# Would your dog survive in the wild?



## Rerun

Just a bit of a spin-off of a recent thread that got me thinking.

Say humans were wiped from the face of the planet, and your dog suddenly had to survive on its own. Lets assume for a moment that there is plenty of prey suitable to catch and eat should the dog prove capable and willing to do so. We are assuming here that it's natural wild prey running loose as opposed to the neighbors chickens in a pen (rabbits, squirrels, and larger prey should your dog be willing to form a pack and hunt as a pack). Water in the form of streams, rivers, ponds is available and shelter in the form of natural shelter is available.

Do you believe your dog would be able to successfully reintegrate into the wild and thrive?


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## Holmeshx2

dogless ATM but my previous dogs probably could've survived but would've taken awhile first and not sure they would've ever thrived without ice cream or some other snack lol.

My lab had an issue with always wanting to lick the wild life he found so pretty sure he would've had to get starving before he actually killed it and ate it.


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## LaRen616

I dont really know how to answer that question in the poll.

My GSD Sinister would most likely not survive because he really relys (sp) on me for food and I think he would go searching for a human.

My GSD/Husky mix would survive, he is very independent, adventurous, he doesn't need humans he just tolerates them. He is ready to pick a fight with any dog he sees and he is more aware of his surroundings. I'm sure he would eat the bunny in my yard if I let him.


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## Pattycakes

I'm not sure if my GSD would survive or not...she definitely likes to be around us and have her comforts. LOL


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## Jax08

I don't know. It kind of makes me ill to think of Jax alone, scared and trying to survive.


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## Rerun

LaRen616 said:


> I dont really know how to answer that question in the poll.
> 
> My GSD Sinister would most likely not survive because he really relys (sp) on me for food and I think he would go searching for a human.
> 
> My GSD/Husky mix would survive, he is very independent, adventurous, he doesn't need humans he just tolerates them. He is ready to pick a fight with any dog he sees and he is more aware of his surroundings. I'm sure he would eat the bunny in my yard if I let him.


Yes I wasn't sure how to make it a "multiple dog" poll.  I have the same problem myself, my dogs would do differently.

Micah would probably survive, but not thrive. He is a homebody and although he has strong prey drive I don't know what the realistic chance is of him catching and eating enough to survive.

Audrey would definitely not survive, she's too much of a softie and her nerves are terrible.

Akira has EPI so she wouldn't make it.

Dante would do fine if he was a couple months older. As a pup, I doubt he'd make it without an older pack member to help and show him the ropes. He's young enough that he'd easily submit to an older dog and might get in with the pack easily as a pup.


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## Jax08

Have you watched that show on the history channel about if people no longer existed? They had one episode that dealt with dogs. They thought that only one breed would exist as it currently does today because it is bred to not allow anything or any other dog near it's flock. I can't remember the name of it.

They did say that dogs would form packs and survive that way.


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## Rerun

No but it sounds interesting. Do you know the name of it?


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## onyx'girl

I think if people were not in the picture, my dogs would survive/possibly thrive. Otherwise their demise would be getting hit by a car or shot.


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## DanielleOttoMom

LOL...  Im not to sure how he would do on his own. I'd like to think from just observing his personality he do ok. He is pretty glued to me but also has a strong prey drive. I think he would hunt (or attempt) for his own meals. He does in enjoy his raw meals!!  Shealter he is pretty good at making little hidding spots in our bushes and under other objects. He is super smart and has a great nose. Now as far as defending his self he is not a fighter. He would just run!! I'm sure he would miss his human companion (as I will miss him).......


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## Lilie

Nope, Hondo would not. He can't stand the feeling of raw meat in his mouth. If I give him raw anything he makes funny faces, rolls it around in his mouth and then spits it out like I fed him his own doo. But, if I freeze it, he loves it and eats every bit of it. If he was in the wild and everything froze, then he might. 

He does like raw (unfrozen) chicken feet though. So if all the chicken in the wild left their feet laying around, then he'd be fine.


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## Jax08

Life After People — History.com TV Episodes, Schedule, & Video

Life After People


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## kiya

I have seen that show, can't think of the name, but it shows what happens after man and how nature takes over. 
I don't think my dogs would survive. Apache has too many fear issues thunder being the biggest. Kiya has seizures and needs meds. The pup may have a chance, she will eat anything that isn't nailed down.


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## BlackPuppy

LOL, Jax, if I would have gotten to the second page, I would have saw you mention the movie. 

----

There was a TV show about this. It modeled what would happen on earth if people just vanished one day. The first thing they said is that all the dogs and cats inside homes would die of starvation. Those pets who were outside, the little one would get eaten by the big ones. They also showed how fast nature would take over and all the manmade structures would deteriorate. I don't believe they addressed all the nuclear reactors melting down, though. 

My dogs can't even catch a fat rabbit trying to get out of our yard. Maybe if they were hungry enough.


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## Castlemaid

My dogs would survive - they have a small army of highly trained cats do all the hunting for them. The cats catch the prey, and the dogs steal,errrImean, accept as an offering of peace and friendship the dead rabbit/squirrel/bird/mouse/duckling away from them for a nice snack.


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## APBTLove

Sparkles, my little girl, can catch her own food. However, she would have a rough time in the winter due to her having mostly hair, not fur, her coat would mat, and she would undoubtedly get killed by other dogs, so I don't think she would last long at all. 

Jaeger has intense prey drive and just looooves the taste of animal hide, so I'm sure he'd be okay as far as food. His double coat and thick fur would serve him well. 
He is not social with other dogs. And around here if he were loose I'm positive a bulldog would do him in quick. If he did somehow evade every fighting breed dog around here and get himself friendly with a few other dogs he would probably be okay. He's large, athletic, smart, fast and has all the right drives. However, just one fight with other animals could prove fatal, because he wouldn't have the access to down time and antibiotics, just one severe bite could get infected and end him. 

While we're on it I'll mention I don't think many (pit) bulldogs would survive at all. Their ingrained fight drive would be their end. Not to mention they are not built to live out in cold weather. Think of it. How many breeds that would perish so fast because of mankind making them so dependent. Think is the flat-faced breeds.. English bulldogs would be the first to go. All of the small breeds (maybe some of the really rough terriers would survive to breed), the short coated (Pei's, Pits, Danes, etc), the show bred dogs who's coats need constant maintaining lest they mat and make the dog uncomfortable and ultimately unable to survive.. 

In the end I think, after many generations of dogs on their own, we would have dogs evolving with their habitat.


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## selzer

I will not vote. 

I do not like the wording of number three. 

Dogs do not need pampering to survive, but they will not survive in the wild, not for long anyways.

Arwen did for nineteen days. But she did hurt herself, and people were feeding her for the last seven. 

Dogs are opportunists, they will dig in garbage to get food. But they cannot really manage in the wild, they are not feral.


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## KZoppa

i voted my dogs couldnt do it because i went with the majority. Riley may like to chase deer but he's actually terrified of them and he cant catch anything except a tennis ball to save his life and it usually has to be a slow rolled one. Shelby couldnt do it because she's afraid of everything. Shasta is only 6 months old and would want to play with everything if by some miracle she did manage to catch something. Now Zena.... Zena even with her hip issues could definitely do it. I have absolutely no doubts about her being able to do it.


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## arycrest

I said no. While your scenario states there is plenty of prey, only one Hooligan has any true prey drive (i.e. has killed a lot of tasty critters), but he is older now and I don't think he could physically catch anything. Faith has caught a baby bunny and a baby squirrel but don't think she could survive on her prey drive. The other two Hooligans chase squirrels but have never come close to catching one.


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## Chris Wild

Our guys have caught plenty of "supplemental nutrition" in furry or feathered form in their day, so I know they are capable of procurring food if they had to. Especially if, as stated, game is abundant. 

Kaiser and Nara would be toast. Too old, Kaiser has 3 legs and Nara has no teeth and moderate HD. They wouldn't be able to fend for themselves. But the others would pack up and probably survive just fine. They wouldn't eat as well as they do now, that's for sure, but being healthy, active adults with good drive, good hunting instincts, good pack instincts (including many demonstrations of cooperative hunting) and good basic common sense they'd do ok and I expect would raise the young ones to do the same.


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## IllinoisNative

I have two answers. I have one who would thrive (the chow mix). He has no use for people and has no trouble killing other animals. Heh. Extremely food motivated and would get the job done.

My other dog. Sigh. I still can't pee without him (Shep/Rottie mix). He can't even stand being outside without me. He whines at the door until I rescue him. He hasn't met a small animal that he doesn't want to be friends with...spiders, included. No kill mentality and wants to fetch all day long. He would die without me. Of course, it's also why he's my favorite. But don't tell my other one. He has no clue...lol.


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## Rerun

KZoppa said:


> he cant catch anything except a tennis ball to save his life and it usually has to be a slow rolled one.


hahaha - Audrey to a T. She has the worst eye/mouth coordination of all our dogs....poor little girl.


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## Rerun

selzer said:


> I will not vote.
> 
> I do not like the wording of number three.
> 
> Dogs do not need pampering to survive, but they will not survive in the wild, not for long anyways.


#3 was just being lighthearted, I don't feed bottle water to mine although they do have dog beds in the house and they do of course eat kibble out of bowls.


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## Jax08

On further reflection, I don't think Jax could survive without a pack. She doesn't stalk anything. She gets all excited and takes off at top speed so she would run herself into the ground before catching her own food. Though if she did catch something I'm sure she would kill it and eat it.

However, the statement that dogs can't survive in the wild because they are not feral is not true. There are many examples of dogs reverting to feral and surviving in packs.


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## SnoopandWolfy

My dad when he was growing up as a kid had two chows. They lived in a nice suburb but more spread out then suburbs today. The chows would disappear for weeks at a time and come back later. I'm sure those two dogs would manage to survive.

The puppy my family has at the moment would not survive, he's 15wks and would probably look for humans for a cuddle.

My old German Shepherd Snoop no, he was the biggest baby in the world  Such a loving gentle giant. Although he was very independent I couldn't imagine him hunting.


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## JudynRich

Bella did survive, who knows how long she was out there (on the freeway offramp)...plus she eats anything! Mia would survive on bugs and worms!


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## Wolfiesmom

I think Wolfie would probably survive. I have seen him catch a rabbit and a squirrel, and he is a great opportunist that will grab anything as soon as the chance presents itself.


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## Good_Karma

I think the bigger worry than finding food is the water supply. Finding safe water free of pathogens would be a challenge. I would think eventually most dogs will become sick from contaminated water. Also consider the pollution aspect of it. If all humans disappear, who will contain our spills, nukes, refuse, etc? That's why I said survive but not thrive. I think all dogs would be hosts to parasites and such, and be getting heavy metals, semi-volatile organic compounds and other nasty stuff in the water.


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## Syaoransbear

Chrono would find a bunch of dogs, assume pack leader, and lead them on kitty hunts. He's very dominant and has high prey drive, so I think he'd be fine.


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## KZoppa

Rerun said:


> hahaha - Audrey to a T. She has the worst eye/mouth coordination of all our dogs....poor little girl.


 
Riley is great at chasing bubbles and killing those.... with various other body parts except his mouth! he's 6 years old!!! You would think he would have gotten better at it!! i think part of his problem with his lack of coordination has more to do with he's always watching out for what he's gonna have to jump over or avoid running down like my kids or my cats. he's perfectly happy to trample my other two dogs though. he went after the ball the other day and slid into across the floor and when he tried to turn he ended up his head on the wall so hard he knocked himself out lol. he really is kind a dork. haha


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## PupperLove

I say both of my dogs would survive because both eat ANYTHING. They would definately not be thriving because they don't know how to catch prey other than bugs, but I'm confident that they would be able to find things to eat as long as there's deer poop, no problem.


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## selzer

How long would they survive. Your dog has killed this or that, did he try to eat it? 

Would he know how to conserve energy and use for hunting. Could he hunt day after day for all of his intake?

Would he sneak into a hen house and get shot by a farmer?
Would he get caught in traps, or run over on the road?
Would he get mangey or lepto or some other nasty parasite or disease?
Would he get killed by other predators?

Would he instinctively bulk up in the winter and build himself a den to keep warm in?

I think that some dogs make the transition to being feral better than others. 

I doubt any of our dogs would make it long in the big bad world without us.


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## W.Oliver

I cannot imagine my baby girl out in a cold Michigan night....unless there was a hunk of prime rib in a snow bank!


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## Rerun

selzer said:


> Would he sneak into a hen house and get shot by a farmer?
> Would he get caught in traps, or run over on the road?


I think you missed part of the scenario....


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## selzer

I guess I did. No humans? No garbage? I do not think my dogs would make it.


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## doggiedad

even with the perfect circumstances i don't think
a dog kept the way we (the forum family) keep dogs
would survive. if they did survive they would have to learn
quickly what to do before they're to weak to do
anything. now i wonder if those dogs with a lot
of drive would do better?



Rerun said:


> Just a bit of a spin-off of a recent thread that got me thinking.
> 
> Say humans were wiped from the face of the planet, and your dog suddenly had to survive on its own. Lets assume for a moment that there is plenty of prey suitable to catch and eat should the dog prove capable and willing to do so. We are assuming here that it's natural wild prey running loose as opposed to the neighbors chickens in a pen (rabbits, squirrels, and larger prey should your dog be willing to form a pack and hunt as a pack). Water in the form of streams, rivers, ponds is available and shelter in the form of natural shelter is available.
> 
> Do you believe your dog would be able to successfully reintegrate into the wild and thrive?


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## doggiedad

" he whines at the door untill i rescue him". that's
funny.



IllinoisNative said:


> I have two answers. I have one who would thrive (the chow mix). He has no use for people and has no trouble killing other animals. Heh. Extremely food motivated and would get the job done.
> 
> My other dog. Sigh. I still can't pee without him (Shep/Rottie mix). He can't even stand being outside without me. He whines at the door until I rescue him. He hasn't met a small animal that he doesn't want to be friends with...spiders, included. No kill mentality and wants to fetch all day long. He would die without me. Of course, it's also why he's my favorite. But don't tell my other one. He has no clue...lol.


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## selzer

If you watch those documentaries, lots of Cheetahs do not make it. They simply cannot hunt and maintain possession of enough of their kills. 

A dog like ours would wander around hungry for a while before it desperately started hunting for food. Then, I think too much of its natural instincts for conserving energy etc, would be gone. 

Would it steal from other dogs, or would what it found be stolen?


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## lesslis

If they stayed together and found the "Taste of the Wild" factory, Yes, no problem.


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## Kris10

But what about his COOKIES?! He's got to have his COOKIES!!! He he
I would LIKE to think that the instinct to survive would somehow kick in. Just like it does with people, who are pretty pampered themselves, in survival situations. 
I think a hungry Max would forage pretty well, and he does chase small animals but I have never seen him (rather never allowed him) to follow through so...


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## GSD Fan

I think most dogs could do it, especially my last dog. However, that's because I live out in the country and I'm used to having outside dogs and seeing wild packs of dogs and coyotes making it.


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## Jax08

History Channel (history.com) is having a show on Monster Quest about feral dogs right now.


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## Stosh

I think mine would do well, I know our last gsd would- she was primarily an outside dog and even though she had wonderful care and diet from me she had a real wild side. She would hunt all around the lake every morning and evening, killing things, checking out her domain. She was the most natural instinctual dog I've ever seen. But she also loved curling up on her bed and waiting for a blanket right out of the dryer to cover her when it was cold. So she would do well but she loved her little luxuries. I've never discouraged the two I have now from hunting- I do try to intercept the actual consumption of what they kill.


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## selzer

Jenna killed a rat yesterday. I stepped on it this morning when I opened her kennel -- Yay! Did she try to eat it? No way. She just killed it. I do not think mine would get the kill to eat idea until they were weak and starving.


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## doggiedad

if we start training early enough i bet we could
teach them to "search and find TOTW factories".



lesslis said:


> If they stayed together and found the "Taste of the Wild" factory, Yes, no problem.


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## doggiedad

that's what i think also.



selzer said:


> Jenna killed a rat yesterday. I stepped on it this morning when I opened her kennel -- Yay! Did she try to eat it? No way. She just killed it. I do not think mine would get the kill to eat idea until they were weak and starving.


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## mjbgsd

I'm really not sure. But out of the three of my dogs, Akbar would be the best at surviving without humans. He's very "doggy", meaning he's good at taking care of himself when he's outside. Like if it's hot he finds shade. Outside if he's tired he lays down and takes breaks. He loves other dogs but wont take crap if another dog starts it. He's fast so I'm sure he'd be able to catch his own food, sure helps to have immense prey drive on live animals too....


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## Konotashi

I think ozzy would be eaten by a bird.


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## LaRen616

Konotashi said:


> I think ozzy would be eaten by a bird.


:rofl:

That shouldn't be funny but it is! :blush:


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## Cherry314

*Can't resist*

My two would do well. They already eat anything. Doors, lawn chairs, blankets, hoses, wood, grills.... LOL Seriously, I don't think they would do well. They are spoiled rotten.


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## bellamia

Heck no! who wud give her boiled/raw meat when hungry, a sofa to sleep on, and kisses and reassurances on tap?:wub:


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## PaddyD

Pretty sure mine would. She has a good prey drive and would probably socialize well with a pack. She tends to be an 'independent thinker' (if that is possible for a dog). She is interested in everything that goes on and would probably learn the necessities quickly.


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## DharmasMom

No way Dharma would make it. She has never even seen a squirrel and if she did she would probably think it was a toy. She has seen a rabbit before but he lives in a giant cage in my living room and she thinks he is loads of fun. She has never even spent a night in the garage much less out doors. She wouldn't begin to know how to find shelter.

Plus she would miss me terribly.


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