[Yuelang]

So, I still wondered about my dog Mel Mel, this time because she just flat out surprised me by her unexpected... err... fetch?

Now, this happened just last Saturday afternoon, as I lounging around in front of my house, primarily browsing with laptop while Mel Mel sit nearby.

I just teached her to play fetch kind of a week ago, with tree branches used as sticks, and as far as it goes, she played it rather well, even if she sometimes returned with wrong things if I threw the stick too far, such as random twigs that obviously not what I thrown, some scrunched up garbage, and such, but I used to think that was because she's just a puppy and think that as joke.

Alright, but last Saturday, I just want to do usual round of social media and games in peace, but Mel Mel grew restless and start to jump around and almost onto my laptop while I were chatting in facebook, so I put my laptop down, picked a random branch that lying on the nearby grass, and threw it into some bushes at the corner of my yard while order her to fetch that.

And as I threw it, there's some bird flying away from there and Mel Mel running full speed toward the bushes. I didn't really paid any attention because my attention is back to the laptop, just thinking that since the gate is locked and Mel Mel cannot slip away, or jump over, this should be the usual thing.

She did take somewhat longer to return to my side, but what I looked at made my jaw dropped with disbelief, as Mel Mel actually end up carrying a chirping, moving, and obviously living bird in her jaw, and she proceeded to showing it proudly in front of me.

Okay, I take a look at that bird and found that bird is trying to squirm away from Mel Mel, and it actually succeeded for releasing itself out of Mel Mel's jaw, but it didn't fly, just awkwardly hop around since one of it's wings are obviously broken. I take the bird and look at it closer, and see that it's wing are indeed badly broken and torn by Mel-Mel's bite.

Thinking that the bird looks healthy otherwise, and Mel Mel looking at me pleadingly with her puppy dog eyes, I decides to just return that bird back to Mel Mel and she proceeded to happily chew upon that bird, literally ripping it's feathers and used it as a living chew toy until its death, in which Mel Mel already ripped its torso and eat the innards inside while leaving half eaten carcass (which goes into garbage can and the content emptied later in the afternoon). I didn't even get angry with her, just puzzled and confused.

Now, now, Mel Mel do stays healthy until now and there's physically no harm done, I initially didn't think that much, but then one of my friends told me that I just nurturing aggression and prey drive in my dog, and warned me that it could be ultimately dangerous to another pets.

Could anyone gave me some enlightenment on what happened there and the possible effects for the future, so at least I could have informed opinions over this?

NB :, that bird is a wild one, the usual things around my house...

 

[annageckos]

Firstly I would never let my dogs(or other animals) chew on a living animal, it's cruel and no reason for it. But your dog having a prey drive and catching birds will not make her dangerous. My mom's scotties catch rodents and even birds. The friendliest goofiest dog I've ever seen was a master at bird catching, it didn't make her aggressive.

 

[Yuelang]

Any idea on how to proceed when next time my dog catch a bird again? Or any small animals that could fit her little mouth anyway. With already broken wing and bloody puncture wounds into its torso? I admit I knew nothing of taking care of such grievously wounded bird so I just give it mercy by let nature take its course, or kind of by let her finish what she has started.

(she's literally only sightly larger than chihuahua sized due to being apparently half chihuahua from her possible father, although her mother is pitbull-doberman mix)

 

[annageckos]

If the animal is injured beyond help the kindest thing to do is end it's suffering. If you have a wildlife rehab around they can take care of it, or many vets will help or point you in the right direction. The problem with letting the dog finish it off is that many will just play with the animal, causing more or prolonged suffering. Some dogs will kill quickly, but for many it's just a game. They are just being dogs.

 

[StormyPeak]

I had a cat who use to bring me live, but broken birds quite often. I would take the birds over to a large flat rock near my home and wack them on the head with another large rock. It was a quicker death than what my cat had in store for them, and ended their suffering from the damage my cat already did to them.
Ditto with a few snakes that found their way to me via my cat...ugh.

Anyway, both of my Aussie mixes, my dog Lacey who I put to sleep some years ago and my current one, Jaya...both have caught birds in mid air. Both times it looked to me just like a 'started reaction' to a bird flying up out of the tall grass in front of them as they were trotting around the edge of the yard. It wasn't like they were hunting them. Both times the birds were gone in like seconds...swallowed in like two bites. ick.!

Anyway, neither dog ever showed much tendency to go after animals they saw first...and were not started by. My neighbors had chickens and often I would end up with a hen in my yard. My dogs would see the hen come over the fence but neither one ever pounced on one. My neighbors would call me up and ask me to catch their chicken and put it back over the fence into their yard.

I think it's going to depend upon the dog, but I think giving the dog back it's prey, isn't a good thing....it's almost like rewarding a behavior you don't really want them to have.

Also, because wild birds often have lice, mites and worms...you might want to wash your dog after such incidents and make sure it's on a good worming program.

Stormy

 

[newdoggirl]

The more likely scenario is that this was a bird that is learning to fly, fell from it's nest (as they often do while learning to fly). It's mother was probably helping to teach it when your dog scared the mother away. Your dog then picked up the baby bird and off it went.

 

[annageckos]

I had a cat who use to bring me live, but broken birds quite often. I would take the birds over to a large flat rock near my home and wack them on the head with another large rock. It was a quicker death than what my cat had in store for them, and ended their suffering from the damage my cat already did to them.
Ditto with a few snakes that found their way to me via my cat...ugh.



Stormy

I agree with this, I just didn't know if I should of typed it out here or not. Some people are very sensitive about this kind of thing. As for lice and mites I wouldn't worry, most are species specific. So bird mites/lice will not go to a dog. Internal parasites are a different matter.
And going by that photo it looks like the bird was a quail, so no falling out of the nest. But quail are not the best fliers.

 

[Yuelang]

I'll keep that in mind for next time Mel Mel catch some wild birds. But should I give back my dog's prey (after putting them out of their misery) or freeze them for a day or two to be cut and added later to her daily feed as wild game? (I feed her raw breakfast)

And yeah, flocks of wild quails often get to my neighborhood, but they definitely moving by flying.

 

[TiggerBounce]

It looks like a fully grown quail, not a baby. Quail aren't always the best flyers.

My take here:

1) The animal should have been dealt with in a more humanely manner. I get that sometimes animals kill things, that's fine. But if you were able to take it away, you should have either decided to put it down right then, or taken it to a vet or rescue as soon as possible for treatment. It's not very nice for an animal to be killed slowly by a dog, if it can be avoided.

2) Yes, it's ok to feed wild game. The general guideline among raw feeders is to freeze it for 2-3 weeks to kill any parasites it might be carrying.

 

[annageckos]

I'll keep that in mind for next time Mel Mel catch some wild birds. But should I give back my dog's prey (after putting them out of their misery) or freeze them for a day or two to be cut and added later to her daily feed as wild game? (I feed her raw breakfast)

And yeah, flocks of wild quails often get to my neighborhood, but they definitely moving by flying.

I'd freeze it for at least two weeks then then feed to your dog. It would be great whole prey in a raw diet.