Prey Drive

[shaaark 10,995]

Is 'prey drive' the same thing as hunting instinct?

Genuine question

[roybo 2,873]

Prey drive is the instinct to find herd catch kill bite,and the separate parts of it are highlighted in different dogs or breeds.

Prey drive makes a collie herd,a spaniel hunt,a police dog track or if ordered bite ,a greyhound chase etc etc.

So you'd say a malinois has high prey drive it's not necessary a hunting instinct,yet a Bassett has hunting instinct but not super high prey drive.....I think lol

[nothernlite 18,137]

Prey drive is the instinct to find herd catch kill bite,and the separate parts of it are highlighted in different dogs or breeds.

Prey drive makes a collie herd,a spaniel hunt,a police dog track or if ordered bite ,a greyhound chase etc etc.

So you'd say a malinois has high prey drive it's not necessary a hunting instinct,yet a Bassett has hunting instinct but not super high prey drive.....I think lol

and a beddy x no listen to you lol and just want to find its prey

[roybo 2,873]

Probably

[roybo 2,873]

But having said all that,I think prey drive is more of a catch phrase used in dog training circles to describe those traits, so in lurchers prey drive would mean hunting instinct to a degree I'd think

[shaaark 10,995]

Lol, yeah I suppose it's a bit of hard work defining it simply. I see a few different qualities/attributes in a dog, and sometimes struggle to find words to describe them, as an example, I'll be out with my lad, 23, and the dogs, and he'll make some remark about em, and it'll be the same thing we mean but worded differently, probably just different way of describing stuff these days, cos I certainly never heard half of what he says when I was his age lol

[roybo 2,873]

As I say mate,most these phrases come from dog training ,and they take a dogs mind very serious,lol and like to give new catch words.

Chasing and killing sheep is prey drive but necessary wouldn't call it hunting instinct

Too deep for me

[shaaark 10,995]

As I say mate,most these phrases come from dog training ,and they take a dogs mind very serious,lol and like to give new catch words.

Chasing and killing sheep is prey drive but necessary wouldn't call it hunting instinct

Too deep for me

Lol

[slip lead 862]

How I see it, hunting instinct is something most predators are born with that improves with practice, including our working dogs.

 

Pray drive is something that drives the hunting instinct, but to much can be dangerous and costly, a terrier with to much will try to push on when it's not physically possible or a lurcher that will go through/over/under any danger in pursuit of game and normally have very short working lifes because of constant injury or death

 

A greyhound has a very very high prey drive and not a lot of hunting instinct

[beast 1,884]

interesting to hear peoples views. for me, prey drive is just a more "jargon" way of saying hunting instinct

[roybo 2,873]

Like I said earlier yes jargon and for the most part for us it's the same .

But as has been said not all dogs with high prey drive have hunting instinct

But it is jargon

as was said about greyhounds and guarding breeds

[Maximus Ferret 2,064]

A dog with prey drive is obsessive about about what it does, whether that be hunting, herding, flyball, manwork etc.

[shaaark 10,995]

Yes, interesting to hear other people's views on it, I'll go with 'jargon', easier to get my head around!

[desertbred 5,490]

Is 'prey drive' the same thing as hunting instinct?

Genuine question

a fanny licker has hunting instinct as does any dog but does every dog have the prey drive to follow its drive through to actually catching what it is hunting two completely different things

[paulus 26]

did hunting instinct ever harm a dog as prey drive certainly does, a dog with a very high prey drive will run till its heart burst if allowed but a dog with just a good hunting instinct will still be hunting without much fear of harming itself,