All dogs have a prey drive. It’s instinctual and it goes back to their ancestors when they needed to hunt to survive. Now that dogs are domesticated, this instinctual prey drive can be a little frustrating to some owners. However, there are some ways to channel this energy effectively and in a healthy manner. Here are a few tips for managing prey drive in dogs:

What is Prey Drive in Dogs?

Prey drive in dogs is the behavior that dogs exhibit when they chase, hunt, or capture prey. All breeds have a prey drive but different breeds have higher or lower levels of this drive. It can also depend on temperament, training, and habits they may have picked up.

Dogs that tend to have higher prey drives are herding and hunting breeds. The most active dog breeds tend to be working dogs that were bred to have a higher prey drive. This was done to assist hunters and farmers. They’re also often utilized in law enforcement and search and rescue.

What Does Prey Drive in Dogs Look Like?

Prey drive can look different in various situations. For working breeds, prey drive looks like stalking, herding, intense sniffing, chasing, and biting to grab. These behaviors are useful in working situations and some competitive dog sports.

However, if your dog is not a working dog or is involved in competitive sports, this behavior can look a bit different. Here, these behaviors can manifest as chasing small animals, runners, and even small children as well as bolting off-leash. A high prey drive and the urge to chase can be one of the reasons why dogs run away.

Prey isn’t always living things, either. Sometimes dogs see sticks, leaves, balls, or toys as prey. With no proper training, some dogs with a high prey drive may chase anything that moves.

Breeds With a High Prey Drive

As mentioned above, some breeds have a higher prey drive than others. These herding or hunting breeds include but aren’t limited to:

• Australian Shepherds
• Terriers
• Hounds
• Beagles
• Labrador Retrievers
• Border Collies

Some breeds have a high prey drive that aren’t herders or hunters. These breeds include Huskies and Boxers. A high prey drive does not necessarily mean that a dog cannot get along with other animals in a household. Many tend to be fine with animals that they have been raised and socialized with.

But, it is important to recognize that a high prey drive can be a challenge and that you will likely need to do some extra socialization and training around interactions with smaller animals in the family. Even when a dog with a high prey drive is fine with animals within their family, they often still have the urge to chase prey-type animals outside of the family unit.

7 Tips For Managing Prey Drive in Dogs

Since every dog has at least some natural prey drive, you can never fully get rid of it. Training is essential in managing this instinct. Here are a few tips for managing prey drive in dogs:

1. Learn How Your Dog’s Prey Drive Manifests

It’s important to know how your dog is exhibiting their prey drive. Some dogs dig in the garden, looking for rodents, others chase anything that moves, especially small animals like squirrels or mice. Others may try to hurt people or other animals, such as other family dogs or cats.

Learning how your dog’s prey drive manifests will help you better learn how to manage it. You’ll be able to reward more desirable behavior, which can help them learn to not react to situations that might bring out that instinct.

2. Redirect Their Attention Away From “Prey”

It’s important that you do not overreact when your dog begins to act on their natural instinct. If you notice them starting to stalk something while out on a walk or during playtime, do not yell at your dog. Instead, try to distract them.

Offer them another toy to play with or try to play a game if possible. Another thing that can help is encouraging your dog to maintain eye contact with you. Teaching your dog nose targeting can be a useful technique to gain their attention and redirect their focus. This can help them stay focused on you and you can distract them from whatever they have deemed as prey.

Working on improving your dog’s recall training is also a useful tip for redirecting their attention away from “prey”. A dog with strong recall skills should come to you when you give them the command and leave the prey alone. For some dogs with a high prey drive and a strong urge to chase, it’s best to not let them off-leash unless they are in a secure area. You still want to practice and improve recall as a backup, but you do not want to go off-leash in unfenced areas intentionally.

3. Reward Their Good Behavior

If you’re able to distract your dog from a prey drive situation, be sure to reward their good behavior. Positive reinforcement is one of the different types of dog training methods that will help ingrain this behavior and may help manage their prey drive

However, you need to remember to be consistent with correcting their behavior. If you overreact every time they chase a squirrel to get them to stop, they may see this as rewarding that bad behavior. They repeat this behavior because they want your attention.

Be sure to reward your dog when they stay obediently by your side or are successfully distracted from prey. This will train your dog that not chasing after prey is rewarded and continues to reinforce good behavior.

4. Don’t Encourage Prey Drive

You may not be intentionally encouraging prey drive in your dog, but there might be little ways you are that you might not even be aware of. Don’t encourage your dog to chase other dogs or animals since this is a big prey drive behavior.

If you keep encouraging this behavior, your dog won’t know when and where it’s appropriate or not. This also could lead to your dog chasing bikers, cars, or other motorized vehicles, which is a huge safety concern.

5. Keep Your Dog Well Exercised

A tired dog is way less likely to want to chase if they are tired from good exercise. There are plenty of ways to exercise with your dog. Walks are an easy exercise, but you can take your dog swimming, sign them up for dog sports like agility training, or play games like tug of war. You can also try indoor games if the weather is bad. Hide-and-seek and scent games are great choices for indoor playtime.

If you take your dog away from home to exercise, consider the environment. Avoid places and times (like dawn and dusk) that have a higher chance of prey animals being present. If your dog is tempted to chase cars, avoid areas that have a lot of cars. You can also use a strong, secure leash with a front-clip dog harness to help prevent your dog from lunging forward to chase something.

6. Work on Recall Training

It’s a good idea to continually work on training your dog. Recall is one of the basic commands every dog should know but it’s good to work on strengthening their recall. Making sure your dog understands and obeys the recall command can be helpful in managing prey drive.

If you’ve trained your dog to follow the recall well enough, it might be strong enough to interrupt your dog’s prey drive instincts. Make sure you’re rewarding them when they follow the recall command since this is one of the best ways to improve your dog’s recall training.

7. Channel Their Prey Drive in a Healthy Way

If your dog is one of the breeds with a high prey drive, letting them channel their prey drive in a controlled environment can be a healthy outlet. Playing games of fetch or frisbee allows your dog to chase in a fun and safe way.

You can also enroll your dog in dog sports that harness their prey drive energy. Flyball and dock diving are excellent choices for dogs with high energy and a prey drive. Lure coursing allows hunting dogs a safe environment to channel their hunting and prey drive.

For herding dogs, Treibball is a great option. Also known as urban herding, a dog and handler team must herd a big inflatable ball through a field and into a goal. It’s open to any breed, but herding dogs have an advantage. It’s also a great sport for a reactive or anxious dog since only one team is on the field. It builds confidence, strengthens recall skills, and works on impulse control.

These are just a few tips for managing prey drive in dogs. Remember, this is an instinctual trait in all dogs. However, you can learn to work with your dog to manage their prey drive to keep your dog safe!