Eating rabbits

[TotalBeginner]

On our walk this afternoon the nearly 8 month old cocker pup came across a fairly long-dead baby rabbit and, before I realised what it was she had got hold of, she had crunched it up and eaten the whole thing. I am not at all sure that I could have stopped her even if I'd seen what was happening sooner. Apart from the worry about possible worms or disease, I am concerned that this could be a disaster in terms of working her. The only thing she has eaten before in this way is a mouse and that, too, had been dead a long time. She picked up and retrieved beautifully a recently dead wood pigeon the other day.

I should be grateful for advice on what to do if/when this happens again!

[Judy]

Welcome to the world of gundogs! Long dead are usually fair game but recently deceased should always be brought back, sounds like you don't have too much to worry about although I tend to discourage them from eating crow fodder if I can if only because it makes their breath bad and they have a nasty habit of sicking it back up on the carpet...

[AlandJake]

That's helpful Judy.

I am proud owner of a mk.1 greedy Lab. But from my own experience I can reassure TB that while my boy will happily munch decomposing pigeon carcasses, he has turned his nose up at manky bunny and delivered up to me, tail wagging, not long dead pigeon and cock pheasant whilst he has been out on his free time. I think they do know what's fair game for a bit of a munch and what's "off the menu".

[TotalBeginner]

Thank you - that's most reassuring although you've voiced my own concerns about the reappearance on the carpet!

[Springfield Pointers]

Dogs digestive systems can deal with meat way past what the pampered human stomach can digest. Don't stress about it. The dog will be fine. If you catch him scoffing undesirable fare while you're out though, give him a good bollocking so he knows the behavior is undesirable.

[Judy]

Don't worry, the carpet treatment doesn't often happen! As SP says, discourage it as much as you can but even the most obedient dog will sometimes find something hard to resist.

Its a good reason for always making sure you have a plentiful supply of poo bags - they make great surgical gloves. Although the very cheapest nappy bags are a tad mean on size and I find it difficult to get the mankiest wabbits in without touching them, if there is myxi about I try and remember to keep a bigger bag in my pocket.

Hope y'all ain't eating supper!

[Rascal]

I was undecided whether to put this in the game recipe section (sorry poor joke, forgive me I have a weird sense of humour ) finally decided here would be most appropriate and agree with the others.

Hope you don't see it again and a reliable "leave that" command works well in those situations....

Rascal

[TotalBeginner]

Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated. Will work on the reliable "leave it" command but not too hopeful about achieving success anytime soon!

[Rascal]

Try it TB, it does help if you are timely enough have a look here.....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=asVQYYSWPJc You don’t necessarily need to use a clicker either.

Hope you woke up to a clean carpet.

Rascal

[TotalBeginner]

Thank s for the video link -really useful. Happily the pup is crate trained so, when I heard her crying just before 6:30 this morning and got down to find that she'd had a tummy catastrophe, the foul smelling mess was at least contained and relatively easy to deal with. Sadly, she does not associate miserable experience with eating rotting rabbit!