What is Prey Drive?
What is 'Prey drive'?
We refer to 'prey drive' quite alot on this page when doing descriptions of the Greyhounds we have for homing and many people ask what prey drive means so we thought we'd do a post explaining it in a bit more detail.
First of all, Prey drive is a natural instinct and is NOT the same as aggression. In general Greyhounds are naturally very kind natured with people and most make amazingly loyal and loving pets. Their prey drive shouldn't be seen as a bad thing, it just needs understanding and embracing as part of their heritage.
'Prey drive' means an animals natural instinct to want to chase (and kill) animals they see as prey. This instinct is seen in many breeds of dog (and other animals), but it is more common in sighthounds, like Greyhounds, Whippets etc. Most dogs have a natural instinct to chase prey, the difference with Greyhounds is that they are actually fast enough to catch their prey, rather than just chase it ineffectively.
Greyhounds (like many dogs) can show prey driven behaviour towards small animals like cats, rabbits, chickens, squirrels and also small dogs if they do not realise that it's a dog, often due to only seeing other Greyhounds while in racing/retirement kennels. Some greyhounds with a low prey drive can be taught to recognise these animals as fellow pets and not prey, but this can take time and requires careful introductions using a lead and muzzle in a controlled environment (but sometimes isn't achievable at all).
While a Greyhound may live happily with small pets in their own home, they can still show prey driven behaviour towards other small animals in different environments, like in the garden or park.
We always try to assess the dogs in our care with other breeds before they are homed so we can inform the new adopter where care / positive training may be required (if any) around other animals.
The 'training' involved in Greyhound racing does not refer to making a Greyhound chase on the track, a Greyhounds want to chase is a totally natural instinct that most will do willingly.
A Greyhound can NOT be forced to chase, they do it instinctively when seeing objects they class as prey move quickly, like the lure at the race track or things they see out on walks like cats, small dogs, squirrels etc or even things like leaves and plastic bags can trigger predatory behaviour in some sighthounds with a very high prey drive. It is almost impossible to 'train' a natural prey drive out of a Greyhound but it is possible to calm down their reactivness to small animals with patience and positive training.
Prey drive should NOT be punished, but instead handled with understanding and positive reinforcement.
A Greyhounds prey drive is also one good reason why a solid and reliable recall should always be achieved before even thinking about allowing them to be let off of their leads in open spaces (bear in mind that some Greyhounds will never learn recall or be allowed off their leads due to prey drive, previous injury or nervousness so please be sure to listen to your adoption groups guidance and advice).
Greyhounds make the most amazing pets, they are loving, affectionate and generally settle extremely well into home life. Their natural traits and instincts just need understanding by adopters .
(We are not sure who took the photo below but we found it on google and thought it was amazing!)
