BEWARE of Mokoto!!

[Franklin Phil]

I have this imponderable. This question has no relation to anything going on in my world Its just something I've wondered about so if you have any experience in this arena please chime in

I rescued my boy Koto a little after his second birthday. He is the greatest dog I've ever owned. I have owned many many dogs. The dogs I own now are also very special to me but Mokoto is one of those rare dogs that anyone who meets him falls in love with him immediately. He's so affectionate, funny, goofy, huggable, silly and fun. Never seen anything like him.

However, Mokoto has an extremely high prey drive. Funny thing is, he's not a very committed or effective hunter. Adak is! Any time Adak steps out the back door, he immediately goes into fierce hunting mode. He doesn't even care that his brother Mokoto-The Basic Boogerhead- is bounding behind him blowing his cover.

The fact is, before I rescued Koto, he was presented with a lot more opportunities. He'd get bored and dig his way out of the yard. The standard rule with huskies (not all) is that they will "kill all fury non-dogs" of course cats being the most notable. In Mokoto's first two years he killed 5 cats, two dogs and a raccoon. Probably countless rabbits, but who keeps track of those?

I have owned Mokoto for over 2 years. He's had NO opportunity since I rescued him. With his goofball personality it would be easy to lose sight of his very decorated mantle. But I know his prey instincts are high. When I introduced him to my current dogs the day I brought him home (one husky one golden retriever) he immediately began playing with them. Just a mad house flurry of dogs, just like every day since.

I will not allow friends to bring real small dogs over. No way! We had one friend bring a mid-sized compact dog over, I was a nervous wreck the whole night. Everything went fine. My question is, is there any gray area in the eyes of the dog where he's confused and doesn't know whether to play with it or kill it? Obviously if it's a tiny dog, it's dead right now. But if a dog with Koto's prey drive is presented with a dog slightly bigger than he'd naturally want to destroy, and yet two small to take seriously as a playmate, what kind of reaction might you expect from the prey drivin dog? If they seemed to get along playing well for an hour, could one relax? Or might still the larger dog turn on his new friend and kill it?

[sutsibe]

I think that's going to be a really difficult question for any of us to answer. All dogs are so very much individuals, that it's really hard to generalize. I guess you'd need to keep watching and monitoring, and see what his body language is saying in a variety of situation. It took me a long time to trust Tux with cats, but now there aren't many circumstances where I'd really fear for them - at least the ones who live here! Having him discipline a cat on two separate occasions, and having it amount to noise and spit helped show me that he truly wasn't inclined to hurt them. Still, I DO keep an eye on things...

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

i think a muzzle near small dogs would be a good idea.

[Removed #5]

Brian, while neither of my two now are extremely high on the prey drive list, Misty definitely was. With the ever present chihuahua's around here I had my concerns when I'd take her out with me - she thought nothing of going hunting for her own lunch! On the other hand - and this is the same observation that has been made in one of the threads about dog parks - it seems as if a dog will recognize another dog as a dog regardless of the size. It may go into dominance mode but it doesn't see the other dog as prey. Even having said that I'd be concerned until I was given reason to relax. It's like Sasha, while she and I are getting along much better relative to her food possessiveness I'm still very careful when I take her somewhere where there might be food around, not that I expect her to grab it, she doesn't - but if someone were to give her something and still keep a hand close I'm not sure that she wouldn't make a grab for the hand. Called watchful concern, I think.

[Elyse]

Suka has a very high prey drive (has killed things that attack back, like racoons and opossums.) and yet he's fine with all dogs...big or tiny!

They can tell the difference between dog and another animal, simply by smell.

But, nevertheless, I'd keep an eye on him because they truly are individuals.

[LittleLuka]

Luka despises cats and squirrels. He's never seen a raccoon or anything else but i bet he wouldn't be a fan. like suka, he doesn't seem to be interested in going after small dogs. the only problem i have with him is he's so big and they're so small and he about crushes them trying to play.

he's learned to be careful to Knox now but at first i had to keep them separated because Luka literally ran him over.

i agree with [MENTION=1869]sutsibe[/MENTION] it depends on your dog. they're all different.

[Franklin Phil]

Keep in mind, this was purely hypothetical. I happen to know that Koto has killed two dogs years ago so I know he can't be trusted around them. Like I said, just pondering the way dogs think. Huskies are fascinating dogs.