Low prey drive dog breed?

[TuckerDucker]

After a lot of nagging, the boyfriend said he MIGHT consider getting a new puppy after we settle into the new house. That's a yes if I've ever heard one!

Besides the tort, who I'm not super worried about, we have house rabbits. Our rottie/lab/Heinz 57 does great with them, but I'm pretty sure that was just a fluke.

Any dog breeds you can think of that traditionally have a low prey drive?

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Ask @Tom what he suggests.

 

[Ben02]

Nearly all dogs have a instinct to hunt and sometimes unfortunately kill.

 

[mark1]

having had a poodle , maltese , neopolitan mastiffs , Bordeaux dogues , bullmastiffs , weimaraners , springer spaniel , French bulldog , german sheperd , pit bulls , some are higher drive , but as just mentioned they all have it , it's an individual dog and dogs environment thing as the extent of it ……. it's a reflex , like a doctor hitting your knee with that little rubber hammer , not many folks leg won't jump …….

 

[TuckerDucker]

Nearly all dogs have a instinct to hunt and sometimes unfortunately kill.

Oh for sure, but not all dogs are bred to have the same prey drive. I guess I'm looking for some more manageable prey drives.

 

[daniellenc]

Oh for sure, but not all dogs are bred to have the same prey drive. I guess I'm looking for some more manageable prey drives.

The best thing to do is talk with your chosen breeder and select a pup showing lower prey drive. Next is constant training in the house. My Shepherd has high prey drive outside but leaves my cats alone inside. Why? She’s learned they’re not prey. My pittbull has low prey drive compared to the shepherd and required far less training to ignore them but is the dog who’s gone after our one naughty cat who pesters EVERYONE! He has zero bite inhibition when it comes to being challenged by another animal so that’s another consideration.

With any new dog obviously crate when you’re not able to be attentive and don’t introduce them immediately. Instead for the first month or two bond with the pup and keep the rabbits caged in an area your pup can get to know them safely. Provide lots of treats and positive reinforcement, lots of pets where both animals start to associate their smells with pets and treats, and keep the pup tethered to you for all interaction. Slow is my only advise and dogs are animals. If you want to eliminate any possibility of death keep the rabbits penned. Over time stuff just happens!

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Individual results will vary. Whether or not you have cats (or even like cats), I would encourage you in your research to find out how specific breeds and individual dogs get along with cats. If a dog or dog breed CANNOT be trusted with cats... HARD PASS.

 

[TuckerDucker]

The best thing to do is talk with your chosen breeder and select a pup showing lower prey drive. Next is constant training in the house. My Shepherd has high prey drive outside but leaves my cats alone inside. Why? She’s learned they’re not prey. My pittbull has low prey drive compared to the shepherd and required far less training to ignore them but is the dog who’s gone after our one naughty cat who pesters EVERYONE! He has zero bite inhibition when it comes to being challenged by another animal so that’s another consideration.

With any new dog obviously crate when you’re not able to be attentive and don’t introduce them immediately. Instead for the first month or two bond with the pup and keep the rabbits caged in an area your pup can get to know them safely. Provide lots of treats and positive reinforcement, lots of pets where both animals start to associate their smells with pets and treats, and keep the pup tethered to you for all interaction. Slow is my only advise and dogs are animals. If you want to eliminate any possibility of death keep the rabbits penned. Over time stuff just happens!

We went through this whole process with our current dog, but thank you for the refresher, it's been a while! It'll be a bit harder because we're adopting, so it probably won't be a well-bred puppy that's bred to breed standard temperment, but we're hoping to narrow down the breeds that we can look for that are generally known to have low prey drive inside. For example, we already know we're not even going to try to raise a husky here, haha

 

[TuckerDucker]

Obviously caution has to be used with any dog and its environment will help determine the behavior, but I'm operating under the assumption that some breeds exhibit lower prey drives. Just as different breeds are bred to look drastically different, some are bred with more and less prey drive, right?

 

[daniellenc]

What size dog? Labs and Golden’s love retrieving but strangely do well with indoor animals usually. Many of the small mutt breeds without terrier in them have lower prey drive but they’re all individuals. Maybe start fostering for a rescue and that way you can test several dogs in your home prior to committing?

 

[Pastel Tortie]

What size dog? Labs and Golden’s love retrieving but strangely do well with indoor animals usually. Many of the small mutt breeds without terrier in them have lower prey drive but they’re all individuals. Maybe start fostering for a rescue and that way you can test several dogs in your home prior to committing?

Along those lines, it might be helpful if you can adopt a dog that's been fostered in someone else's home, as the foster parent will have a great feel for the individual dog's quirks and tendencies.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

If you're looking to narrow down the list of possible breeds, go ahead and remove any terriers from consideration. Terriers were bred to hunt and kill vermin (usually small animals). Considering you have rabbits, I think that justifies eliminating all terriers from consideration.

 

[Tom]

Any dog of any breed will chew up a tortoise or go for a rabbit. Its more of an individual personality thing, and training. No dog should ever be trusted alone with either rabbits or tortoises.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Any dog of any breed will chew up a tortoise or go for a rabbit.

~ Prey drive is instinctive, levels vary per individual dog. Proper conditioning can enhance or suppress some drives, however i totally agree with @Tom , never totally trust any dog unsupervised with your other pets.

​

 

[KarenSoCal]

I agree that any dog has prey drive, higher or lower by individual.

But breeds do have tendencies, so I would eliminate sight hounds and scent hounds. I have to laugh when I imagine an Afghan hound with a rabbit! But in my opinion, Afghan hounds are airheads anyway.

Maybe a spaniel would be good to consider. They come in varying sizes. They were first bred to flush game out of hiding, then retrieve it. It was not a desirable trait to rip the bird to shreds. Spaniels are also the basis of many lap dogs. Cavalier King Charles spaniels aren't interested in a lot other than the couch.

 

[Joma]

Anything with the word “doodle” in it .... just teasing.
Agree with others, no dog should be completely trusted with prey animals (ie don’t leave them alone together for extended periods).
That said, a good training regime can very often mitigate chronic prey drive related issues. I found my 5 year old pit cross in bad shape on my local pueblo (reservation). He was a reservation dog which most likely meant he survived on his wits and also his hunting talent. I had that damn dog literally tied to me (ie tethered to my waist) for at least six months after I decide to bring him home so he didn’t kill my cat. After this decompression, desensitization and training period, the dog and the cat were able to coexist well. However, I never intentionally left them alone together while I was out.... Although it did happen once by mistake and happily everyone lived.
My point is, train well and use common sense about a dog’s basic nature and you can very likely have whatever breed you wish.

 

[Kelly.324]

I wouldn’t recommend any kind of terrier as they normally do have a high prey drive. Same with any kind of sigh hound eg greyhound, whippet, lurcher but it really does depend on the individual dog and it’s training and socialisation as well as the breeds typical character .

 

[mark1]

 

[KarenSoCal]

Hilarious! [emoji23]