Spontaneous Dog attack??

[SavageDestiny]

I think if you read my full post it is clear that I also address this issue, giving multiple examples of which raw food is only one. Sure, dogs can act impulsively and chase a prey animal and find this fun. But dogs are intelligent, social animals who are highly trainable, easy to motivate and very adaptable. Either way, I do not believe that a "taste for blood" whether actual taste for blood or symbolic of a prey drive is something that can not be solved with training.

It is likely an impulse control issue which is why I suggested impulse control training.

You've pretty clearly never had an actual high drive dog, sorry to say. Yes, LOTS of dogs can be trained with impulse control exercises, and even high drive ones can be trained to control themselves with strict supervision. But a dog with high drive, especially one who has actually managed to catch and kill something, will NEVER be completely trustworthy around prey animals.

 

[truegrit44]

Yes, as I said I agreed with everything you said But I bring up the raw feeding making chicken killers because I have been told for years that that is what will make a dog become one and I also give a rebuttal to that.
I also agree that dogs with a high prey drive bred into them is sometimes impossible to train out of them at least enough to feel secure. I have a German Shepherd, and Welsh corgi, the shepherds tends to be bad with prey drive but more for larger livestock, my corgi will take a chicken down IF he sees us trying to run it into the pen or somewhere (wanting to "help"). I think one thing that helped my dogs is I had up until a few months ago a blue and gold macaw (they were all raised with him as I had him 17 years) and he had the run of the house and as pups he would go after them corner them and almost flog them like a rooster and it scared them half to death. I always thought maybe that is one of the reasons they didn't bother anything with feathers, LOL!

 

[ChickensRDinos]

You've pretty clearly never had an actual high drive dog, sorry to say. Yes, LOTS of dogs can be trained with impulse control exercises, and even high drive ones can be trained to control themselves with strict supervision. But a dog with high drive, especially one who has actually managed to catch and kill something, will NEVER be completely trustworthy around prey animals.

Honestly, you don't know anything about my training background or experience, nor do you have enough information to assume that this is an abnormally high prey drive dog as it seems to actually have done fairly well and made only one mistake, rather than an animal that has repeatedly killed birds with single minded focus.

To the OP -- I really do believe that positivity and some training are at least worth a shot before you worry too much. Mistakes happen. There are many of us on this forum who have had a dog make a few mistakes or have impulse issues and still turn out to be a great dogs around the flock. See how it goes and do what is best for you and your family. Good luck.

 

[antrimfarm]

Thanks so much for all of the great input! I truly appreciate it. I do not believe he really has a high drive, I think this was a "fun" motivated thing for him. He's never seemed truly aggressive except for a couple of food related incidents when we first got him. Those disappeared after a couple weeks, once he realized he had reliable food he didn't have to fight for.

I will keep an eagle eye on him and take him out with a leash when the ladies are free-ranging. I appreciate all the tips, I will put them to good use. My husband is on the verge with this dog, though. He's a stress chewer and a little bit of a "leaky faucet" if you will. Not to mention the seizures and meds ($$$) for that. To top it all off, Prancine (named by my 4 year old) was my husbands favorite chicken---unfortunately she too passed away a few minutes ago from her injuries.

I'm not against killing chickens for food---but something about seeing them ripped open and laying in the yard was kind of traumatizing. I guess because it was a violent death and not a purposeful, quick and painless death for the purpose of meat. :'( Even though we had planned to process some of our hens this summer, we are still fond of them and never wanted them to go this way.

Right now the dog is kind of slinking around the house because he knows we are mad. I let him come into the bathroom where I was keeping Prancine and when he went up to smell her---BAM! Sprayed with water. Of all things, getting sprayed with WATER is the most effective deterrent for this dog.

We will try to figure this out. I'm hopeful after reading your comments!

 

[antrimfarm]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we raise rabbits for meat and he has been fed raw components of them. But I agree that it is the adrenaline and the thrill of the chase that they may get addicted to, not the meat. Though they do love raw meat!

 

[WalnutHill]

We have a part hound pound dog with high prey drive, who is a runner, and has feral experience. We can never, ever leave him loose in the unfenced yard (as we have been able to do with all of our other dogs), we never let him in the coop or poultry yard, and we never let him near the chicks brooding in the back room (he scratches at the door and drools, not good signs that he means to merely watch over them). However, we have worked hard at training him to "leave it" with treats, where we drop a treat on the floor and he is not allowed to have it until we tell him okay, whether we are in the room or not. And we have taught him "mine", where anything that he is not allowed to chew/sit on/lay on/eat is labeled with "leave it, mine". We never ever take his toys from his bed or basket, he puts them away and brings them when he wants to play, and gives them freely.

When a neighborhood dog broke into our coop and killed 25 of our birds, he was locked in the house and was beyond excited as he could see the attack from the doorwall. We took him out where the dog did much of the killing to pick up the scent of the dog with the intent of tracking it to its home, but when he got to the blood and gore and feathers and dead birds stacked like cordwood, he sniffed, pointed, then walked a few steps away and laid down. I don't like to attribute human emotions to our animal companions but he seemed sad to see them dead. At the same time I know that he is just as capable of doing that sort of damage if excited.

 

[centrarchid]

Eating raw meat as already touched upon does not preclude dog from being chicken-safe. Mine catch cottontail rabbits eating most and sneaking balance under bed. If dogs are slow with consuming their catch the chickens are not afraid to mooch.

Mine are also very high prey drive but switch for targeting chickens has been trained off with lots of training. Switch on ducks for one is not completely off yet but she will come around.

Mine are german pointers, a high prey drive breed used to hunt birds in this country.

 

[SavageDestiny]

Honestly, you don't know anything about my training background or experience, nor do you have enough information to assume that this is an abnormally high prey drive dog as it seems to actually have done fairly well and made only one mistake, rather than an animal that has repeatedly killed birds with single minded focus.

To the OP -- I really do believe that positivity and some training are at least worth a shot before you worry too much. Mistakes happen. There are many of us on this forum who have had a dog make a few mistakes or have impulse issues and still turn out to be a great dogs around the flock. See how it goes and do what is best for you and your family. Good luck.

I say that because if you HAD owned a truly high drive dog, you wouldn't be so quick to tell anyone that if only they were a better dog trainer, they could get their dog to be an angel with prey animals.

I'd be glad to loan you my sighthound mix if you'd like to try and get him to be rabbit-safe.

 

[centrarchid]

I say that because if you HAD owned a truly high drive dog, you wouldn't be so quick to tell anyone that if only they were a better dog trainer, they could get their dog to be an angel with prey animals.

I'd be glad to loan you my sighthound mix if you'd like to try and get him to be rabbit-safe.

That is enough. Some folks do have a handle on the training component. Others have given up.

 

[SavageDestiny]

That is enough. Some folks do have a handle on the training component. Others have given up.

It's a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when people try to act like someone who is having issues with their dogs are just clearly too moronic to magically train them to be perfect. Dogs are our companions, yes, but they are also predators and in some (some breeds in particular) that drive is so high no amount of training will make it disappear. It isn't fair to people for someone to act like if their dog is high drive they are just a dog training failure.

That's all.