Prey - Turkey, Rabbits

by Agnes
(Laurel Montana)

I live where there are deer. Do you think my boy is out killing them. He brings home quite a few bones. I know he gets a rabbit or turkey every once in a while.

I have noticed a lot fewer turkey hanging around. Can I teach him not to kill deer. He has twice brought home a fawn. I think he killed them on the way but once he had them in the yard, he was very protectful. Even after I buried them, he guarded the graves. I don't think he thought the fawns were food.

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Jun 23, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		Containment
by: Donna

Bringing home bones doesn't mean he killed them. He could just be bringing home bones of deer already dead from, perhaps, old age. They are protective of deer, usually.

Perhaps rabbits he would kill. Not sure about wild turkeys. They are pretty skittish.

I would recommend you put up secure fencing of at least 6 feet for your dog rather than letting him run wild.
Jun 07, 2019
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starstarstarstarstar 		Great Pyrs are Predators
by: CivilChick

My great Pyrs kill and eat rabbits, raccoons, and probably birds if they can catch them. Even as puppies they would lunge for our chickens when we tried to familiarize them with the chickens (friends we know said that their great pyrs never attack their chickens and their chickens sleep with the dogs). Yeah, our dogs just want to bite them and have since they were tiny pups. They chase our cats. Because I cannot trust them with my chickens and cats, we have everyone on shifts. Chickens and cats are allowed outside only if the dogs are in their kennel. Dogs are allowed to roam around the property but only if chickens are locked in their coop and cats are in the house. Last week, on of our pyrs killed a baby fawn. My husband is very upset and will not let her out on her own. We got these dogs to keep the coyotes and other predators off our property. They cannot do that if they are confined to a a fenced yard, so that is not always a good option. We don't let them out of the kennel at the same time anymore because if they are together they take off and contrary to what other people have said, our dogs never come back. I have to go find them and bring then home, which is difficult as they can travel far very quickly. The last time this happened I found one 5 miles from our house and the other was missing for two days before I finally found her near where we found the first one. She had been hit by a car (she is fully recovered). Therefore, I bought findster trackers and found that when one is in the kennel, the other sister will not leave the property, so now I only let lone out "on patrole: at a time. We are planning on building a fence with a huge area to keep them in during the day, so they are not so confined, but one will always need to be able to roam at night to keep the predators away. Unfortunately, they do not discriminate and will chase anything that moves no matter how big or small. If anyone knows of a way to train them what they can and cannot chase/kill, I would love to know it. For now, we know we cannot trust them, and we do everything we can to protect all of our animals. It sucks that we got these dogs to protect the cats and chickens, but they are just as dangerous to them as the coyotes. However, we have established a system that seems to work for us and we have not had a coyote near the house since we got the dogs as puppies last summer.

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