Bogie, the apex predator

According to whomever wrote the Great Dane page on Wikipedia, "They generally do not exhibit extreme aggressiveness or a high prey drive." 

I would like that contributor to meet Bogie.  He's not at all aggressive, but the prey instinct is strong in this one. 

When we are out on our walks, he is ever alert for cats or bunnies.  If it moves, Bogie wants to chase it.  He cries when I prevent him. 

This Tuesday, Angel came in all excited. She kept looking toward the window. I looked out and Bogie seemed overly involved in something in the grass. 

As I suspected he had caught another pigeon. I have a love/hate relationship with the pigeons.  I feed the smaller birds.  They, in turn, spill seed on the ground that attracts the pigeons.  I wouldn't mind if it was only one or two pigeons.  Or even five or ten.  

But when 20 or 30 pigeons gather around the ground under the feeder, I get irritated.  Bogie chases the pigeons away when they gather.  But he leaves the smaller birds alone.  Maybe they aren't big enough to be a challenge?

The healthy pigeons have no trouble escaping the Bogie predator.  He's huge, and he's white.  It's not like he is camouflaged in the forest somewhere.  It's the wounded or aging pigeons that he manages to capture.  I don't like it, but such is life everywhere in the animal kingdom.  And the only way to prevent it would be to stop feeding all the birds. 

Occasionally, pigeons visit that are not the standard gray.  One month last year, I had a domestic, feather-footed pigeon among the flock.  I could never get close enough to read the metal tag on its foot.   For a long while there was a pretty white pigeon among the flock. 

This time Bogie caught the only pretty brown pigeon that visits. The pigeon had seemed to be reacting more slowly the past couple days. He’s been around here a couple years or more. I have no idea what a pigeon’s life span is.

Bogie tried to come in through the doggy door with the dead pigeon in his mouth. The end result of that is always feathers all over the floor. 

I yelled, Out and pointed outside. He backed out the doggy door.  Only a couple minutes later, he came in before I could yell at him. 

I yelled Out and pointed at the doggy door. 

He walked over and stood in front of the patio door, holding the pigeon, and looked at me. 

I pointed at the doggy door again and yelled Out. 

He looked at the doggy door, looked at me, then at the patio door. So I opened the patio door and let him out.

If only the pigeons would gather somewhere else.