How to provide for a bloodthirsty Kai?

omgtain

Tavi's blood count keeps rising. Last night she didn't come when I called her, which is very unusual.
So I went out to the yard to see what she was doing, maybe she didn't hear me, was taking a poop, etc. I heard squeaking, shes 9 months old and wants to be a kaidolescent, so playing with a squeaky toy and ignoring me at midnight seemed possible. She was squeaking from back in the wooded area (it is thick so I can't really see anything unless I crawl through it). So I go into the brush looking for her, and there she is.. sitting there. tail wagging and smiling at me. and something is still squeaking. I look at her feet and theres like 5 dead shrews/mice/somethings, but one of them was alive enough to squeak but not run. She wasn't eating them, just having fun, and even tried to pick them all up and bring them to me (I had a flashlight so she had crazy eyes and lots of dead bodies in her mouth, it was pretty weird).

Hunting and killing things doesn't bother me at all. I just want to be able to control it and provide for her, I don't like that she wasn't coming when I called (but do understand she had a Kai thing to do) and I can only foresee things getting worse, especially since its so fun.

WrylyBrindle

Ah- she found a nest! This reminds me of the time my then-5 year old daughter and I were walking with Reilly in a hayfield and stopped to watch her dig. She dug out a nest of 6 meadow voles who tried to scatter, and it was mayhem- she bit and pounced and ate them all. They did squeak, and she had a couple in her mouth and we could see the little wiggly feet and tails before they disappeared into her mighty maw. My daughter said "Oh! REILLY!! NO!" and then "Well, Reilly, you should get a hunting medal, no- TWO hunting medals!"

ayk

I can only suggest that you mold rather than eliminate. Ie. Encourage her to bring her loot to you and not act grossed out or meh when she does. Act ecstatic. The alternative could easily slide into *not* bringing stuff to you and her eating the catches.

shibamistress

Yeah, I think ayk's suggestion might be the way to go. My dogs kill anything they can catch in the yard (though my Kai has not been nearly as skilled at hunting as the Akita and Shiba). I mostly want to get stuff away from them so they don't eat it. I let them eat the birds they catch, but I'd prefer they didn't eat the rodents, but often they do (so instead, I have to be vigilant about de-worming them).

My male Akita dug out some baby rabbits one year, and it was a similar scene, except you could tell that he really didn't understand what was going on, and he was happily "squeaking" away with his toy, which of course died, and then he looked so surprised and disappointed (he never tears his real toys up, so I think he was just puzzled). Then he seemed to figure it out his "toy" was tasty, so he ate it! But the look on his face was priceless, like wow, this is an odd toy, but yum!

Anyway, most of the time I can't get stuff away from them, so yeah, it would be useful to work on that!

Myabee09

Mya loves to swallow frogs whole... and alive. She hasn't been able to catch any critters since we moved to the desert, so I don't know what she would do with anything else. I just have to keep a close eye on her because I am afraid she will try to eat a snake or something.

shibamistress

I noticed my dogs won't eat lizards or snakes. They kill them, but won't eat them. Perhaps they don't taste good! the snake catching is quite worrisome, of course, as they don't know the difference between venomous and nonvenomous snakes.....

BradA1878

She's taking her barn hunt experience to the next level! :P