunno, primal about it.

So you have a resounding "good boy Sam!" coming from this corner of the Midwest.
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My dogs catch and consume critters all the time; Melon is particularly good at finding rat and mouse nests and slurping up the babies.

I just wish Riddle wouldn't find NOISY animals to try and slaughter when we have guests. :D
 
#8 ·
Yes, I have to admit that it wouldn't bother me THAT much. The way of the wild. But I am impressed if that was an adult rabbit--your dog is fast!! Yogi chased a couple of them and that's when I saw the speed he could really do.

Hey it could be worse--my cat used to hand out by the dens, and kill the babies as they emerged. Worse yet, he would bring them in the cat door once in a while. The first time, he let it get loose in our son's room in the middle of the night--what a racket!! (kid never woke up!)
 
#9 ·
It would only bug me if that was my PET rabbit.

The not being dead part is sucky. Death should be quick =\ I hope it didn't suffer for long.

On the other hand, rabbits are the softest things ever. Maybe you could find a way to not 'waste' the rabbit.
 
#14 ·
Your dogs must be very fast!!We have so many rabbits on our property,lulu and Jesse are way too slow,have given up and just watch them.I think I'm secretly pleased as the babies are so cute....I know they do a lot of damage in some areas,though.
 
#16 ·
Well I guess you all can just call me a big old softie. I hate to see any animal suffer.
I'm just an old "flower Child" peace and love, heehee.

And yes, Sam caught this bunny on the fly, I couldn't believe it.

Went and put into the woods this AM before my hunter goes out for his constitution, man it was stiff as a board.
 
#18 ·
Apollo catches them? Gee, I thought the Arty would be the hunter in your family.

The screaming is horrible. He didn't catch it by it's neck, but by the bottom of the rabbit's spine.

Nothing like picking up a dead body first thing in the AM!
 
#22 ·
Apollo's got reflexes that have to be seen to be believed, I do not kid or exaggerate when I say that he has caught not only wild rabbits but literally snatched sparrows out of mid-air.....



Ah! I'd love it if Quest caught a rabbit. Depending on size, that may be two meals for him. Pop it in the freezer for a few weeks and dinner is served! The meat rabbits are expensive here...I'd love to try him on rabbit.
Just make sure the liver looks normal and not spotty first!

We've considered raising rabbits for the dogs, I think I'd rather do Muscovy ducks though if I end up going that route.
 
#19 ·
The rabbit scream is ear splitting for sure. But as a rabbit hunting nut and as someone who raises and butchers rabbits, you get used to it. Chief caught a baby one once and it screamed to holy hell, this was in our yard so neighbors started looking. I couldve done without that.

Chief has also sparred with a couple raccoons. A cornered coon makes sounds that you swear come from the belly of Satan himself. They are a worthy adversary though, due to Chief's age and being the same size as a coon, I usually step in and end that fight myself.

My old APBT mix was a hunting machine. Rabbits, woodchucks, raccoons, possums, and squirrels were not safe. Also the cooky old lady across the street set out meat and milk every day for the damn feral cats, so every stray cat in the county came down our road in winter. Old Caesar took out quite a few of them too. I didn't feel too bad, they would get in my storage garage and pee everywhere and scratch on the stuff I kept in there.
 
#20 ·
Ah! I'd love it if Quest caught a rabbit. Depending on size, that may be two meals for him. Pop it in the freezer for a few weeks and dinner is served! The meat rabbits are expensive here...I'd love to try him on rabbit.
 
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#25 ·
Aw, HBM. You need to snuggle Erik. He absolutely hates hates hates the sound of anything in pain. If Gracie's got a squeaker toy, Erik hides. Whenever Korra gets into trouble and cries out, he goes into protective overdrive. He's a big ol' pooh bear.

Gracie, on the other hand, lives for the kill. The only reason I even give her a squeaker is because that's the only thing that motivates her while the prednisone works out of her system. Erik's just gotta take one for the team.
 
#30 · (Edited)
And since we're on the subject, a link to a picture of a rabbit liver from a rabbit with tularemia (kinda gross, if you get grossed out easily probly not a picture for you): Veterinary Gross Pathology Image Collection, Summer 2012 - Tufts OpenCourseWare


(tularemia has been found to be extremely resistant to freezing, and its NOT recommended to eat the meat of a rabbit with it, even cooked, hence my recommendation to just ditch the carcass of said rabbit).
 
#32 ·


Here is a map of tularemia incidence in the continental US, too bad its super old. I couldn't find a new one :( I've never heard of it being a serious problem in Iowa (and the map says there were no cases either) but I still always check the livers. I've found a few "off" ones but that's spread out over several years, and I dont know if it was tularemia or something else. Colonial rodents can have it too, and it really gets around because of their social living arrangements, like muskrats or beavers that share a den or lodge. I am pretty careful about muskrat and beaver.
 
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#35 ·
Jayne mostly just picks up dead things and trots around with them so that we THINK she killed them, but she never really fools us ;). I'm honestly surprised that she hasn't caught anything yet. When I brought her up north, I expected her to at least catch a squirrel with 80 acres of woods to roam off leash, but nope, nothing. Makes me wonder what the hell she's even doing when she wanders off for half an hour :D. Maybe it's time to invest in a Go Pro.
 
#36 ·
Mia doesn't kill small animals; she tries to befriend them. She actually comes and tells us when she finds baby birds. She has a toad friend that she'll just watch for hours. My dog is weird, but I don't mind, because I really like rabbits and there are a lot in our neighborhood, so I wouldn't want her killing them or killing my pet bunny Sophie.

I've heard Sophie scream once- she was on her harness and she saw a crow take off and she freaked out but couldn't run away. I felt so sad that she thought she was going to die. So now she doesn't go on her harness anymore.
 
#39 ·
Shadow killed rats, he'd shake them to death, lay them out without a noticeable mark on them, and then ignore them.

Jersey managed to catch at least 2 rabbits. One I traded her some canned cat food for and gave it a proper burial. The other she had already started eating when I noticed her with it so I just let her finish. She may have caught more then those two and I just never saw her with them.

Both Jersey and Shadow got a 'possum one night. I let them out to potty then heard a god awful racket. I went out and discovered they had a 'possum. By that time it was laid on it's side with it's mouth open showing all it's lovely, sharp, pointy, teeth. I didnt want to touch it, but i didn't want the dogs messing with it anymore. I also wasn't sure if it was actually dead... I grabbed a lawn chair to use as a shield/pushing device and rolled it out of the yard. When I went to check on it a couple hours later it wasn't there so I guess it lived.
 
#40 ·
My dogs have cornered a raccoon before but they are a bunch of weenies and as soon as it made that "firey bowels of Satan" noise they were done with it.
 
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