Lion Dog Incidents

 

Lion Dog Incident

 

Example: Puppies track and bay Kudu Bull

Location: Hunting Farm Erongo, Namibia

Occurred: September/October 2005

Related by: Jessica Wenzel

Recorded: April 2007

Owner: Jessica Wenzel (Kennel "Rhodian Impressive")

Names: Rhodian Impressive Aza Andoni DOB: 02/04/05 and Rhodian Impressive Aurus Karoo DOB: 02/04/2005

I was out with my pack of four Ridgebacks in the African bushveld doing my daily dog walk. The group accompanying me consisted of two adult RRs and two RR puppies aged 5-6 months.

We had done quite a bit of walking along game paths when the puppy "Andoni" suddenly picked up a scent and burst forward into the thorny bush. Her brother "Aurus" ran along with Andoni. I stopped both my adult RRs and held them by their collars, knowing that we would meet game very soon! Ten minutes later I heard one of the puppies barking far away. The barking came closer and closer, and only with great difficulty was I able to hold both adult dogs (one of them was the mother of the pups). In a matter of seconds the barking became louder and then, directly in front of me, a very big Kudu bull burst through the thorn bushes. My puppies escorted him straight to me! Andoni was directly to his right side, level with his flanks . She was barking, taking evasive action from the horns of the bull, and snapping at his flanks (not biting!). Aurus was behind the Kudu bull, but did not bark. He prevented the Kudu from moving to his left, was leaving the leadership role to his sister, and was enthusiastic about whatever action she took.  So the two puppies brought the Kudu bull directly to me, and to the rest of the pack. It was not my intention to shoot the Kudu, and I had both my hands full with the two excited adult Ridgebacks; so the Kudu ran past, 20 meters from me. I wanted to stop my puppies, but it was not possible. Two minutes later they brought the Kudu bull back to me again from the other side of the bush. It was the wholehearted ambition of Andoni to bay this big antelope. She jumped high in front of the Kudu’s head to stop the bull, and was all around him, assisted by Aurus. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a perfect situation for shooting, if and when I should be hunting. Eventually I was successful in stopping the puppies, and the Kudu succeeded in escaping. Kudu and dogs were without a scratch.

 

Comment

It was the first direct contact of my puppies with a big African antelope, and bear in mind that these dogs were bred by me and whelped in Germany! I was only a guest for a few months with my "German" Ridgebacks on this hunting farm in Namibia. Only my adult dogs were trained in blood tracking wounded game in Germany. From my breeder's perspective it was a perfect example of fixed genetic behavior without training or experience at an age when young wolves learn the first steps of hunting. These RR-puppies show the complete repertoire of  Hounds: they track down the game, bring the it to the hunter, and bay it carefully but without compromise. They were dexterous, combining quick movements with even quicker reactions, and very good instincts. And this all without training!

 

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Example: Dog Detecting Snow Hare
Location: Austrian Alps
Occurred: 2nd January 2001 (?)
Related by: Nina Roth-Callies
Recorded: March 2002
Owner: Scotty Stewart
Name: Pronkberg Renga of Clachan. DOB: 18/02/1999

We were out on the snow covered Alpine slopes doing my twice weekly check on the Bearded Vultures (Lammergeyer). At this altitude, 2000 metre (?), the winter is more than sharp, but my two year old ???dog enjoys it to the full and never hesitates to come out with me.

We had done quite a bit of walking when he stopped and pointed to a position roughly straight ahead at 70 metres which I presumed to be a snow covered bush. Visibility was not perfect and visual identification is very difficult when everything is "snow white”. After a few seconds he turned around and looked at me awaiting my instructions. Without hesitation I told him to "check it out" as I had no fear of him putting himself at risk. He moved forward at an easy pace and I chased after him, not so easy in the snow which came halfway up to my knees. When he was about 20 metres short of the bush a snow hare jumped out and took off at speed away from us.

As soon as he detected the movement he stopped and turned around yet again seeking further instructions; he is very conscious of my desire not 3to harm any of the wild animals. I told him to “leave" and he remained in his stationary position watching the hare who made good his escape. I called him back and he happily rejoined me.

Commentomment
It is difficult to determine how he established the existence of the small animal in the first place. In these very cold temperatures, with the wind swirling around and the snow absorbing all audible and visual indicators, it was clever of him to be aware of its presence. Of greater importance to me was his immediate desire for guidance. And then, when he had flushed it out, he again sought direction even though his natural hunting drive must have been telling him to switch into kill mode. His desire to make me happy as a non-hunter transcended all of his natural instincts and made him the complete assistant whether I would have been hunter or conservationist. He was happy to leave the decision-making process to me at all important stages.

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Example: Puppy Confronting Mozambican Spitting Cobra.
Location: Mpumalanga.
Related by: Dave and Sandra Rothwell.
Recorded: 2002 Aug 8.
Owners: Dave and Sandra Rothwell
Name: Elle. DOB 2001.05.15

The Little Brown Dog arrived on the 3rd of July 2001. To be called L (spelt Elle). Daughter of Dusty and Oscar and sister to Thombi (of the Russell household). Overall a very quiet puppy that has been spoilt well beyond what a little brown dog should be. Initial training was not too much of a problem; the howling at night, when shut into the kitchen (conveniently situated in the farthest room away from the bedroom) seemed to affect the neighbours more than ourselves. Even so there were only a couple of howler nights. She was also extremely quick to latch onto the fact that 'going' on newspaper left conveniently in the kitchen was far more hygenic than the floor. As a consequence house training was easy with hardly any mishaps, a true testament to the intelligence of the dogs and thelr willingness to learn.

Unfortunately the first main incident with Elle was unpleasant. It seems that a trait in this breed is that they must scavenge and that whatever any other dog has in its bowl is different and better than what has been placed in its own bowl. The speed with which she dived into our other dog's bowl surprised us and left the old dog in no doubt that the young whipper snapper needed teaching a lesson. A sharp nip to the back of the neck drew blood and poor Elle spent a good hour whimpering in pain. It all ended with a trip to the vets as the wound was obviously very sore. No real harrn was done and even to this day she still tries to see what other dogs have. The scars from the bite are still evident but it seems not to deter her.

The seccod main incident was aIso unpleasant and led us to the discovery that these dogs have allergies similar to humans. Winter months in the Lowveld are hard. The lack of rain means that many things suffer. Water bowls lelt for dogs become important sources of water for all sorts of things including birds and insects. Bees quickly learn where a source of water is and regularly visit. Small puppies find small buzzy things fascinating and spend much time chasing them, on occasions even catching them. Being stung by certain ones is all part of the learning process. It was no great surprise that Elle got stung: what was a surprise was the reaction afterwards. Her tongue swelled up quickly followed by her whole face. Another trip to the vets and a tablet quickly resolved a situation that could apparently have been life threatening. The reaction to stings did not stop there. Elle learnt quickly to keep away from bees but those small hornet/wasps that build nests under eaves and on sheltered walls are not so easy to avoid. Brushing past a nest during a game or chase can provoke an angry response and a sting. Another trip to the vets after just such an incident means that we now keep a stock of tablets for incidents with bees or wasps and we are fully aware we have an allergic dog.

More worrying from our point of view is the learning process with more sinister things and just as life threatening to the dog as the stinging insects. The main reason for choosing a bush dog was for the inbred instincts when it came to dangerous bush creatures. This is purely selfish; we want some warning of when there may be a problem and how to avoid it. Our old dog, a Ridgeback cross, has learnt to leave snakes alone: he sees them and will warn us when they are around. But Elle had not been present when this happened. Even so we quickly learnt that Elle has exactly the same communication methods as the other dog. There are different barks. There is the stranger approaching bark, the playful bark, the angry bark. But the snake bark is totally difterent. It is more monotone and rhythmic. The first time we heard Elle produce such a bark we investigated and found nothing. However, about half an hour after the incident the dog started with an eye problem. It doesnt take too much to realise that it was the work of a Mozambican Spitting Cobra. We flushed the eyes out and applied some soothing ointment. Even so the dog looked a sorry state the day afterwards; the actual eyes looked worse than they were because of the ointrnent. A speedy recovery was made.

Alarm bells were ringing therefore when Elle started to bark in this particular manner when we were having a soiree on the stoep. We have noted in the past that Elle will 'point' to something that she may see and find worrying until we see the thing ourselves. This particular evening the bark and the point were to something just off the stoep. Fortunately we had an expert snake handler with us at the time so we hastily removed children from the area and alerted one Mr. Russell. A Mozambican Spitting Cobra was quickly caught and is currently the star turn at Mr. Russell's snake talks and demonstrations. Elle's working of the situation was amazing. She knew the snake was danger. She kept well away from it but was prepared to show exactly where It was and that it was dangerous. This will not be the last incident but if she can reproduce this behavior then it is exactly what we want: both the dog and ourselves are not under any great threat and we are made aware of the presence of danger.

Needless to say Elle has become not just a pet but a member of our family who is loved and cherished beyond belief.

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Example: Puppy detecting Lion and Leopard.
Location: Klaserie Private Nature Reserve
Occurred: March 2001
Related by: Richard Sowry
Recorded: March 2001
Name: Shashanga Xivandzi, Dog, DOB 7th December 2000

At the age of three months, after having spent a few days in the heat of the bakkie’s cab, the pup was travelling on his own in the rear section enjoying the movement of the fresh air on a drive through the reserve. About 50m ahead I detected a smoothed out portion of the dirt road and surmised that lion had been resting there recently. Turning around to look at the puppy I could see that he was already quivering. On arrival at the spot dung and pugmarks were readily apparent, proving very recent occupation by lion, certainly until two hours before. At the time I was driving into the wind and the pup started shaking when still 50m away, the intensity increasing as he moved closer, checking out and looking completely around. At almost four months his vision is already becoming acute and a visual contact causes him concern. If the lion roars, or he gets a strong scent, his anxiety increases, but at no stage does he indicate willingness to depart from the vehicle. His reaction to a visual on leopard was slightly less dramatic, and he was given the opportunity of a very long sighting (10 - 15minutes) before driving him around to the other side to obtain a good scenting.

Comment

Though not as anxious in the presence of leopard as with lion he gave a very clear message/report of his concerns whether purely visually based or bolstered by hearing and/or scenting. Perhaps, as his eyesight and recognition capabilities improve, he will place a visual on the same level as scenting. Elephant and Rhino cause him only mild interest, i.e. no shaking. Even a side on mock charge (repelled by revving the engine) by elephant caused him no fear whatsoever. All experiences to date have been with him on the back of the vehicle, not inside it. A leopard presented an opportunity to leave the vehicle and walk over towards him: the animal thereupon made good its escape. But even though the pup is learning quickly this is probably giving him too much of a sense of power; he must first understand that he is very much more at risk on the ground. It is assumed that the pup will shortly be prepared to follow a spoor bolstered by the confidence of his handler, but at this stage he is greatly frightened by lion and it is unlikely that he can be successfully put on the ground in such circumstances.

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Example: Puppy detecting Hyena
Location: Klaserie Private Nature Reserve
Occurred: March 2001
Related by: Richard Sowry
Recorded: March 2001/02.06
Name: Shashanga Xivandzi, Dog, DOB 7th December 2000


Some animal, in the early morning, overturned the rubbish bins at the back of the house and I accepted that a hyena was 99% responsible. On taking the four month old pup outside to investigate the youngster was immediately very much on his toes and checked out in all directions as thoroughly as he could. Though very tense he did not quiver, and his recognition was based purely on scent. Any sudden movement would however cause him to jump. It is advantageous to test out the pup’s susceptibilities however, and even if it had not been that day it would have been another, and just outside the living quarters is a most convenient location for conducting any form of test.