Reply #66: Some dogs will never have that hunt instinct.. [View All]

[a la izquierda]

bred out of them. I have one of those dogs (he's a Hungarian Viszla). We have to be super careful with him. He has learned to ignore squirrels and my neighbors chickens. He does not care about dogs smaller than him (his brother dog is a 4 pound Chihuahua that we found last summer). He does not like cats, though he's getting better with cats he's familiar with (including the stray cat we feed).
However, he can never be let free in our yard, because there is not a stockade fence. He must be tied out and never left unattended even for a minute. We have put him through rigorous behavior training. He gets regular exercise. Luckily, he's getting older and as he gets older, he's gotten mellower and more obedient. When I move into an apartment in August, I actually think his life will improve because he will get twice daily runs.
Dogs are, we forget, animals. They can do things we often can't predict. Humans must try to control the animals best we can, and then handle the situations that arise when the dogs misbehave.