Dogs and Wolves II
I wrote this over 10 years ago, found it on an abandoned blog of mine.
Baby Deer ...
Above [Baby Deer] is the link to a posting I found on an abandoned, now inaccessible, blog written more than a decade ago. (Be careful what you write on the Interweb — some things, as long as they are not too anti-Narrative, will remain for who knows how long). Below it is re-printed with a few edits. I did a previous posting on this Blog, Dogs and Wolves I, about some of the differences I’ve observed between Dogs and Wolves; now differences between Dogs vs. Wolves II.
From a 15 June 2010 posting (with a few edits, and a postscript):
Earlier this week, walking across a field in Michigan, I startled a very small baby deer, or fawn, in the tall grass -- it started running ... and the canines were after him ... and I ran to try to save the fawn.
The fawn was very small -- smaller than canines ...
When I got to them, Leo the dog was on him, had him in his mouth, and the fawn was crying. I fought (grabbing with my hands, kicking with my feet, and who knows, maybe beating with a stick) Leo the Dog off of that fawn. With Leo out of the way, I now standing guard between him and the fawn, Nashoba my wolf came up and gently touched noses with the fawn ... they stayed that way for a bit (I had things completely under control, no problem), and then the fawn again became afraid and started running ... and again I was chasing the canines ...
If it were just Nashoba, my wolf, there wouldn't have been a problem. He listens and is very gentle and kind with other animals ... but Leo is dog, and is not gentle ... he is a killer ...
Fortunately, some adult deer showed up to help me [its parents?] ... perhaps it was only one ... but a large deer would run into the bushes and brush where Leo was hunting the fawn, and then Leo would then come out of the brush chasing the adult ... this cycle went on a number of times before I got control of Leo ... I think he had completely run out of energy!
I hope the fawn was OK -- I think it was.
Postscript —
Maybe I’m a little too hard on dogs with this “Dog (killers) vs. Wolf (sniff baby rabbits)” thing. Maybe I’m prejudiced and a Racist. Leo the Dog did have that fawn in it’s jaws, but, in this case, didn’t kill it. Maybe I just got there just in time. Maybe the fawn’s crying got to him. On the other-other hand, Leo killed lots of wildlife on our walks apparently for fun/instinct, whereas my wolves, Nashoba and previously Wolfie, never once did they. So, yeah, dogs are killers, but maybe not completely perhaps sometimes, not without some compassion for their prey. They too can maybe sometimes perhaps, with adult human and adult deer supervision, and intervention when necessary, enjoy the chase, i.e., play, and not have to kill, at least maybe perhaps once in awhile maybe sometimes perhaps maybe not all the time. At least there is one time that I can attest to.
If I'm right about that, my interpretation of your encounter with the fawn is that Leo was retrieving her for you, because your walk was a hunt, of course.
I think your sample size is too small for conclusiveness. I'm going to speculate, though, that some domesticated dogs that were bred for hunting have overactive chase instincts, whereas grey wolves and timberwolves, for example, only hunt in pack settings (hence Nashoba giving chase with Leo).