my dog killed all my ducklings, and a guinea today

[sourland]

OT. Honeydoll, is he a German short hair? One of the most dominant bird dogs that I have ever seen was my son-in-laws short hair. Through obedience training and a regular routine of handling he became tolerable. Barely!

 

[honeydoll]

Quote:
He was a drop off, so I don't know exactly but the vet said he most likely has some lab in him. Other than that I don't know.

 

[redhen]

Uh... i'd be more concerned with that dog growling at me.... Baaaad...
Your dog should never , EVER growl at you. Soulds like he needs some serious training tune-ups....

 

[Red Maple Farms]

My fourteen month Great Pyrenees LGD has been living with ducks 24/7 since she was six weeks old. She pretty much ignores them now. I just got some goslings and guinea keets, and she is definitely interested in the keets. Today she tried to chase a young keet until I yelled "NO!" So, I'm leaning towards the belief that your dog didn't know he was doing anything wrong.

 

[Wolfwoman]

I can't say the growling is always associated with bad things in all dogs... you must know your dog and what he's thinking/saying to you....

I don't know if you can see or open these videos, but try

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=108903655795537

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=108903239128912

Yukon talks to me a LOT and ALL the time. Growling is his preferred language, with an occasional bark thrown in. Sometimes at night we play a little game, he is normally up on my side of the bed and I say MOVE... he starts with a low, throaty growl and when I poke him in the butt and say MOVE again, he escalates it to a higher and louder pitch. He even gets to the snarling point as I antagonize him more, but in the 5+ years that we've been doing this, he has NEVER tried to sneack in a bite at me... in the end I always win and he MOVES.

 

[drumstick diva]

I've raised, shown, trained dogs since I was 12. No I don't trade them something when I take a toy away. If I take a toy away they know that is fine, it is MY toy. Of course maybe it is the breed. I've only worked with Cocker Spaniels. Our first two were mean and bit, so I decided I would breed my own and they would be like the breed standard specifies, "above all he should be merry." I've never had one of mine growl over food, or toys or when I trimmed them , clipped nails etc.

They would get their first head trim at 10 days old, so I could check their quality at that point for show.. That followed with nail trims(just a bit off), cleaning ears, doing picky glands etc. If you start with it right off, they will accept it. I realize everyone doesn't whelp their own puppies. But you do need to do these things from the time the puppy comes home. From this would come everything else, like not chewing , not digging, no barking when I said No! In fact NO was all that was needed for practically everything. They didn't get beaten, they didn't wear pinch or spike collars. Didn't use shock collars or cattle prods or anything else.

They just wanted to please - some were much more active than others but they learned appropriate behaviors in time. No I didn't have chickens. But we had a stray cat that adopted us - my dogs had never been near cats. The cat slept in a cardboard box by the outside garage. I had my best stud on leash when he suddenly plunged his head into the box and noticed the cat. He grabbed the cat by the tail - cat totally ignored him. When the cat didn't run, my dog let go. He never tried it again. He also didn't leave anything but a wet spot on the cats fur. My others were soft mouthed also, never left a teeth mark in anything - just slobber.

I have to say a 150 lb. dog that growled at me, wouldn't do that again he would be rehomed. Size makes a mighty difference, and 2 yrs. old is too old to start growling over toys unless he did that when he was younger and got away with it. Sounds like he's got a burr under his saddle and is acting out. Did something new come into his life to make him jealous? Is he getting less attention than usual? Have you overlooked any change in his health. I personally don't think you could ever trust him again unattended. Myself, I wouldn't enjoy dog ownership if I had to watch every second to see if he would behave himself, or slaughter anything he could grab.

 

[drumstick diva]

PS brain fart - should say picky glands, not "picky" glands, where did that come from??

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Quote:

Yah, I’ve hear the before. Even had I vet tell my wife and I we couldn’t let our dog’s look us I the eye. Well I’m here to tell you it's BS. Every dog I’ve ever had play growled (growled while playing ruff). Both of our Rotties growl. Its call communicating. They weren’t mad or aggressive when ding it. In fact the one we have now will growl what I come home from work and hug him. He’ll growl and kiss me and growl some more. It’s his way of talking to me. He has never ever shown ANY aggression toward me, my wife, daughter or grand kids. He’ll play tug with a towel or rope with the kids or me and growls the whole time. Any one of us can stick our finger(s) or hand in his mouth while he’s doing it and he won’t even make a mark.

To many people don’t know how to read a dogs demeanor and believe ANY growl means aggression. Too many people say, if it growls you have a problem.

Not always the case.

 

[drumstick diva]

I give up, this computer hates. me it is picky GLANDS, picky GLANDS, picky GLANDS.

 

[drumstick diva]

Oh I get it now, I didn';t know that the word was not allowed on here. Thanks, I thought my brain and typing fingers don't know whats going on. lol