Wow! Ahi is an AMAZING hunter!



There is really no way I can describe what just happened in a way that will communicate how amazing it was to experience... But I will try...


We went on our normal walk with the dogs, but this time I had Ahi - Jen usually walks with her. We cut across a very small portion of grass in front of this house. Ahi was on her normal 4 foot lead, but I had it rolled up a bit so she didn't have much room to pull me - so it was probably a 3 foot lead at that point.


Anyway, we started walking on the grass, just trucking along, and all of the sudden Ahi scrambles to my right. She does this a lot to catch moths, but this time it was crazy intense. Then we look down and she has a chipmunk in her mouth! I mean this happened in maybe a half a second, probably less. It was so fast my brain couldn't register what she had - it squeaked and my first thought was "how'd she find a squeaky toy"! It was so crazy!


So that’s it - that's my story - while walking all 4 dogs, before any of the other dogs new what had happened - Ahi was able to catch and kill a little chipmunk. I feel bad, but at the same time I'm so incredibly impressed. It was hard to get her to drop it - but she did.


That's mos def a "primitive breed" story. What do you think?

Comments

  • edited November -1


    That is amazing!


    I always struggle with being impressed with their hunting abilities and being sad for their prey. I always just try to remember that these are the laws of nature. And I know that nature is wiser than I am.


    Congratulations on being able to witness her in action. 

  • edited September 2007


    Amazing is right. About 3 months or so ago, Tasha caught a vole (she's a VERY impressive huntress with quite a few rodent, bird, and rabbit kills under her fur). Tasha likes to catch and release - the problem is that she usually ends up killing her prey unintentionally. She doesn't understand why the victim won't get up and play some more - poor baby.


    Anyway, she catches and releases this vole. Fortunately for it, it lived. Unfortunately, Ronan sees this from clear across the yard and bolts like greased lightning toward Tasha and the vole. I swear, that vole barely had time to take ten steps and shake off the dog spit when Ronan snatched it from the ground at full run. He shook his head once and sailed the vole against the fence with an audible crack. Needless to say, the vole didn't walk away from that.


    Ronan's favorite game in the whole world is FIND. I hide a favorite squeaky toy and he finds it. We started off easy, but now I hide his toy behind cushions, under pillows or blankets, in between furniture and walls, under the canopy of fake house plants, behind curtains, etc. He finds the toy every single time. Maybe Ahi would enjoy the same game? She'd probably be great at tracking.

  • edited November -1
    Are you training Ronan for tracking? It sounds like he was born for it.
  • edited November -1
    Yea, that sounds like a great game for her - we have been training the dogs to do tricks lately... maybe it's time to train them to play "find". Good idea.
  • edited September 2007


    I do have a book someone sent me on tracking. I'm not formally training him for it, but he does seem to enjoy finding things.


    I find that 20-30 minutes a day of 'finding' his toy works wonders for his attitude and energy. We hide, then find, then make a big deal of finding it by playing fetch with the toy, or chase me. Then, I tell him to drop, and he does. We start all over again. I accomplish wearing him out, making him think, teamwork (dog & handler), and getting him to drop whatever he's got (you never know when you'll need it). It also makes him trust me - I'm not taking something away without making it fun or giving him something else as a reward.


    Brad - maybe the whole pack would enjoy that game. Tasha doesn't, but Jack loved to find people.

  • edited November -1
    This is not really related to the "find" game, but still an interesting "game"... When we let the dogs run in the yard Maui is always a pain in the butt and will not come to us when it's time to go back in. He will actually run from us (we chased him before when he was a pup - learned our lesson). So we have trained Ahi to "get Maui". We say that and she runs over to him and keeps him in one place (by barking, tackling, or whatever other maneuver Ahi has up her sleeve) - he will just stand there till we walk over and get him. Kinda a sad (maybe even lazy) use of Ahi's brain power - but it's kinda cool. She will even chase him if she needs to.
  • edited November -1


    Tenji's favorite game is also "find". He will find one of his toys and plop it in our laps so tht we can go hide it again...and again....and again.     He is NOT interested in the many squirrels, rabbits, and other critters that we see on our walks.  I think this is probably because we have conditioned him to ignore the ducks and critters that visit our back yard and we are constantly on him to be gentle with the cats.  He IS however VERY interested in the horses that we meet on the bridle trails. He tracks them like crazy.  He LOVES it when he finds fresh horse s---. OHH my, roll, roll, roll.Tongue out

  • edited November -1
    Tojo enjoys pouncing ducks, quails, feral cats, and rabbits around here but he never kills them.  He just jumps on them.  He was literally on top of a duck yesterday, though, then he pushed it with his paws so it would fly away and then he chased it more.  I wonder what I'll do with my shikoku!  She'll most likely go for the kill and I have no many critters around here... maybe I can teach her to catch dinner. 
  • edited November -1


    Catch dinner - that sounds like a good plan. :c)


    We just got back from the dog park and this lady came in with like 8 tiny little Chihuahuas; everything went fine till one dogs started to chase one of the Chihuahuas and the Chihuahua went running off. Well, I think you know what followed - Ahi went into "pray drive" mode and almost went for the kill. Luckily I caught her in time... We left immediately. Ahi wasn't the only dog that had that reaction, several other dogs did the same thing and had to leave. Not super smart on the Chihuahua owner's part.

  • edited November -1
    Yeah, I just wonder how I'd teach her to only hunt when told to do so... I mean, I don't want her to kill something every time we go on a walk, and trust me, at my place there would be opportunity. 
  • edited November -1
    Did they bring the chihuahaus into the big dog park???  UGH I hate that.  Last time we were at Sweat Mountain someone brought their tiny had to be 6 pound dog into the big dog park.  GRRR
  • edited November -1


    Heidi - a book I have says that most Japanese hunting breeds will not kill it's pray and will instead just catch it an keep it in one place till their human comes and kills it. So maybe you would not have as much of a problem as you think - tho I think the dog would still probably maim the animal it caught... Then you would just have a bunch of really injured animals instead of dead one... On second though forget everything I just wrote, I don't think my comment really helped.


    Rachael - Yea, they brought all eight of them in - they where cute - but not a smart move. Pretty irritating... To add to that they had a MR kid with them and a young girl. WTF?

  • edited November -1


    Sometimes I wonder if dog parks are even worth it.  People are just so ignorant.  I told you about the toddler that was chasing sasha at the dog park.  I wish we could do the daycare again...we just dont have the money for it right now.  I am hoping soon.  I am just nervous about leaving sasha with people...


    Im taking them to a friends tomorrow and I am excited for a fraction of your pack to come over here.  Going to other peoples houses and having dogs and people come here is helping so much.  And of course Niko would love for you to all come and meet in her honor.  


    Did you just have Ahi at the park? 

  • edited November -1


    Yea, we need to come over to your place next time... We can bring Kaia and Hilo, they are mellow.


    We had Ahi and Hilo at the park, Hilo LOVES the dogs park - he does really well. He is really starting to be more confidant w/ his legs too - I mean he has more coordination and balance, so he runs and jumps with the other dogs; he is as fast as Ahi is now - which is pretty impressive for such a big clumsy guy like Hilo. :c)

  • edited November -1


    That is amazing, on a 3-4 foot leash and Ahi magically caught a Chipmunk! Now that's skill! -claps- Bravo!


    Dog parks should have a "Large Dog Area" and a "Small Dog Area". If people intermix little dogs with big dogs, it is on their own responsiblity to watch out for their dogs. Tis' their own fault for anything that happens.


    Yeah, I don't care much for dog parks anymore. It is cool with dogs Lynx knows and people I know. Other then that, strange dogs are bad, strange people are bad - I don't know how responsible they are or not of their dogs.


    If you insist on going to dog parks. You have to be VERY careful. Know your dogs, have control over them and  c l u e  in on the other dogs to get a sense of their character. Don't know, not sure? Don't go inside! Find somewhere else, that's safe, to take your canine pals. 

  • edited November -1
    I had to stop taking Moto to the park in the evening. There were just too many dogs, and too many owners paying NO attention to their dogs. We go at 7 in the morning now. There is normally no more than 3 or four dogs and it is a much more controlled environment.
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