Guest Tess32 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 In situations where a dog attacks another dog or a person in response to hearing a loud, high pitched noise, is it prey drive?? Also is there any way to reduce prey drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 In situations where a dog attacks another dog or a person in response to hearing a loud, high pitched noise, is it prey drive??Also is there any way to reduce prey drive? I don't think there is enough info in your post to judge what the motivation is. If the animal attacked was making the noise I'd say quite possibly, but it doesn't read like that is the kind of case you mean? I also have never seen prey drive directed towards people in the high prey breeds I know, although I suppose someone will have seen it in other breeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 I don't wanna get too specific. Basically like the case of the woman whose hearing aid fell off as she was leashing her dog, and it began making a high pitched noise. The dog attacked her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 (edited) OK, fair enough. Certainly my sighthounds would never attack me or any other human because of some noise, no matter how arousing or annoying, even the most high prey drive. Jump up in excitement maybe, but never attack. But I've learnt from these threads that prey drive seems to manifest very differently in non-hound breeds, so I think I'm no help. I just get marks for trying Forgot about the last bit of your question - I think you can direct prey drive, and also suppress it's expression in circumstances you don't want it. But that's a pretty extreme scenario you are talking about for my world. If you were talking about a guinea pig squealing and getting attacked, well I'd feel more able to understand. Edited February 12, 2010 by Diva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Thanks for trying. I wonder if it's redirected aggression instead....dog hears loud noise and it hurts/frustrates it etc, and then redirects and attacks person near source of noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Thanks for trying.I wonder if it's redirected aggression instead....dog hears loud noise and it hurts/frustrates it etc, and then redirects and attacks person near source of noise. That makes moree sense to me - a fright to the dog and misdirected response. But we need someone with experience in human directed agression, I guess they'll be in here sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Hard to say why the dog did it unless you could see it happening. But yes you can squash prey drive. I am really good at it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 (edited) Here I go.... I don't think you can squash prey drive because the very purpose of prey drive requires a dog to be pretty much unstoppable. Think about it. If a predator was easily turned off hunting, they'd starve. There's a whole bunch of chemicals that flood into the body during circumstances like that to reduce the effects of things that might cause the prey drive to switch off before the animal is caught or has decidedly escaped. Adrenaline is the obvious one. If you can squash it, I say it's play behaviour, not prey drive. Although I agree that you may be able to direct or suppress prey drive in some circumstances. And a redirected response sounds likely to me as well. ETA, okay, there are probably ways in which you can squash it completely, but you'd have to do something pretty drastic and systematic. Edited February 12, 2010 by corvus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsdog2 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Hard to say why the dog did it unless you could see it happening. But yes you can squash prey drive. I am really good at it My OH (mechanic) used an ultrasonic cleaner at work the other day while our Goldie was with him. He said the sound (can't be heard by humans) sent our Goldie crazy - running around the workshop in a panic. At first they didn't know what caused it but when they realised they switched off the cleaner and he immediately settled. I don't know if you would call that drive or just plain fear . Maybe the dog attacked the lady out of pure fear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 My Friend had a Dobe bitch that would attack (another animal not person) if they squealed or looked or sounded liked they were in pain. The moment she heard it she would fly straight in and attack. It did result in a couple of incidences of the unfortunate recipient requiring suturing up. She never did it to a human, but cat,dog,sheep otherwise was fair game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Certainly a loud/high pitched noise can cause a dog to become aggressive. Don't think I would call it prey drive unless the noise was coming from the animal/person attacked though? My previous dog would have a go at Zoe if Zoe got hurt/surprised/scared and made a noise - though I think in that case it was more like how dogs will gang up on a member that is going down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 I don't think you can squash prey drive because the very purpose of prey drive requires a dog to be pretty much unstoppable. Think about it. If a predator was easily turned off hunting, they'd starve. There's a whole bunch of chemicals that flood into the body during circumstances like that to reduce the effects of things that might cause the prey drive to switch off before the animal is caught or has decidedly escaped. Adrenaline is the obvious one. So if the stimuli that elicit these respondents (adrenaline etc) is paired with no prey (classical extinction), do you think you might have a shot at suppressing the response to those stimuli? I like to walk in the bush. Worse than that I often end up walking the dogs at dusk, or even after dark, when all the animals are coming out. Every so often I chuck something into the scrub behind us without the dogs seeing, then I let them go to investigate. Pretty soon they stopped investigating, including similar sounds made by real prey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 If you can squash it, I say it's play behaviour, not prey drive. Sheepdog people squash prey drive all the time and if you have ever seen a dog intent attacking stock, you will know there is not an ounce of play behaviour in sight. I have seen a few dogs who started out thinking the sheep were lunch actually turn into nice working dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Think about it. If a predator was easily turned off hunting, they'd starve. ...or they could become domesticated. There are plenty of species who no longer use the hunting methods they once did...because they have found an easier food source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 So if the stimuli that elicit these respondents (adrenaline etc) is paired with no prey (classical extinction), do you think you might have a shot at suppressing the response to those stimuli?I like to walk in the bush. Worse than that I often end up walking the dogs at dusk, or even after dark, when all the animals are coming out. Every so often I chuck something into the scrub behind us without the dogs seeing, then I let them go to investigate. Pretty soon they stopped investigating, including similar sounds made by real prey. Great point & great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 ok so take this eg: Human vacuuming. Something gets stuck in it and it makes a loud, high pitched noise the human can't turn off. Dog listens intently for about 30 secs and then launches into attack on human. Previously no problems with the vacuum and dog went straight for human, not machine. What would be the main reason? How to handle the dog initially? Is it prey drive cos of the high noise, or frustration from being unable to stop the noise. Why not attack the machine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 I would say frustration about not being able to stop the annoying (painful to dog's ears? ) noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 ok so take this eg:Human vacuuming. Something gets stuck in it and it makes a loud, high pitched noise the human can't turn off. Dog listens intently for about 30 secs and then launches into attack on human. Sounds similar to what happens if someone plays Nickleback near me. Violent rage directed at the responsible person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 ok so take this eg:Human vacuuming. Something gets stuck in it and it makes a loud, high pitched noise the human can't turn off. Dog listens intently for about 30 secs and then launches into attack on human. Sounds similar to what happens if someone plays Nickleback near me. Violent rage directed at the responsible person. :rofl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I would say frustration about not being able to stop the annoying (painful to dog's ears? ) noise. I would be thinking something similar. Having said that I would be very hesitant about keeping a dog that did that around me in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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