Dog Hunting Vocalization: Cookie Is Okay⁠—We Might Be, Eventually. (Don’t Try This At Home)

While loving, affectionate and eager to please, Cookie has a strong wild side to her.

It’s kind of ironic because one of the reasons we wanted a Rottie again was that they don’t have a strong hunting instinct and prefer to stick around.

At least all of our other guys did. Cookie is the exception that confirms the rule.

Dog Hunting Vocalization: Cookie Is Okay⁠—We Might Be, Eventually. (Don't Try This At Home)

A Rottweiler or a Hound?

Rottweiler or not, she has the heart of a hound. Her prey drive is extremely strong. She’ll go with us, she’ll come back to us, but when there is a fresh track, she has to follow it.

The fresher the track, the more determined she gets.

Jasmine’s ranch and the surroundings are all bush with only one road going through. So we accepted Cookie’s desire for adventure and let her chase her critters. It’s either that or keeping her on the leash at all times because one never knows when she comes across a fresh track. For Cookie, spending her time being tethered to somebody at all times wouldn’t be much of a life. And I have the feeling that if she ever broke free then, it would be a long time before we’d see her again.

The walk

We decided to trust her and give her her freedom. She knows how to come back to us and she does that happily.

So there we were on one of our walks when Cookie tore off into the bush.

Braced with patience, we let her go, while going along our original path. She always knows how to catch back up with us and where to find us. At times we heard her running through the bush, at times we didn’t.

Horrible screams

And then we heard horrible screams.

Our hearts stopped and we took off tearing through the swamp and brush in that direction, convinced that something was ripping her to pieces.

I don’t know how long it took for us to find her, felt like forever.

What is your problem?

Cookie came up, wagging and wiggling her whole body, apparently looking unharmed.

We checked her all over, there was nothing wrong, not a scratch. So what the heck was a reason for all the screaming?

It happens again

We found out today when she decided to grace us with a repeat performance.

She must have not only found a fresh track but actually spotted something. We didn’t see it but we saw her screaming through the bush. Literally.

Apparently, that is Cookie’s hunting voice.

All the excitement, adrenaline, mixed with the frustration of the prey getting away … gets her to sound like that. Well … I certainly wish I could teach her some proper hunting sound. One that doesn’t give us a heart attack.

Cookie is okay. We … might be, eventually … Don’t try this at home.

Related articles:
From The End Of A Lead Line To Casa Jasmine: Meet Cookie, Our New Adoptee

Further reading:
The Meanings Behind Different Dog Noises

Categories: Hunting vocalization

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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