I KNOW MY GIRLS WOULD LOVE TO GO OUTSIDE AND HUNT BUT THEY WOULD BE THE HUNTED. It's OK with me as I am the person saving lizards from my cats! Ive gone as far as saving mice from drowning in my pool.

Oh wow! CRAZY pictures!

I think it's just in their blood!!! No direction necessary!!!!

Yuck, I NEVER allow Cody to roll in the yard, one never knows what the heck they are rolling in, the smelliest it is the more they want to roll in it :eek:

Max came up from under the deck with a dead something and that was his last trip in the backyard. I won't let him be a hunter! Birds, bunnies and squirrels are something mom loves to feed so they won't be his snack!

The Terrier
 

Lol... I think because they are so small and some of us think on them as our 'babies', we sometimes forget that they are still dogs and terriers at that. I feel I need to encourage her natural instincts, that is what makes her unique. We of course also try to rescue the poor victims from our pets but isn't it wrong to interfere with their natural instincts?

Some years back my neighbors had mice problems, they were going to buy Decon pellets for mice, I begged them not to because the mice will carry the pellets out of the house. I feared the Decon would end up in my yard and my now passed girl would eat it and that would have been fatal if she had. From my own personal experience having a travel trailer, in the winter I would set Decon out for the mice that made my travel trailer their hotel, I would find the Decon had been hidden in vases, drawers, and outside of the trailer by the mice. So to answer your question, YES interfere, one never knows if a vermin has ingested poison, and your dog puts that poisoned animal in it's mouth, to me that is cause for concern and interference. As a PS my boy is not a show piece, he is allowed to get down and dirty, dig holes, and play in the mud if that makes him happy,he is my "baby", but he is still a dog and will have fun doing what dogs like to do, but he will not have fun by killing small animals.

Mouse Killer
 

Buddybear killed his first and only one this year. He found it in my sewing room.
He was soooooo FAST and shook it so hard I was amazed. Totally instinct.

You will find now that he had his first kill he will be OBSESSED with mice and hunting them. After my Matese had her first kill she would rather hunt then to eat. I have a lot of left over treated lumber under my deck from projects done on my deck, one time I hear all this banging going on under the deck, I look to see what the heck is this girl up to now, and there she was, jumping on the lumber and pulling the lumber away. I got her out from there and put her in the house, she was all worked up and panting hard lol, she needed to chill out lol. I pulled out all the lumber to see what worked her into a frenzy and found a dead mole, all that jumping on the wood must have given that mole a concussion, poor lil mole. Keep an eye on your Buddybear, he has had a taste of a kill lol.

Mickey likes to try to get the crows in our park. We don't have mice here. If he could fly he would definitely get his prey.

lol, sounds like my Cody, if it walks, hops, crawls, or fly's he's on it he even tries to climb up trees after the birds lol. I never had a yorkie that always looked to the skies like this lil guy does lol. he even wants the deer lol.

I don't know which of my dogs did it. But one of them got a chipmunk. I found it in big boy magics crate but with razzle guarding it. I was almost sick to my stomach as I disposed of this wee one. The dogs were all happy n fine.

Know it is natural prey instinct but hey I don't have to like it.

I guess...that's the subjective question.

Everyone has different levels of tolerance for this kind of predatory action. Not to mention our dogs have been domesticated for a reason. So, it'd depend what one wants their dog for and then if there's any safety issues. And if this is something one wouldn't want to interfere with, then it'd have to be accepted that they always hunt and prey on other animals - and we can't later blame them for being 'bad' when/if it happens in a way we don't like.

Hehe...just to play devil's advocate in a light-hearted way (not trying to be rude) they have a lot of natural instincts that I don't like, which I interfere with: peeing/pooping indoors, not coming when called, not listening to me period ;)

Our Mia is hysterical. She hides everything from bones to beggin' strips (we find them under the covers in our bed) like those predators that save their catch for later. The way she shakes some of her toys alarmed us at first!
Squirrels that have the audacity to step foot in our yard make her crazy, yet on walks, I can make her sit and watch them. Same with bunnies, I just tell her "aww look, a bunny, they're so nice"and she sits down and watches them.
Watching them with grasshoppers is hysterical! It wouldn't be if she ate them, but she tries to gently put her foot on them. If she even gets her mouth near them I just have to say "no bite" and she'll move her face away. I'm not sure what she would do if there was a critter in our house. I almost think if it was a hamster or guinea pig, she'd try to play gently with it, but don't think she'd bite to kill, just from watching her in other situations. Now, there are a few dogs that she looked like she'd like to kill. Man, this sweet little thing has a toothy snarl that is ferocious! She's very territorial with loose dogs especially who run near our yard.
(She was attacked and almost killed by two large dogs while on a leash on our own patio with us there! Vet says she does have memory - maybe not of actual event but of the emotions (for lack of better word) attached to it.

My 2nd yorkie use to play with my niece's ferret lol, they would play
peek -a- boo on the bed, the ferret would run behind the pillows, my girl would be checkinking where it entered, the ferret would pop its face out at the other end lol, my girl would run to it and the ferret would disappear, it was the cutest, funniest thing ever, yet, in the country she was the mouser.