Quote:

 

Extremely interesting thread, thanks to OP for starting it and fantastic photographs.

BorderDawn I've got to say what extremely lucky dogs you have, an owner who totally understands their dogs and provides them with the opportunity to fulfil their natural urges!

Quote:

 

I found the photos really interesting, but quite hard viewing too. I absolutely accept the control issue, but once decided, the maternal instinct in me means I still hope the animal being controlled is despatched quickly.

I always thought that hounds kill foxes with a swift bite to the neck - so the spine is broken, fox dead almost instantaneously.

It looked to my very untrained eye - so do shoot me down here if I'm wrong - as if Tarn was going for the squirrels underbelly, where I wouldn't necessarily expect the squirrels death to be as quick as say, a swift snap to the neck.

Please don't get me wrong: a dog killed a squirrel in the wooded bit of our park and while the squirrel looked unscathed, the dog was dripping blood from a nasty head wound. I accept the cuteness of squirrels is only fur-deep and I am certainly not going to lose any sleep over the photos. But how does a dog learn which bit of the squirrel to go for?