Walking among rabbits and other creatures

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Ari_RR
Posts: 2037
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:07 am
Location: USA
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Walking among rabbits and other creatures

Post by Ari_RR »

Bunnies are everywhere.. We live sort of in a country setting, with grass and bushes and trees and small lakes around the neighborhood, narrow roads.. no escape, unless driving to our nature park.
Squirrels and chipmunks are no longer a big attraction for my fearless 22 months old lion hunter (ridgeback), but bunnies... Bunnies are magnets! I am becoming an expert on bunnies and can farily accurately predict whether one will run away or not just by the shape of the ears sticking out of grass, I think.. Some, especially young ones, actually don't run away until you practically step on it! Others just leisurely walk away as we approach, believe it or not, especially big and fat ones.. This is crazy :roll:

So, walking under such conditions is challenging.. It's actually a pain in the butt.

However, there is a positive side too - such walks are tirering as hell, as it takes an enormous effort from my boy not to pull towards bunnies.

This morning (me being too lazy to drive to the park) we walked around the neighborhood and I tried to quantify Ari's ability to control his prey drive. I think about 80% of the time he was able to resist the urge - intense staring but no lunging. Which is really awesome. And the other 20% - well, this is where my own 200 lbs come in handy, coupled with industrial-strength harness and leash.

One thing that I believe helps - I hold him really close. The leash is 6 ft long, but I only have about 10 inches of slack, so he is literally next to me. I find that the closer he is to me - the more under my control he is.

And not just with rabbits... Passing other dogs or humans too - the closer he is to me, the less chance of him paying attention to whomever we are passing.
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