Post by laane on Feb 4, 2014 0:59:29 GMT -5
We bought a female Malamute puppy (with a touch of Husky). She is around 17 weeks old and great with the kids, even our 12 week old baby. She has recently started chasing and catching the chooks. At first it was play, but now she is killing them and eating the meat. The first time I caught her doing it (got to her before she killed the chook) she was reprimanded with smacking and tied up and left outside with no contact from our family (She is an inside/outside dog).
She did it again a couple of days later and took the caught chicken under the house. She came out when I called her, I took her to where she could see the chicken from the other side of the house and again she was reprimanded and tied up (this sounds confusing but she wasn't smacked for coming when called). I did not reprimand her softly either time.
Things were then fine for a few weeks. I came home the other day from being out all day at a show and there were four dead chooks, this time they had been eaten into and most of the breast meat was gone. She was eating one when I got home. A few people in town told me that you need to get the dead bird and hit the dog with it. I did this and again tied the dog up with no contact from the family, this time much longer.
All up now she has probably killed around 10 chickens. She has also started chasing calves and the cats will not come in house, they haven't since we got her and are looking scabby and skinny. We reached the decision that we need to sell/rehome this puppy as we don't really see it getting any better and leave her in the house when we go out to avoid any more killings. This is pretty much a forgone conclusion but I would just like to hear your thoughts.
My two questions are,
1. Do you think we are making the right decision?
2. Should I contact the breeder that we bought her from and ask if the breeder will take the puppy back?
She did it again a couple of days later and took the caught chicken under the house. She came out when I called her, I took her to where she could see the chicken from the other side of the house and again she was reprimanded and tied up (this sounds confusing but she wasn't smacked for coming when called). I did not reprimand her softly either time.
Things were then fine for a few weeks. I came home the other day from being out all day at a show and there were four dead chooks, this time they had been eaten into and most of the breast meat was gone. She was eating one when I got home. A few people in town told me that you need to get the dead bird and hit the dog with it. I did this and again tied the dog up with no contact from the family, this time much longer.
All up now she has probably killed around 10 chickens. She has also started chasing calves and the cats will not come in house, they haven't since we got her and are looking scabby and skinny. We reached the decision that we need to sell/rehome this puppy as we don't really see it getting any better and leave her in the house when we go out to avoid any more killings. This is pretty much a forgone conclusion but I would just like to hear your thoughts.
My two questions are,
1. Do you think we are making the right decision?
2. Should I contact the breeder that we bought her from and ask if the breeder will take the puppy back?