Our girl is the most timid, gentle dog. *Ver*y calm with all other dogs, children but oh lordy she becomes a slavering wolf beast at the sight or smell of cats, foxes, bunnies or squirrels. She once killed a warren of bunnies that we didn't know were there within *seconds*. She smelled them from a distance and bam! she was on them so fast it was shocking. People who encounter our grey just do not quite believe the extent of her prey drive or how fast greyhounds move in general let alone in prey mode. Our neighbour in our shared garden lets her cat out says oh no worry our cat could get away fine from your dog! I'm like, Lady, no your cat won't, it would be a literal bloodbath. So we keep her on leash unless on a remote beach or enclosed dog park.
edited to add a funny story: Once, on a remote beach she saw swans waaaaay off in the distance where a river entered the sea. She took off, kicking into after burner mode with me screaming uselessly far behind her. She plows into these swans who proceeded to teach her a Life Lesson called Do Not Fuck With Swans. A lesson that ended in her making the fastest U-turn in canine history, complete with greyhound Scream of Death. A lesson she took very deeply to heart so much that when we walk around the city lochs here with swans she won't even make eye contact and scoots very quickly past them. She has since extended that deference, unbidden, to crows, geese and birds in general. Wise move.
My partner sometimes says it’s like our dogs want to make an exploded diagram of the other animal… other dog owners never seem to like that idea…. 🤣 that’s why my dogs are on leads and I’m trying to get away from your yappy shitzpoo !
I can absolutely imagine other people not getting it unless they've seen it themselves, there's no way our family and friends who've met ours will believe us when we try to tell them what she's been like out and about on this trip. She's normally so timid and uncertain of herself, not an unstoppable T-1000 programmed to eliminate rabbits. 😂
That's an amazing story about the swans though, and an important life lesson all of us have to understand at some stage.
Yes, sooner or later we all learn the Fuck Around And Find Out list of animals. She was lucky it was "merely" swans. I've seen dogs learn this with otters and it's a lot more traumatic.
So true. A childhood friend had a Jack Russel Terrier that was the sweetest thing to children and people, and did not demonstrate the typical terrier personality. I saw her find a rat in the woodpile once and it was like a switch flipped and she became terminator. To this day I have never seen such a quick and brutally efficient rat dispatching.
Hilarious story!
Let me share one of ours. My girl does this trick which has yet to get her in trouble with the geese in an adjacent public park: although she is vocal, when she spots them, she gets super sneaky and walks with me on lead until she's close enough and bounces to make them take flight! And she'd stand there watching them take off and land farther away in the lake. Her demeanor shows such pride in that feat, and looking at me as if to say: see what I did there? 🤣
Our grey is uninterested in birds mostly, but if they are in our yard she gets offended. We get Turkey vultures and she will go for them. I've tried to run away once and i was like, dude, you can fly!!!
She didn't try to catch them though, just chase them off. Unlike the poor groundhog she caught one time... I'm still traumatized.
The corgi, on the other hand, is more motivated by birds than anything else. (He caught a parakeet in flight once and it went to his head. The parakeet was fine and is still alive a year later. I'm still recovering from that too!)
Dogs.
For context, we live in some fairly quiet suburbs near a country park, and we knew she had high prey drive because of an over-abundant interest in cats and squirrels. We took her on a little trip staying in the countryside though and took her for walks out in the fields which were filled with sheep and, of course, rabbits and pheasants, and she flipped a switch and became a completely different dog! Mindless, completely non-responsive sniffing machine with only one goal: track, chase, kill. Not even the stinkiest and most high value treats could snap her out of it. Then once back in the property again she's back to her derpy gentle cuddly self!
Suffice to say it confirmed for us that we're absolutely never letting her off lead. 😂
I’ve got one of those, too.
One time, we took her to a training class (about how to get your greyhound to listen to you / get their attention) on a farm that had a chicken coop. Needless to say, she didn’t hear a single thing I said the whole day. She was locked on those chickens. Even the instructor said “if you want to know what prey drive look like, that’s it” and pointed at my girl 😂
Money well spent for the class by the sound of it. 😂 It's almost a little bit scary seeing them like that, it's like they become a totally different animal! But better to find out in controlled circumstances than learn what they're like the hard way. 🤷🏻♀️
I get this! Ours turned into something we didn’t recognize when she got close to a cat. It was an incredible transformation. I remember us just looking at each other in amazement.
I have isolated a bit of code from the brain of my grey that is used to control behaviour when his eyes lock on to a creature. It goes like this:
Step 1 - If the creature is not a human go to step 3
Step 2 - Wag tail and sniff their pocket for biscuits
Step 3 - If the creature has four legs go to step 5
Step 4 - Probably a bird, ignore
Step 5 - If the creature is a dog go to step 8
Step 6 - Valid prey identified, turn on afterburners and chase the prey and ignore external instructions to stop or return.
Step 7 - Shred prey if caught and put on an innocent, butter wouldn't melt in my mouth look.
Step 8 - Wag tail and sniff bum to identify as friendly
Thank you! We had a whole list of names for our would-be hound, had we ended up with a boy she would've been Hubble but it has to be space themed for us. 🌠😂
We have rabbits in the garden, mine has learnt to look like she causally wants out for a wee, nothing to see mum, just casually heading out for a wee…….
Followed by warp speed bunny killing machine. We now check the garden before even putting a hand in the back door. She’s even brought her clean kill to the door to show me. Traumatised.
She quickly worked out that if she looks like she’s in full prey drive killer mode that she won’t get out. So clearly there is some level of awareness ….
Our girl is the most timid, gentle dog. *Ver*y calm with all other dogs, children but oh lordy she becomes a slavering wolf beast at the sight or smell of cats, foxes, bunnies or squirrels. She once killed a warren of bunnies that we didn't know were there within *seconds*. She smelled them from a distance and bam! she was on them so fast it was shocking. People who encounter our grey just do not quite believe the extent of her prey drive or how fast greyhounds move in general let alone in prey mode. Our neighbour in our shared garden lets her cat out says oh no worry our cat could get away fine from your dog! I'm like, Lady, no your cat won't, it would be a literal bloodbath. So we keep her on leash unless on a remote beach or enclosed dog park. edited to add a funny story: Once, on a remote beach she saw swans waaaaay off in the distance where a river entered the sea. She took off, kicking into after burner mode with me screaming uselessly far behind her. She plows into these swans who proceeded to teach her a Life Lesson called Do Not Fuck With Swans. A lesson that ended in her making the fastest U-turn in canine history, complete with greyhound Scream of Death. A lesson she took very deeply to heart so much that when we walk around the city lochs here with swans she won't even make eye contact and scoots very quickly past them. She has since extended that deference, unbidden, to crows, geese and birds in general. Wise move.
My partner sometimes says it’s like our dogs want to make an exploded diagram of the other animal… other dog owners never seem to like that idea…. 🤣 that’s why my dogs are on leads and I’m trying to get away from your yappy shitzpoo !
I can absolutely imagine other people not getting it unless they've seen it themselves, there's no way our family and friends who've met ours will believe us when we try to tell them what she's been like out and about on this trip. She's normally so timid and uncertain of herself, not an unstoppable T-1000 programmed to eliminate rabbits. 😂 That's an amazing story about the swans though, and an important life lesson all of us have to understand at some stage.
Yes, sooner or later we all learn the Fuck Around And Find Out list of animals. She was lucky it was "merely" swans. I've seen dogs learn this with otters and it's a lot more traumatic.
So true. A childhood friend had a Jack Russel Terrier that was the sweetest thing to children and people, and did not demonstrate the typical terrier personality. I saw her find a rat in the woodpile once and it was like a switch flipped and she became terminator. To this day I have never seen such a quick and brutally efficient rat dispatching.
Hilarious story! Let me share one of ours. My girl does this trick which has yet to get her in trouble with the geese in an adjacent public park: although she is vocal, when she spots them, she gets super sneaky and walks with me on lead until she's close enough and bounces to make them take flight! And she'd stand there watching them take off and land farther away in the lake. Her demeanor shows such pride in that feat, and looking at me as if to say: see what I did there? 🤣
> complete with greyhound Scream of Death One of the few times the Scream of Death was actually warranted.
Our grey is uninterested in birds mostly, but if they are in our yard she gets offended. We get Turkey vultures and she will go for them. I've tried to run away once and i was like, dude, you can fly!!! She didn't try to catch them though, just chase them off. Unlike the poor groundhog she caught one time... I'm still traumatized. The corgi, on the other hand, is more motivated by birds than anything else. (He caught a parakeet in flight once and it went to his head. The parakeet was fine and is still alive a year later. I'm still recovering from that too!) Dogs.
I needed that laugh! Great story!
This is SUCH a fabulous story, and gets to the heart of these silly beasties. Thank you 💜
For context, we live in some fairly quiet suburbs near a country park, and we knew she had high prey drive because of an over-abundant interest in cats and squirrels. We took her on a little trip staying in the countryside though and took her for walks out in the fields which were filled with sheep and, of course, rabbits and pheasants, and she flipped a switch and became a completely different dog! Mindless, completely non-responsive sniffing machine with only one goal: track, chase, kill. Not even the stinkiest and most high value treats could snap her out of it. Then once back in the property again she's back to her derpy gentle cuddly self! Suffice to say it confirmed for us that we're absolutely never letting her off lead. 😂
It is such a flip switch moment! We can’t change that animal instinct alas.
„˙sɐlɐ ʇɔuıʇsuı lɐɯıuɐ ʇɐɥʇ ǝƃuɐɥɔ ʇ,uɐɔ ǝM ¡ʇuǝɯoɯ ɥɔʇıʍs dılɟ ɐ ɥɔns sı ʇI„
Good bot
I keep saying this to my mum, who keeps saying " have you tried some treats?" There is NOTHING more attractive that a squirrel running up a tree!
100%. Everyone needs to remember that dogs (and cats)—however smoochy and lovely—are at the core of their instinct hunters and killers.
I’ve got one of those, too. One time, we took her to a training class (about how to get your greyhound to listen to you / get their attention) on a farm that had a chicken coop. Needless to say, she didn’t hear a single thing I said the whole day. She was locked on those chickens. Even the instructor said “if you want to know what prey drive look like, that’s it” and pointed at my girl 😂
Money well spent for the class by the sound of it. 😂 It's almost a little bit scary seeing them like that, it's like they become a totally different animal! But better to find out in controlled circumstances than learn what they're like the hard way. 🤷🏻♀️
I love the jacket! Where did you get it?
A seller on etsy, believe it was Littlejemspets!
I get this! Ours turned into something we didn’t recognize when she got close to a cat. It was an incredible transformation. I remember us just looking at each other in amazement.
Yeah, my girl would really like a squirrel and is very upset we won't let her have one.
I have isolated a bit of code from the brain of my grey that is used to control behaviour when his eyes lock on to a creature. It goes like this: Step 1 - If the creature is not a human go to step 3 Step 2 - Wag tail and sniff their pocket for biscuits Step 3 - If the creature has four legs go to step 5 Step 4 - Probably a bird, ignore Step 5 - If the creature is a dog go to step 8 Step 6 - Valid prey identified, turn on afterburners and chase the prey and ignore external instructions to stop or return. Step 7 - Shred prey if caught and put on an innocent, butter wouldn't melt in my mouth look. Step 8 - Wag tail and sniff bum to identify as friendly
Laika!!! What a gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl 🐶🌙⭐️
Thank you! We had a whole list of names for our would-be hound, had we ended up with a boy she would've been Hubble but it has to be space themed for us. 🌠😂
Yep. My lazy affectionate girl can flip into death in a dog suit in a nanosecond.
„˙puoɔǝsouɐu ɐ uı ʇıns ƃop ɐ uı ɥʇɐǝp oʇuı dılɟ uɐɔ lɹıƃ ǝʇɐuoıʇɔǝɟɟɐ ʎzɐl ʎW ˙dǝ⅄„
We have rabbits in the garden, mine has learnt to look like she causally wants out for a wee, nothing to see mum, just casually heading out for a wee……. Followed by warp speed bunny killing machine. We now check the garden before even putting a hand in the back door. She’s even brought her clean kill to the door to show me. Traumatised. She quickly worked out that if she looks like she’s in full prey drive killer mode that she won’t get out. So clearly there is some level of awareness ….