Hunt

Elongated snout of wild canids makes catching prey on the run possible. The shape of teeth and their firmness, placement in the jaw and bite strength pressure are exceptionally powerful and main weapon in hunt for dogs. Wolf has the mightiest bite among canids – over 200 kg per centimetres squared; strength of African Wild Dog's bite is around 180 kg/cm².

The success of a hunt depends on hunters' experience, time of the day, weather, terrain, but also on type, availability and age of the prey. In African Wild Dogs hunts, every third hunt ends successfully, which is a very high rate. In wolves, this percentage is smaller, on average, a little more than 10%. In other outcomes they stay hungry while for top condition they need 4 kg per day. They are capable of catching grown male moose that weighs 450 kg, or female that weighs 360 kg, which is 6 times bigger animal than wolf. This type of prey is enough to feed whole pack. Winter is more successful for hunting because prey gets stuck in the snow due to body weight while wolves are lighter and their body mass is equally distributed and they can split toes that are connected with a membrane making the surface of paws bigger. Also, ungulates have more difficult access to food during winter which makes them weaker and easier to catch.

On the other hand, domestic dogs were created, among other reasons, to go to hunt alongside humans. Nowadays there is not as much requirement, but if they were released to the wild, the ones that are not pure bred would eventually turn into feral dogs, their primal instinct would kick in.

Canids have tendency to roll in carcases or faeces. There are different interpretations in why they do so: they are getting to know a new scent – hiding their own, they are increasing their attractiveness since it reminds them of pheromones, they are showing off an important find... Nevertheless, the basis of this behaviour is probably camouflage. Wild canids roll in antelope's faeces since it would most definitely run away, if she felt the smell of a dog.

Excessive hunt is a phenomenon when animals kill more than they can eat. Wolves most commonly do so few weeks in late winter or early spring when snow layer is thicker than 70 cm and lasted 4–8 weeks. This is when wolves often burry the prey and come back for it. when they overdo it, they can eat only 30% and burry the rest but they return for it in several months.