Feral dogs are killers, they have to be. They survive by tooth and claw, and regress into their own genetic pack mentality when banded together. It’s not bad and it’s not good, it’s just the way it is.

Pack mentality dictates that anything walking or running is considered food. Now deep down there may be some inbred fear of attacking humans, but on the face of it, if they are hungry enough, if they are in some way provoked, or if for whatever reason someone gets in their way, they will attack. And to attack means to kill. Those actions go hand in hand.

Needless to say, without any other evidence to the contrary, a deceased couple surrounded by feral dogs leads to only one real conclusion; the pack attacked and brought them down.

However, all may not be as it seems. Feral dog packs are also incredible opportunists, and will eat roadkill or carrion any time they can find it. A couple attacked and killed by any other creature, cryptozoological or common, may have either left the corpses of their own accord–whether they fed on them or not–or may have been driven off by a pack of feral dogs who recognized a free and easy meal when they encountered it. Ripping, tearing and eating that was there could certainly have hidden virtually any other teeth marks left by any other carnivore.

In the strictest sense of this post, Loren is correct. Was it a pack of feral dogs or was it something else again? The obvious conclusion is that feral dogs were the culprits, and that may be entirely true. They were there, they left teeth marks and they were all considered feral, case closed. However, Oswald was the ‘case closed’ killer of JFK, but I’d love to know, who then fired the shot from the grassy knoll?

Case closed!

I also believe that the accepted model of the gray wolf as the sole ancestor of the domestic dog is way too simplistic. For one thing, dogs left to their own devices, to breed randomly over several generations, begin to approach a dingo-like rather than a wolf-like appearance. I believe that many local species and subspecies of wolf-like canids, some now extinct through assimilation, have contributed their genes to the formation of the canids that we call domestic dogs.

The area where I live has only recently, within the past 40 years or so, emerged from subsistence-farmer way of life. Most every family hunted to supplement their diet. Plus, many people kept a few head of cattle or pigs, and occasionally sheep or goats, along with the horse or mule that was used for plowing. Most everyone had a few chickens and ducks for eggs and meat, and often some rabbits. And everyone had dogs. Many of the older men kept foxhounds, and I have fond memories of the lovely music od foxhounds running the fox along the ridges. Foxes were almost never killed. Instead, they were left alone at the end of the chase, to run another night. The younger guys kept (and many still keep) coonhounds: bigger, heavier, racier dogs than foxhounds. A lot of men kept bird dogs too: mostly English pointers, but occasionally Brittanies. Nearly every family also had small -to- medium dogs called “feists” which were more or less terrier types. These were the best squirrel dogs and all-around varmint dogs. Then there were beagles and sometimes bassets for hunting rabbits, and always a big shaggy yard dog of some kind, usually an English Shepherd or a Collie. Occasionally you would see a German Shepherd Dog; these usually belonged to families of people who had been servicemen. None of these dogs was bred for aggressiveness (although the occasional aggressive one was seen). During that long-ago time, if a dog – any dog – bit someone without provocation, that dog was not long for this world. Pit bull dogs were unheard of in general circles, but there may have been some kept clandestinely, as fighting dogs, by a few folks like bootleggers. Sometimes, dogs would stray from a hunter or from home, and get lost, or just turn feral. Most of those dogs were eventually taken in by some family, or shot for chasing chickens, but some stayed in the woods & formed packs. These were not very numerous and as a rule they did not bother people too much, but when they did come into a hollow, they could be dangerous. Those dogs that ran in wild packs filled a niche much like the one that the coyote fills today (Coyotes are another introduced species, not native to this area).

We didn’t live in abject fear of the wild dogs; we were just wary. Because we were raised all our lives with working dogs that really worked, and hunting dogs that really hunted, we learned from an early age how to act around dogs. We would run and play with our own dogs, and we could roam the hills accompanied by our big German Shepherd Dog, with never a fear of wild dogs. There were times when we would run across them, but he was more than a match for any of them, and we were safe as long as he was with us.

These wild dog packs tended to take on identities and were give local nicknames. As a rule they were more nuisances than anything else, and from time to time one would allow itself to be adopted. The successes of these adoptions varied.If the dog was not too wild and had not attacked people, he could make a good pet, if treated with kindness. Some people put out scraps for them; othera rocked them and shot at them. We kids knew from experience not to ever run from dogs.unless there was a climbing tree, or someone’s shed or porch close to hand. Although we often tried to coax certain dogs to come in and be pets, there
were others who were so brutal that we did no dare try.

We learned early on the value of a good dog, and the danger of feral dogs.But we all loved dogs, and we always tried to bring them in and tame them, except those which had become so feral as to be untamable

Thank you for your interesting and extensive reply.
I actually think that dogs did not originate from wolves but have seperate ancestry, maybe having a common ancester. More interesting don’t you think? Likely though some cross breeding with wolves and maybe the odd fox if this were possible. As a result the huge variety of dogs.
Also of interest some of the original dogs may still be around like the guinea singing dogs and the dhole.

kittenz

I wonder when you and the other children were faced with the feral dogs you acted like prey, such as screaming or running away or cowering. No intention to offend here, just trying to get the picture. Brilliant report!

You might not see your fair share of these kinds of dogs due to bans in the UK and other European nations. I’ve read that at one time Italy banned *92* different breeds of dog! They finally repealed the breed ban and saw no change in the number of dog bites. Denver, Colorado, USA has the most dog bites in America despite a breed ban and there are efforts underway to remove the ban there as well. The biggest problem with dogs isn’t breeding so much as owners who encourage or fail to remedy poor or aggressive behavior, IMHO, and the dog bite records of areas with and without dog breed bans tends to reinforce that belief.

I don’t think feral dogs are losing their domestication genetically. Studies that went so far as raising dog and wolf pups together in human environments shortly after birth (to rule out environmental factors) have shown that dogs have a genetic ability to relate to humans that wolves do not. For instance, if you point, a dog will look to where you are pointing, while wolves, including the ones raised in the study mentioned, will not. They don’t understand the meaning. There are other small genetic differences like this that aid dogs in communication and interaction with humans. However, proper behavior is significantly influenced by the socialization of dogs from puppyhood with humans. This is what the feral dogs are lacking.

The Fila Brasileiro, one of the banned UK breeds, has been bred with an extremely protective nature and is, IMHO, the world’s greatest guard dog. Someone once said “The great thing about Filas is that they will die or kill for you without a moment’s hesitation. The bad thing about Filas is that they will die or kill for you without a moment’s hesitation.” With this breed comes great responsibility. The dog needs to be socialized from the earliest age. It needs to be around people and to learn what constitutes a threat to its family and what is normal human interaction. Its protectiveness, bravery, intelligence and ability to act without human direction are genetic. It’s knowledge about what’s a threat and how (and how far) to react is learned from experience. I’ve heard tales from Fila owners about great acts of bravery from their dogs, including stopping an attempted sexual assault, saving its owner from a dog attack (snatching the attacking dog out of mid-air as it leaped for the man’s throat), and upon hearing the family’s girl crying in the front yard after a fall, one Fila scaled the back yard’s six-foot-high fence to get to the girl and see if she was ok. However, I’ve also heard of one dog that was never socialized. The dog now will not let any male within six feet of the female owner for any reason. They’re all well-bred dogs, but their early exposure to, or neglect of, proper interaction with people is what makes these dogs good or bad. The same can probably be said of these feral dogs. Without the knowledge and experience gained from human interaction, they have only their wolf-like instincts to act on, in this case with tragic results.

Normally dogs adopt into human social structures, but when you get a pack like that, and people who aren’t necessarily entirely right in the head, the people can adopt to the pack social structure. This is not a good thing.

If it had happened in rural Wisconsin, on the other hand (shudder)

From the description of the event and the subsequent information in the media reports, this sounds to me like it was an purely aggressive act. The dogs were robust and healthy, but they still attacked a vulnerable human who was familiar to them, and were actively guarding the partially eaten bodies. That is very aggressive behavior. Regardless of what sparked the attack initially, it quickly became predatory.

The deer population in the southeast is huge, and feral dogs do chase deer. Adult deer are big and fast, and probably escape from dogs most of the time, unless they are already injured to begin with, but fawns and young deer are more vulnerable. Logically, a feral pack’s success bringing down deer varies, depending on the type of dogs in the pack. Packs made up of bigger dogs wouldn’t have trouble killing a deer if they could run one down, but deer probably don’t make up a large part of their diets. Feral dogs subsist more on small game such as rabbits and ground squirrels, and by scavenging, but dogs will eat practically anything.

As disturbing as it seems, feral dogs, especially those born in the wild, that have never been handled by humans, just do not have any inhibition – other than fear – against attacking human beings.