bk_blue Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 Hoping someone can answer this... A TV cop-drama show tonight had a plot which revolved around a "feral" dog getting into the sheep pen and killing one to eat every night. Then it was thought it could have been a family pet who roamed at night. For a while it was thought it could have been the cop's border collie, but turned out to be a malamute/husky (not sure which). I initially thought it was a bit weird because although BCs have a high prey drive they herd sheep and don't kill them...? can anyone help me decide if that's a realistic plotline? I could understand it maybe if the dog was feral and had no home therefore no food, but a pet border collie...? It's beginning to annoy me so I hope someone can help me before I retire for the evening :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 Well, I know that there are feral dogs that run in packs in the Northwoods (or Wisconsin). They kill Whitetail Deer. But, I don't think it's a daily occurance that they even kill deer. I too find it hard to believe a pet would kill a sheep every night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poofy Posted February 26, 2003 Share Posted February 26, 2003 BC may not kill sheep out right, but they would and could run them to death herding them and could do some serious damage biting on them herding them. Sheep and goats are pretty dumb and they shock easily, and die fast. A mal could DEFINATELY kill a sheep with no problem...so could several other breeds such as a larger husky, or shepherd.... I have seen BC ruin live stock trying to herd them when they are left unattended and untrained by owners...they don't really go for the jugluar...but they are capable of herding livestock to the point of death. Speaking of BC....right off the hwy there is a little house, and a BC that stands out by the mail box and walks/herds the edge of the road eyeing every car that passes....I know the day will come when that dog meets a terrible fate...its very depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Some twenty years ago my uncle had a St. Bernard, who along with another dog [I'm not sure of the breed] would escape from his yard, travel a mile or so down the road to a place called Silvermans, a game farm of sorts, and kill the dear that were being raised there.He finally, by order of the police had to be put down, and it appeared at the time that he was doing it for sport, so it's not unheard of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtnek Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Like Poofy said, BC's have been known, untrained and unsupervised, to "herd" sheep to death. They frighten them and the sheep run into fences and stuff, have heart failure. The dont normally eat them however. A malamute could easily kill a sheep - so could a large shepherd. But they wouldnt kill one a day, not a full grown one. Feral dogs that kill eat until the entire kill has been consumed, so if it's one dog a sheep kill would last much more than one day. Since wolves hunt in packs, there is always more than one mouth to feed, so I could believe a sheep a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 First of all, what does "feral" mean? :oops: Secondly, I would agree that it would most likely be wolves, or cyottes, or anything like that (not sure about foxes, since the largest prey they eat is usually like rabbits and stuff... but if hungry enough, you never know...) A little confused here... did it "turn out" to be the BC or Husky/Mal? Did someone SEE it happen? If so, did they just "catch a glimps"? Or did they "catch the dog", so to speak. Cuz if they just caught a glimps, odds are that it could have been a wolf also. More often then not, ignorent (using the true term of this, as in not knowledged, since I know a lot of people take offence if you use this term, since it's used losely and wrong so much now-a-days :roll: ) people quite often mistake huskies/Mals and wolves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bk_blue Posted February 27, 2003 Author Share Posted February 27, 2003 Feral= wild or untamed, not domesticated. :wink: This is an Aussie cop show (funnily enough called Blue Heelers, which is also a colloquialism for police here) so we don't have wolves or coyotes, and it's set in this country town where not much goes on to keep the cops busy! The collar of the sergeant's Border was planted at the scene to make it look like he was the killer dog. The whole thing came to a climax when the farmer's little daughter took an old gun and went to shoot the killer dog who was killing her pet lambs, where we found out it was a Mal/husky-type dog and not the border collie belonging to the sergeant. It definitely wasn't a dingo and it definitely wasn't a fox. I hardly ever watch this show and the night I DO watch it, it happens to have a dog plot... :roll: I don't think it was entirely realistic but that's what TV is for :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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