Hunter or chaser?

I have just come back from a lovely dog walk

I met a great older gentleman and spent ages speaking to him about life, weather and of course dogs

Where we were walking was awash with rabbits - they really are over running the place and seeing it led on to a discussion about dogs and rabbits.

He asked me if my dogs were hunters or chasers which I thought was a really interesting question.

So I thought I would ask you guys what you would class your dogs as and why?

All my Weims have been hunters as they do not chase for the thrill of the run, but because they love to hunt, catch, kill, eat.

Craven is a chaser,although not much of a chaser at that. But he's definately not a hunter.

He did discover a place where there are lots of rabbits,and he loves the fact that when he appears they all run off in different directions,he scurries after them but with no intention of catching one.

He's not interested in birds/cats,unless they are in his garden,then he will chase them off.

Now I think about it he's not really a chaser or a hunter.

Hi SB, thanks for the reply.

My three are all very different.

Storm (nickname Norman due to his lack of intellect) is a chaser and will chase without any thought process at all and the only time he is likely to catch anything is if it throws itself at his feet

Willow is a mix of the two, she will stalk and hunt but she lacks the patience to carry it through and she also would never kill anything - too soft

Meeka is a hunter (apart from the crows, those she chases for the sheer joy of it), you can see her brain clicking, she bypasses closer rabbits in favour of whichever one she has locked on to and won't even give them a look if they are near the rabbit burrows as she knows that she won't be able to catch them. She has also worked out that if she stands and stares in a particular direction, Storm (remember Norman ) will run like a headless chicken in that direction and so she sets him off on an outward run and lays in wait for the hapless rabbits.

Hey Cravencraven, sounds like my friends poodle, she does a circuit of the field like a little wind up toy joyously watching the bunnies popping into the bushes but never attempts to follow them

Jake likes to chase things for the chase, but when it comes to rabbits he is all hunter

Dex the Lab does neither - he is too lazy now.

Tilly (Yorkshire) is a chaser.

Bo (SRHP) is a stalker/pointer with rabbits and game birds. When they get to a certain close proximity to her she will chase.

Rio, Dan and Rogue are chasers. It's all fun and games.

Keiko (the Mal) is a hunter. She looks at birds or bunnies in a 'you look yummy' kind of way!

Ruperts a hunter. When he does give chase it's with real intent and if he catches his prey it's killed and eaten. He'll stalk his prey until he's within a certain distance before going after it but he's also opportunistic with it. A bird flying too low overhead will be grabbed as will a rabbit hidden in the bushes or a cat that's not quite under a car.

I wouldn't say he does it for enjoyment, he's deadly serious about it and his body language is nothing like it is when he's having fun doing something.

Lana's just a chaser I think. Although it looks like she will kill any cats she did chase one once who stopped and turned and she just barked at it. She has chased rabbits twice and each time they went through the fence where she could't get them but it didn't seem to bother her.

She chased a blackbird one day and actually knocked it over as she ran past it. She always runs too fast and can't stop in time the bird turned over and was lying there for a second but she only looked and didn't go in for the kill. She just loves chasing.