And I would say yes, dogs have had their killer instinct bred out more than cats - will a dog go out in the garden, for example, and come back and plonk a dead pigeon in the middle of the floor? I think not. Hunting is a "fixed action pattern" (FAP), and in cats and dogs generally consists of the following steps - Spot prey, stalk, chase, catch, kill. The "kill" bit has certainly been bred out of dogs and to some extent, cats too. You may see a cat playing with a mouse, batting it around and chasing it without actually killing it straight off. This is because the cat no longer has a desire to kill the mouse. The cat gets the thrill from chasing it, but once the mouse is caught, the cat is like "Oh, was that it...I'm bored now...hey but if I let it go...wheeeee I can chase it again!". So yes, eventually, after having been smacked around and chewed on a bit, the mouse will eventually die I'm sure, but it wasn't the cat's real intent. Why bother killing mice and stuff for food when they have yummy Whiskas or Felix or Kitekat or whatever at home? You may notice that cats don't even eat stuff they kill anyway, rather they will either leave it lying around somewhere or bring it into the house to be presented to you as a gift (and you're meant to reward them no matter now disgusting said "gift" looks).
Aspects of the hunting FAP have been taken and bred into various breeds of dogs in different ways. Wolves hunt in a pack with each member knowing their particular task - some are drivers, herding the prey away from them. Others are blockers, running each side of the prey so it can't make a dash to the side. And a few will be the ones that are hiding further ahead to leap onto the prey and start chewing on it while the rest of the pack catches up to help bring it down. Some domestic dog breeds utilise these tasks to aid humans. An obvious example is border collies, used as sheepdogs - they herd the sheep around as the chasers would herd prey in a wolfpack, and because it's based on an instinct they must get some kind of thrill out of it, or at least, like, satisfaction (hey, if they didn't want to do it, they wouldn't...or they wouldn't do it willingly at least). Border collies are the most intelligent breed of dog and can easily learn a couple of hundred different commands. They need to learn stuff though, otherwise they'll be easily bored and develop behaviour problems and stuff.
This is the kind of stuff I find really interesting and if by some amazing chance I could get a job involving it in the future that would be fantastic but chances are, like, pfft here. Still, ya never know...
Anyway, bored of this waffle yet?
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)