I was brought up to believe that most "pets" would run themselves to death trying to catch a deer, which always seemed sensible to me - a pet dog doesn't run anywhere near as fast as a deer and a dog doesn't have the stamina a deer has.

A pack of dogs is a different story - they can "corner" a deer, surround it, etc. But a single dog seems hard pressed to keep up with a deer, let alone "run it down".

Have I been thinking wrong all these years ? Can ONE dog really chase down a healthy deer on its own ?