Need dog advice please

[ninny]

I have a lab mix that i need advice on. I had posted on here a while ago about her. Most people said get rid of her. I would like to if i knew she was going to go to a good home. Hubby really likes her though. She keeps attacking my chickens and chasing the cats. Other then that she is the sweetest dog to ever live. I'm wondering can a dog with a high prey drive be turned into a service dog? The reason i'm asking that is there is a group near us. I would do the training but they would place her. I do that kind of training for fun with my pure lab. Or where else could I put her? This is a dog that melts around kids. Shes a whole new dog. Calm and sweet. I'm thinking of putting her ad up for agility and search and resuce too. She can track things under ground through the snow. Shes a really good dog except the whole chicken thing. I still have to get hubby to give me the go head to try to rehome her. But he keeps talking about getting a great dane puppy so maybe I can use that. I like her but i'm tried of chasing her through woods and feilds trying to save my birds.

My other option is a shock collar. I'm kinda thinking of seeing if i can borrow one and just nailing her with it. If it only happened once to her though do you think it would make a diffence or would i have to get one to use all the time?

With a high prey drive do you think she would see my baby as prey? She is not allowed near her at the monment because shes to hyper. Shes really good with kids i just wonder..

Or should i just rehome her and get that dane puppy?

 

[RiverOtter]

You can channel a high prey drive to Acceptable (rabbits, raccoons) and Unacceptable (chickens). It just takes a lot of work. The best way is to just attach her to you and "wear" her everywhere. Do regular training as well, get her in the habit of looking to you to see how she should react/what she should do next. Then enforce that the chickens are YOURS, but it's ok (lol, great even) to chase raccoons.
Dogs LOVE jobs. Help her realize it's her job to guard the chickens, and not chase them, but chase everything else away from them.

About a shock collar. I have one for my beagle with selective deafness. They need to wear it for at least a week while you NEVER use it AND while you train (in the usual way) the behavior you want to reinforce. It will not work if you just buckle it on and zap away, that's just mean. But if you spend a week practicing Leave It and then use the collar to reinforce, then that's a fair correction. I only had to zap our beagle 3 times before he decided he could always hear me and when I called his name the very best place to be was at my side.

Basically, she sounds like your average lab/lab mix to me. Really active, busy, mouthy with a prey/play drive that desperately needs to be channeled. If you do service type training for fun with your lab, just spend more time with this girl and give her a job, any job.

Most dogs naturally understand when something is a baby (not that I would leave them unsupervised together) esp if they already love children. How old is your baby?

Whether or not you decide to part with her (and I hope you don't) I would wait on a Great Dane puppy with a baby in the house. Danes are HUGE (duh, right) but think of it like this - do you really need 70 pounds of clumsy puppy crashing all over the house near your baby? DO you need a MASSIVE puppy who doesn't know any better yet to try and jump on you while you're carrying the baby, to decide to try and play in the playpen, wanting to share what's on the high chair tray, etc?

These things are hardly noticeable when a poodle puppy does it, an ordinary nuisance in your average size family dog, but possibly life-threatening to the baby in an animal the size of a Dane. Not that they're mean, because as a rule they're not. But we've all seen a puppy go running off somewhere and not be able to stop. Now imagine that puppy 70 pounds and your baby anywhere near it. That goes from cute to scary quick.

 

[ninny]

Thanks for the advice. Huge puppy little baby equals my house the whole time i grew up. Dont think we ever didnt have a huge dog. I'm thinkin of waiting till Ari (my baby) is a year before getting one. I've had juny ( the dog) since she was a pup. She knows all commands and just doesn't listen when it comes to chickens. She needs a more active home. She would be awesome for someone doing agility. I've put a ton of work in this dog and I'm getting burnt out on her. She just doesn't fit our family. My pure lab wont even look at the chickens.

 

[Crazyland]

I wouldn't get a dane in this case. Keep your girl and teach/train her. She is already a good dog. And if you don't have enough time for her you won't have enough time for a dane. Because of their size you must teach them and socialize them from the start and keep doing it their entire lives.

 

[ninny]

Quote:
No offense but i know. I wont be gettin the dane till next year. I have put over a year of training into this dog. She just is not doing what i need her to do. Shes a good dog but not a good match for my family. I have the time i'm just ready to be done with her.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Get an electric collar and teach her a recall with it. Easy. But she should never be unsupervised around your chickens or cats for a very long time. She should also wear the electric collar for months, in my opinion, so she will simply take it for granted that you can 'reach out and touch her' at any time.

 

[ninny]

Quote:
Thank you.

 

[RiverOtter]

If you've already put that much training into her, try the e-collar. But if you just dont click with her, then maybe call up that place and see what kind of training they need to place her.

I still wouldn't do a dane though. I've known plenty of people who got rid of a Lab because during the clumsy puppy stage it crashed into their toddler too often. And a Dane is twice the size. One little girl got a tooth knocked out, I've seen plenty of bruises from tails, a big dog can whop a very small child with a tail hard enough that it leaves a bruise, and naturally it also knocks the poor kid down and then they have another bruise.

I'm not saying you can't train it and I'm not saying it would be mean. My baby just turned a year old, he's crawling around the place, standing very unsteadily on his feet. When I think of how bad he could be hurt by one huge, friendly paw or wagging tail. A puppy kiss while he was trying to stand would send him to the floor. I personally wouldn't bring home a giant puppy who weighs more then he does.

 

[ninny]

Quote:
The dane will be outside. The mastiffs and other large dogs are outside dogs. I sent a email to the serivce dog people gonna see what they say. Hubby is finally breaking down and seeing she just doesnt fit our family. I feel bad but if she'd be happier with some one else i wont keep her from it.