The predatory sequence in dogs is the name for a bunch of things that dogs do when they come into contact with prey. In wild predators, the point of the predatory sequence is to get food to eat to stay alive. In dogs, it is a whole lot more complicated. Selective breeding has created dogs who are specialists in just a few parts of the sequence. Or at least many of them are. For sure, some dogs will find, catch, kill and eat prey just like any other predator – but most of them are specialists.
An interest in prey comes as part of the package with most dogs – and for many dogs, prey will be far higher up their list of fun things to do on walks than hanging out with you. Even highly trained dogs are not immune to the lure of prey. In the Scottish Highlands recently, a fully trained police dog, PD Fergie took off after a deer and was gone for a day and a half . She was found safe and well but her story underlines that for some dogs, training alone isn’t enough.
As much as your dog’s interest in prey may annoy, upset, worry or frustrate you, it is an important part of who your dog is. Ensuring great welfare for your dog means embracing that part of them and working with them to find ways to safely give them outlets – ways to meet those predatory needs.
Giving them outlets won’t make their prey drive stronger but depriving your dog of them almost certainly will. So, if you’ve been trying your best to avoid prey or distract your dog from it and your problems are just getting worse and worse, that’s probably why.
Hunting often looks like what this 19-week-old spaniel puppy is doing. She is clearly searching for something – in this case, her little toy. Some dogs use their eyes to search as much as or more than their noses and some dogs listen for the little noises that prey makes in the undergrowth.
Orient often marks the end of the hunting part of the motor sequence. Sometimes it is a brief moment before a chase and sometimes it lasts a bit longer as the dog makes their way toward their prey. I’ve slowed down the portion of the toy hunting video above to show you the point where the hunt turned into orient that time. Obviously, if the hunt was for a living animal and bird and they moved, something else would have happened but since it was a toy, the puppy could just pick the toy up in a possess bite.
When dogs eye prey, they are still. Their bodies will be tense, and their gaze is directed straight at the prey. It is likely to be difficult to get your dog’s attention if they are eyeing something. People often describe them as fixated on the prey.
Dogs who are stalking often remind people of lions or cheetahs that they have watched on TV. Again, the dog’s body will be tense, and the dog will be staring directly at the prey. They will also be moving slowly toward it.
This is commonly believed to be the part of the sequence that dogs enjoy the most. For sure, many dogs do enjoy chasing things that move fast. However, it may be that your dog doesn’t chase for the fun of chasing. Some dogs love to follow scent and will follow animals to get closer to their scent. Some dogs chase because they want to stop the prey moving to enable them to control the prey’s movements. Some dogs are chasing because they want to grab, have and hold or kill the prey. A small number of dogs chase because they want to eat the prey animal.
When you are thinking about giving your dog outlets it is important to know what your dog’s end goal is when it comes to chasing so that you can offer them outlets that really float their boat.
This is a hard bite that will injure or even kill the prey if the dog is large enough. The dog in the photo is being trained for a sport that requires them to deliver a grab-bite when asked to. Look at the safety equipment being used during this training to prevent the trainer being injured by the dog.
This involves another sort of bite. This time the bite will be soft, will not cause any damage to the prey and the dog will then hold and carry the prey. They may be keen to keep the prey for themselves and might try and keep a distance between themselves and any people or other dogs who are nearby.
Characterised by a biting action while the dog shakes their head. Terrier breeds have been selectively bred historically to decrease the prevalence of vermin, resulting in dogs that will repeatedly perform a kill-bite while they are working.
The final two steps of the predatory sequence I have included here but only for completeness. While dogs all eat – they have to stay alive – and many dogs enjoy a good old session of destroying toys, it is rare for dogs to dissect and eat prey animals or birds.
If dogs were to eat prey animals, this step would be where they would use their teeth to open the animal’s skin to enable them to eat.
This is the last stage of the sequence. For wild predators, it is the whole point of the predatory sequence.
Due to selective breeding, if you know your dog’s breed or mix, you can make a good guess at what sorts of enrichment your dog will most love. The whole point of selective breeding is to reliably create dogs who will be able to do specific things with dogs.
Let’s have a look.
These dogs work to keep livestock under control and move the animals from place to place as directed by human handlers. Dogs like Border Collies, German Shepherd Dogs and Australian Cattle Dogs fall in this grouping.
These dogs will tend to orient on livestock, many of them will have the tendency to eye and stalk. Their work requires them to chase in a controlled manner. Some – especially the cattle dogs may also nip at the heels of livestock as a way to encourage the much larger animals to move in the direction they are needed to go. Some of the dogs will work in a way that requires them to grip and hold livestock.
Great outlets for these dogs include finding opportunities for them to eye and stalk where it is safe. Some people have had success teaching them to perform those actions with toys and there are now dog sports aimed this particular group of dogs.
For the dogs in this group who love to nip, games of chase followed by tug are great ways to offer outlets that don’t require you to have a flock of sheep or a herd of cows.
Terriers are likely to enjoy following movement close to them and holding and shaking. As working dogs, they would be expected to orient toward their prey, possibly do a short chase and then a kill-bite.
Long toys that you can wriggle in long grass or pull into little gaps are great games for terriers. Tug games that let them hold and shake are also often highly rewarding for terriers.
These dogs tended to be bred for their impressive ability to perform grab-bites that would disable or immobilise their opponents.
Many of them love to play games of tug and to be able to use their strength to try and gain possession of the toy. Tug games are a fantastic outlet for these sorts of dogs, and they allow you to teach the dogs to wait to be told before they start tugging and to let go of the toy when asked. The ability to control themselves is a great thing for dogs who have a tendency to want to bite hard and hold.
If you are unsure of how to go about teaching your dog to have self-control, this article will give you tons of great ideas.
The scent hounds are bred to focus hard on that first part of the predatory sequence – the hunt or search part.
For the dogs who love to hunt, you can hide food for them or hide their favourite toys. Make sure that they don’t see where the treasure is hidden. Then you can release them to search.
Some scent hounds will really appreciate it if you lay a trail on the ground for them by dragging a toy that has been in a bag with strong smelling treats for a few hours. You can leave them some treats at the end of the trail to find.
The pointing dogs often love to scan an area with their eyes, and they may also use their nose to take in scent from the air or ground. When they find their preferred prey, they go still and stare at it. They are called pointing dogs because they tend to lift one front leg up in the air and use their nose to point directly at the prey.
They may also stalk slowly toward it. Some pointing dogs alternate between pointing and stalking as they slowly get closer.
Often birds are a preferred prey for pointing dogs. You can give your dog a fabulous outlet by standing with them while they point at birds you come across on your walks. If they may take off and chase, you can have them on a lead while they do it.
Then, when they break off from the point and stalk, you can give them a food scatter or bowl a piece of food along the ground for them to chase.
Flushing dogs like spaniels tend to enjoy the hunt or search part at the beginning of the predatory sequence and the possess part. Some of them will hunt, chase and try to catch prey so that they can then carry it around.
Great outlets are hiding favourite toys in undergrowth for them to find. If you can drop toys close to your feet while your dog isn’t looking, it will encourage them to stay closer to you and to think that you are so clever to know where they toys will be. Don’t be in a rush to take the toy away. The flushing dogs love it if they can hold and carry their toy around.
The retrieving dogs really just want to possess. They love to carry things around. They are also dogs who have been bred to stay close to you and to be happy sitting still.
A great outlet for a retrieving dog is for them to sit still while you walk off and place their toy a distance away. Then for you to walk back to them and send them off to pick up the toy.
An alternative to that is to drop the toy as you walk along, keep walking with your dog and then send them back to get the toy.
If your dog isn’t familiar with games like that then start close to you so that they can easily see where the toy is. Blue or white toys are most visible to dogs against most backgrounds so choose those colours.
The sighthounds are bred to chase. They should spot prey and immediately give chase. Some of the dogs have enormous stamina and can chase for miles.
Flirt poles and long chaser toys that the dogs can enjoy chasing are great options. Some of the dogs will just enjoy the chase and others may want to catch the toy. You can have fun figuring out what your dog loves most.
If you can find the option close to you, lure coursing can be a great sport to do with sighthounds.
Having said all of that, it is important to treat your dog like an individual and if you need a hand working out what your dog prefers from the predatory sequence, you can use my handy guide and it’ll help you decide where best to focus the outlets you give your dog for the most effect.
The trick to successfully finding your dog outlets for their prey drive is to understand what they want and give them that. You don’t need to worry about the whole predatory motor sequence – just the parts of it that your dog is interested in.
Those are the parts that will be satisfying for your dog and that will lead to them coming home and being able to rest happily.
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I am the founder of Best Dog Learning and Stuff and a massive prey drive enthusiast. I've lived with high prey drive dogs for over 20 years and I love them. I run the awesome High Prey Drive Club where I help my members learn to have fabulous walks and happy lives with their high prey drive dogs.
I am a published researcher in my field with both my original research and my review of the literature looking at prey drive in dogs being published in the respected journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
I am the author of Canine aggression: Rehabilitating an aggressive dog with kindess and compassion.
I want to show you how easy and fun it can be to have a high prey drive dog.
If you'd like help with your dog, I'm ready to help you right now.