Does hunting bunnies count as aggression?

It can be upsetting to see our dogs hunt and, in some cases, kill small animals like squirrels, mice, and chipmunks. Labeling predation as "aggression" is inaccurate because the underlying motivations differ. In aggression, an animal backs another animal off their person or property. In predation, it's eating, but some animals kill other animals before they eat.

Dogs descended from wolves have the full range of feeding behaviors found in social predators. Predation can be a problematic behavior to modify. However, we can manage it by arranging the dog's environment to prevent dogs from practicing this behavior in a dangerous way toward other animals. For example, if a dog has killed sheep, chickens, squirrels, cats, or other dogs, it is likely predation. It in no way means the dog is now at risk of biting the owner, attacking children, etc.

What's sometimes hard to understand is that predation is normal dog behavior. Predation is not a case of "nice dogs don't do this." That doesn't mean we leave it unchecked regarding the safety of other animals in the home and elsewhere.

Dogs with the "software" for acquiring and finishing off prey items are not morally inferior to dogs that don't have this software!