prey drive
Chase and capture
Prey drive is the instinctive urge in animals, especially dogs, to chase, catch, and sometimes kill smaller creatures.
The term comes from animal behavior science but appears frequently in dog training contexts: Border collies have intense prey drive, Her prey drive makes her chase squirrels.
High prey drive can be channeled into fetch, agility, or herding work, but it also explains why some dogs can't coexist safely with cats or small pets.
- chasingFollowing to catch
- trackingMonitoring location over time
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
- recall trainingPractice retrieving learned information
- huntingPursuing wild game
trigger · neural pathways · dopamine · reactive · hunting strategies · adrenaline · arousal · fight or flight · survival tactics · laser focus · pouncing · fixation · stalking · lunging · biting · herding · wolf · threshold
- animal behavioranimal behavior, instincts, learned behavior, conditioning, social behavior
- dog traitsloyal, friendly, loyalty, devoted, playful
- instinctsinstinct, survival instinct, survival instincts, maternal instinct, gut instinct
- pet problemsaggression, barking, biting, chewing, digging
- predator instinctsstalking, pouncing, chasing, pursuit, ambushing
- primal instinctsinstinct, primal, feral, savage, survival instinct
prey drivenurturing instinct
Innate urge to protect
maternal instinct · flight response · protective instinct · fear response · avoidance behavior
prey driveimpulse control
Regulating sudden urges
inhibition · calmness · self-regulation · off switch · passivity