Am i too caring?

[mothhawk]

^^^^ good grief- you really wouldn't have even thought of that would you??

The thought that it might be her never crossed my mind till I saw her. As a rule she took absolutely no notice of the banties.

She did chase rabbits though, but only ever in hope, and many, many yards behind, until the day across the fields she caught one on the hop, as you might say, in a patch of long grass unawares. I yelled at her to "DROP IT!", but she was so excited at finally catching one, and so not wanting to give it up, that she swallowed the blooming thing literally whole before I could reach her. It was her undoing though. She spent most of the day with a belly that was so bulged out she couldn't find any way of sitting or lying comfortably, and was miserable all day.


And from that day to the end of her life, she never chased another rabbit.

[Shadylane]

We had robins nesting for the first time this year. We had to move the nesting box as the neighbouring house owner was replacing the fence panels. After moving it to a different side, the robins moved in. Unfortunately it wasn't to end well. We think next door's cat had one, as Himself saw him trotting down the garden with something in his mouth. The next day I found one floating in a watering can which was in the greenhouse. Horrid. I felt dreadful and had to keep apologising to the robins for killing their kids.

Last week a 'present' was left for us on the front shared garden, no doubt by our feline neighbour(a mouse this time). He was hunting something in our garden the other day, though I suspect it was a fly.

[Two_Sheds]

Dogs are carnivores ...and if a bird flies too close it's instinct may well be to catch it in the same way it would catch a ball

While it is perfectly natural for a carnivore to hunt, it is completely unnatural to have an environment (our towns) with literally 1000s of apex predators (pet dogs & cats).


but the good news is that dogs can be trained not to catch wildlife. Our pup's hunting instinct awoke at about 8 months of age, when he suddenly realised there were furry scurrying things in the garden (GPs) and a feathery flappy thing in the house (parrot). He also decided he had to murder the hoover, and chase the allotment cat, which have never bothered him before.

I did some firm, intensive (repetitive) training with him, and he does now know that he is NOT to chase & catch the other pets.


* this may be harder/impossible for terrier breeds, which of course have been bred to hunt & kill, so it will be necessary to limit the dog's range of territory, eg don't allow it to be outside unsupervised, fence off a separate section of garden for the dog, etc

[Scarlet]

It was her undoing though. She spent most of the day with a belly that was so bulged out she couldn't find any way of sitting or lying comfortably, and was miserable all day.

That reminds me of my brothers lurcher when we were in our teens...My mum "lost" a frozen chicken. On seeing the size on the dogs belly and feeling how cold it was my brother made a speedy exit and went for a long walk!!! She never found out!

[Knight of Albion]

One of my dogs killed a young bird in the garden this morning, I saw it happen and couldn't get there in time to prevent it. I watched the bird take it's last breaths and it really upset me, I understand that this happens in nature every day but I still feel really bad that it happened. I know that cats are usually worse culprits that dogs, how do you cat owners cope with it? Does it upset other people or am I just a sop?

One can't be too caring ...

You have a kind heart and God bless you for it. Alas, there is much sorrow and suffering in the world. One would have to be pretty hard-hearted not to be effected to some degree. But rather than be weighed down by it all, one should be galvanised by it - motivated to be kind, to Serve, to help others along. Ultimately, that's why we're all here ...