make dogs stop barking at birds

[Dungeon Smash]

i understand that hawks and owls are predators, but it's irritating when a goshawk moves into your area and now your dog is constantly bothering you and interrupting your tasks.  my suggestion is, just modify the dogs' behavior so that they ignore birds of prey.  I can't really think of the situation where this behavior would be desirable.

[Jakub-urw]

Hm I don’t know if removing it is a good idea. Just because a feature is slightly inconvenient doesn’t mean it has to be removed. I think people (not just you) expect all aspects in a video game to be very binary, either good or bad. It’s always interesting for a dog to be both beneficial (for hunting) and negative by barking or just acting annoying. I think a mix of balance makes a good game.

I hope there’s a way you can mod it out for yourself, I’ve never done modding but maybe it’s possible!

[Dungeon Smash]

i agree with your point of view, but i think this particular aspect is not really a matter of balance or flavor.  the dogs simply react to the predatory birds because there is something in their script behavior that makes them react to anything with the tag "predator".  in general, this behavior makes sense because predators are dangerous.  but, predatory birds are not dangerous at all.

by your logic, dogs should bark at all birds.  this would be annoying, but at least consistent.  as it stands, it makes no sense.  how can the dog tell a bird flying high in the sky is a predator, as opposed to a harmless grouse?

[JEB Davis]

I don't know about dogs, but my cat certainly knows the difference between a bluejay (prey) and a small hawk (predator). I've seen it in real life... the cat goes after the jay and runs & hides from the hawk, even though the hawk was only going after some other birds (not threatening the cat).

[shorun]

well, i for one would like this to be a toggle.

in winter it's annoying, no more then that. and i wish i could somehow "command" my dog to stfu and let me sleep.

in summer however, birds to tend to raid my farmfield. i'd rather not let my dogs just wander that field but they do have view over it, barking in alarm whenever a bird lands there would be very usefull to me.

so, a toggle would be nice.

[Dungeon Smash]

yes maybe you could have a "Hush!" command for dogs.  or throwing a shoe at them gets them to shut up for a few minutes