Dogs barking at squirrels?

[christinarossetti]

I'm not a dog owner, although have family and friends with dogs and spend a lot of time in parks (live inner city).

Asking following an argument I got into this morning in the park. Two women with three dogs, watching and laughing as two dogs barked at a squirrel who was running up and down a tree branch clearly getting panicked. Two children came by, and asked if they were going to attack the squirrel - one of the women said that they wouldn't catch it. I intervened (first time I have ever done this) and said that I had seen a squirrel fall from a tree and taken apart by a dog in the park down the road a few weeks ago - true, I was with my 8 year old dc and it was really upsetting. To cut a long story short, they did eventually call the dogs off although I was told to 'fuck off' and 'grow a pair' by the man who joined them in the process. The squirrel found an escape route and got away.

This isn't okay, is it? Of course dogs bark at squirrels, but don't responsible dog owners call them off if the squirrel can't get away and it's going on for some time? Watching it felt a bit like watching fox hunting or something - wildlife as entertainment for domestic animals.

I don't think I dealt with it very well tbh. I suggested that they bring a ball to the park to entertain their dogs rather than rely on frightening wildlife, which obviously got their backs up and I wouldn't do again.

Surely it's not okay to let your dogs gang up on a panic another animal and tell children that that's okay, is it?

No, this wasn't okay. My dog has ran at a squirrel before, the squirrel runs up the tree and that's it. A lot of dogs do this. A person isn't quick enough to stop a dog's natural instinct setting in like this.

But, in this situation, the squirrel was running around panicked and the dogs were continuously pursuing it. You did the right thing.

Im glad you said something. Most dogs will chase a squirrel if they get a chance, but you dont actively encourage it. You allow them to do that to a squirrel and the next time it will be someones cat

My dog will bark at a squirrel - he has a great liking for squirrels - he wants to run around and play chase - he has to be dragged away from any squirrel activity, walks in the park are a no-no at this time of year - he is dogged (wonder how that word came to be - come watch my dog and squirrels!!) in his pursuit of the small furry animals.

He will hop about as soon as there is the slightest hint of squirrel activity, he will become more and more excited as he hears and then sees the squirrel, he will actually walk into trees and lampposts with his head looking backwards or upwards in his ardent desire to play with squirrels, he really is obsessed with them - he is a terrier it is in his nature.

I have a strong arm to pull him away! Would never leave him to worry the poor little creatures like that.

Hes not trying to play with them, hes trying to catch and kill them. At least be honest about it. Of course we all love our dogs and cats, but please lets not pretend that they are just fwuffy playful little cuties who want to play nicely with squirrels, rabbits, ducks and cats.

Lol at a terrier wanting to 'play' with the squirrel! If you really believe that then you are a bit deluded. My terrier does the same, because he wants to kill the squirrel by biting the back of it's neck. He's done this in our garden, also rats. I never go to parks but I wouldn't let my terrier bark for some time at a squirrel for my own amusement, so no, ywnbu

Mine only reacts to them if they're in our garden - he doesn't notice them out for a walk. He'll bark at them through the window until they go away - I don't let him out if there's a squirrel around, though I very much doubt he would be fast enough to catch up with one.

My terrier is pretty uninterested in squirrels or rabbits. He’ll chase them half heartedly but he’s easily called off. He’s obsessed with his frisbee.

My collie is obsessed with squirrels and I’ve no doubt she’d tear one limb from limb. She tends to chase them up trees and then squeal and whimper hysterically while they watch her from 25 feet up.

If she tree’d one up a small enough tree that the squirrel was traumatised or in danger I’d do something about it but all the trees in our country park are massive. The squirrels are looking big gone while she’s still squeaking away 😏

Thanks all, that's reassuring. I do understand animal instincts and that nothing will stop a dog from acting on its impulse to bark at cats/squirrels/birds.

It was the adults laughing while two dogs frightened one squirrel that was so upsetting, especially having seen one taken apart by a dog when it fell a few weeks ago.

Long gone.

That's it. It was very different to a situation where a cat is looking superciliously down on a couple of dogs busting a gut barking at it up a tree. The squirrel was trapped and couldn't get away.

PestDog is a terrier with a substantial prey drive for balls, magpies, squirrels and so on. It's very hard wired into his brain.

The normal pattern of things is that he'll spot a squirrel, chase it and it will run up the nearest tree. He then tries to climb the tree (and falls miserably) and gives up rapidly.

It's instinct, he has never caught one and there are much more important things to train him on (though I suspect he couldn't be trained out of it either).

I think you were very unlucky to see a squirrel fall out of a tree like that - I've never seen it before and it's not really something that dog owner could have predicted; unlucky really. I wouldn't let him harass something that couldn't escape though.

I think the squirrel was the unlucky one!