Is This Normal??

[Saint Pyr]

Well the more I get to see of Otis the more like a cat he seems.  He has now taken to catching birds and eating them  .  At first we just thought he was taking them off the cats after they caught them.  We would take them off him and dispose of them and then an hour later he would have another one  .  Well DH was out this morning feeding horses and Otis barrels by him jumps in the bushes and comes out with a bird    After seeing that the light came on, he was getting his own birds.  Seems he is quite the big hunter  .

So is this normal for a pyr (little on any dog)??  Our is my poor boy completely species confused and really thinks he is a cat 

[macybean]

I don't know if that's normal, but it's interesting. My dogs have a hard time catching grasshoppers and other bugs. The only bigger things Sadie's ever caught were two (already dead when she got them) squirrels that some other dogs had previously caught.

[horsepoor21]

My Moose catches birds too ! He's a Newfie/border collie cross . My Mom's cocker spaniel does it also . Naughty puppies ! 

[zchic]

My brothers sammie goes after birds, squirrels and lately he's been getting chipmunks.

[kathryn]

Kaila hunts the birds in the back yard and tries to catch them.  She hasn't caught one yet but she now has Shiner chasing them also.  I'm waiting to see her catch one of the wild Quaker parrots and see the surprise that they both get from that one. 

[GoldenPyrs]

Well, "normal" is such a funny thing.       Every dog is an individual so who knows?  I can only speak for my Pyrs (so far) and mine have all had low/no prey drive, but I'm sure that there are some out there that will "hunt" like Otis.  Sammy was even on a farm sleeping with chickens in a foster home before he came to us and they said that he didn't even seem to notice the chickens.  He and Cassie  live with our cat now and they either nap with her or ignore her, too.    If you'd prefer that he not hunt & eat the birdies, you might have some luck teaching him the "leave it" command and maybe in time he'll leave them alone, but I'm guessing that he'll continue to do it at least until he gets older and less interested in the game. 

[Saint Pyr]

Well I am so glad to hear that there are more “bird” dogs out there .  I just can’t believe that he can catch birds as they are so fast and can fly  .  I shouldn’t be surprised about him catching things as my Saint, Slugger use to go hunting mice and rats with my black cat Wiccan.  It was amazing to watch them in the field or shed.  Slugger would sniff the mice out and then scared them or start digging for them, and then Wiccan would wait by his side until the mice ran and then she was off after them, and Slugger along with the chase.  Or Wiccan would chase the rats out of the small places where Slugger was waiting at the other end to get them.  They were a pretty impressive team.  Unfortunately Wiccan was taken by a coyote and poor Slug hasn’t made such a good connection with the other cats, plus they are pretty useless hunters. 

[BigSoftandFluffyLover]

Normal, a very subjective word for a very random dog    Rasputin will catch bugs.  Dont get me wrong, as long as the are flying he will go after them, if they are walking or bigger than 2" they have no interest for him.  He really likes bees!!! Its great, he will catch them in his mouth, where else, completely satisfied with himself then while walking away the bee will sting him!  He looks around supprised but doesnt really care, then starts to drool!!!!  Its awesome!!!

[arkydo]

Thats such a funny story i'd love to see it
where it is cat like he's a dog and all dogs have a prey drive and also are pretty curious at fast moving things.I don't think bird bones are good tho thats the one thing i'd watch out for.

During the summer Arkyd and Chav used team work to flush a rabbit from a bush (poor little wabbit got itself corner by the bush at the cornered of our fence)
Anyways chav ripped that bunny to pieces it was crazy to make matters worse using porters nose they found the rabbits coupla day old litter and i had to try find it to remove so my dogs stoped bringin me half dead baby rabbit
sorry to say the dogs won not one survived by time i found the nest

[VdogLover]

May and Breeze would like to welcome Otis to the "Bird Killing Dogs" Association 
Breeze learned her skills from May and now they make a pretty good pair when it comes to song bird annihilation.. not sure if its normal but they sire think its fun.

[pyr4me]

Jenny, my Pyr, seems to have a nonexistent prey drive, but Tipper is a champion chaser and catcher of all critters! But he doesn't eat them, he just loves the chase. He has caught birds, bunnies, squirrels, and a raccoon. Squirrels are his personal favorite, however, one time after he caught the squirrel, the squirrel caught him--it had latched itself to Tipper's muzzle and wouldn't let go! Tipper was spinning around in circles trying to shake the thing off! It was quite a sight! But alas, it hasn't stopped him from chasing those squirrels, not even one little bit! 

[GoldenPyrs]

Jenny, my Pyr, seems to have a nonexistent prey drive, but Tipper is a champion chaser and catcher of all critters! But he doesn't eat them, he just loves the chase. He has caught birds, bunnies, squirrels, and a raccoon. Squirrels are his personal favorite, however, one time after he caught the squirrel, the squirrel caught him--it had latched itself to Tipper's muzzle and wouldn't let go! Tipper was spinning around in circles trying to shake the thing off! It was quite a sight! But alas, it hasn't stopped him from chasing those squirrels, not even one little bit! 

Your Jenny sounds like my full breed Pyrs are or have been.  No prey drive at all.    Personally, I love it that way, I would hate to have some critter get eaten in my yard.  Yeah, I know they are carnivores, but I just don't want it to happen here.    So, Pyrs work well for me in that regard.  Cassie is probably 3/4 Pyr and the rest we just don't know, but whatever "it" is has some prey drive.      She will occasionally chase something, though I have never seen her catch anything, and I just hope that she doesn't.