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[giveitfullheart]

You let your dog outside in the (fenced) backyard like any other morning to do his business. A little while later, you go by the door and look outside to see him trying very very hard to get under the playhouse (or other large thing that has space underneath). You call for him and he doesn't even look up so you rush out fearing he's got some poor

Comments

[erica057]

Keep my doggy the hell away from my aviary from now on ;)

[giveitfullheart]

I'm not sure how dogs behave when they're hunting but he didn't seem to be aggressively going after the bird or anything. He was trying very hard to get it but I'm not sure if he was trying to play or trying to eat. His mouth didn't have any blood on it and it didn't look like the bird had been bitten...just smooshed.

[cindyanne1]

It's a "dogs will be dogs" moment for me. Although because of that, and because we live in the country and my dog chases (and occasionally kills/eats) rabbits, mice, rats, moles, goundhogs, pigeons, etc. I am religious about her vaccines. I also worry she'll get into a tussle with a particularly vicious critter and get hurt, so whenever I catch her in the act of chasing something I call for her until she comes in and/or I scare the critter away. But there are times I just don't catch her doing it until she's happily nomming on Dead Thing in the yard. D:

[oddityangel]

I'd be upset, I hate seeing animals hurt, but not with my dog. It's just being a dog. I'd probably make a mental note to do a more thorough scan of the back yard before letting the beast out. I learned that lesson after I blindly let the dog out when there was a family of opossums hanging around out back (everyone was fine, but it scared me and the critters half to death).

As for the baby bird...if I knew it was mortally wounded, like didn't stand a chance, I'd probably get someone nearby who is less squeamish to finish it. Otherwise I may either make a pointless trip to the vet (or wherever s/he recommends me to go) or find somewhere quiet to put the bird and hope I find the resolve to end it before the poor thing suffers too much.

[cindyanne1]

Just don't do what my sister in law did once and put it in a plastic ziploc to suffocate. D:

Sure, it was easy, neat, and clean for her to do that to the half-dead critter (I think it was a rabbit) she found once... but I can't even imagine how that poor thing suffered. :(

[oddityangel]

That...never would have even occurred to me. Yikes.

[moustachios]

I'm not mad. It's just natural behaviour. (I am pretty sad for the bird, though.)

I finish the job myself and dispose of the body so the dog can't get to it. Any of my pets that go outdoors are up to date on vaccines, but wild birds are notorious for fleas and parasites. No point in risking that.