play or hunt? *video*

[Babyblue5290]

I have a question. I know for a fact Lucas has a prey drive, I have seen him chase (or in some cases try to chase) with the intent to kill squierrels, racoons, opposums, and once a dauchsand mix (don't worry he is always on leash and got no where near the dog), but I have had him near a shih tzu before and he never once tried to chase it. And now I can't tell if he is trying to play or being aggressive/territorial with these pekingnese dogs across the street. When I go out in the front with him they are always out barking at everything and everyone, but they come right up to the fence and Lucas either goes up to them and howls, but he does play bow I think (it's hard to tell though) sometimes. I just can't tell if it is play or territorial behavior. Can you tell me what you see from the video....I know it's probably hard to tell from a video, but does it look like play or aggression to you?

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=picqw8v.p3hp0ur&Uy=-du0by3&Ux=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=picqw8v.15s513g3&Uy=-1z4j32&Ux=0

What do you think?

Also why do you think he doesn't go straight for the pekingnese like he would for a racoon or squirrel? I talked to richie and he says it could be the smell of the dogs. I think that does sound like a good possibility but he didn't even smell the shih tzu when it ran away and he didn't chase it...:confused:

Don't worry anyone, I'm not going to ever let him be near any small dog without a lot of supervision and both being onleash. He rarely goes near small dogs just to keep both safe and I work with him on "leave it" and "come" and he is pretty solid on both. I'm just curious :)

[opokki]

Looks like he's just playing to me, especially in that second clip. There was no stalking, stiffening or eyeing that I could see. My poodle stiffens, stares and leans forward right before he's about to pounce on one of my cats. The cats running seems to trigger this.
Maybe he does'nt go after them like he would a squirrel or racoon because of their body language or because they are'nt fleeing like a wild animal would.
When a dog's prey drive is triggered by another dog it is referred to as predatory drift. A small dog yipping loudly (as if injured) or fleeing away from another dog might trigger this.

You can read more about predatory drift here:
http://www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/size_differences.pdf