Nettle wrote:This should not be confused with any kind of aggression. Hound breeds are known for their gentle natures. The softest dogs of those types still make the most driven predators. Then, work over, they morph into sofa decorations and let the house cat climb all over them.
Yes, this does make them 'interesting' to train. This type of dog is my specialist area - and for every one that I get before the prey drive has been found out the hard way, I am faced with a dozen where the owners have ignored all warnings until the fuse has been well and truly lit.
Here in the US if the dog isn't chasing acceptable quarry (like squirrels or rats) and is focused on pet animals then prey drive commonly gets mislabeled as aggression, usually "cat aggression." It makes me wonder if Labs are ball aggressive in these peoples eyes if they really want to play fetch.
I have very little idea of what I'm doing with a drivey dog in my home (lately my life has centered around keeping the dog and the tasty kitties safely sequestered away from each other, and conditioning her to ignore them.) While I'm sure she's learning that our cats are off limits, she seems positive that this can't possibly apply to all cats, or squirrels, or chip monks.
Nettle, if you don't mind I've had a question that's been nagging at me about her and you may be the one with the answer. Lure coursing: I know she wouldn't be able to compete because she's a Dane, but she loves to run and chase-- would it help to reshape her prey drive from living creatures to non-living objects?
On other fronts, I emailed an Irish Terrier breeder in CA that was happy to recommend some books about her breed, and answered a few of my most pressing questions. I'm going to research the breed a bit more, but its starting to sound like we should take Irish terriers off the list.