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Will this forever effect my dog towards other small pets? (Please read everything. SUPER important.)?
So I have a Siberian Husky. He'll be 2 in April. He was the ideal dog when we first got him. But after reaching sexual maturity he showed a bit of tension towards my 9 year old male Yorkie, which is completely understandable. The tensions started off as a little staring and eventually growling. Then they became little nips towards my Yorkie. So, I sought help. My aunt helped me with the tensions between them and they became good pack members.
Here's where the problems rose up again.
Not too long ago I had rescued an injured duck. A Mallard, to be exact. Male. At first, they all lived in harmony. Except for the occasional beak from the Mallard towards my dogs. But the dogs never responded to it.
I wound up landing in the hospital for a week due to asthmatic bronchitis and when I returned home, my dogs were unruly and uncontrollable and all three of them had grown issues towards each other and towards the Mallard. (By the way, my third dog is a 2 year old female Labrador Retriever/American Pit Bull Terrier).
When I came home from the hospital, first thing I did was bring my dogs back into harmony with each other. The female took to it greatly and had no issues with the males and vice versa. But for some reason, I couldn't bring the males to live peacefully with each other again. No matter how hard I tried, they always had little stare downs.
Here's my main concern;
Just yesterday morning when I left to Brooklyn with my mother, my father let the Husky and the Lab mix out to the yard for some morning relief. All was well until about 15 minutes afterwards. My Husky found his way into the pen where we kept the Mallard and attacked and killed the duck. As much as I hate to admit it, it wasn't play. It was an attack. The duck had multiple bite wounds on the back, underside and wings, and was bleeding profusely. My father even noted that he saw my Husky tossing the duck around and his jaws were blood-stained. My father retrieved my Husky and sent him into the house. He brought the Mallard in and tried to help it, but it was obviously no use.
The Mallard was buried this morning.
However, yesterday when he brought the Husky in, the first thing my Husky tried to do was attack my Yorkie. His hairs were up, my father said there was a deep blood-churning growl, and he literally lunged at my Yorkie, jaws wide open. If my father hadn't reacted in time, my Yorkie would probably be in the same place as my Mallard is now.
I guess what I'm trying to ask is as follows;
Will that attack and kill of the Mallard drive my Husky into, shall I say, madness? I mean, I've heard that if a dog gets the taste of another living thing's blood it can make him blood-thirsty. While I never believed that ever, I'm starting to now. I'd never heard of my Husky trying to attack my Yorkie the way my father said he did. To top it off, my Husky hasn't had any shots this year. I know that's a bit irresponsible. Please don't bash me for it. But, money has been tight lately and we just couldn't afford any shots at the moment.
This is the first place I thought to check without getting any serious attention drawn towards my dog about this.
Please help me.
Thank you.
ADDED: Believe me, I do enforce rules. They were absolutely fine before I went to the hospital. My parents were supposed to keep up with the enforced rules while I was hospitalized, but they didn't. I'm just relieved that he won't be driven to kill now. It definately scared me. Thanks so much for the help.
4 Answers
- Aphrodite ☼Lv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
I guess what I don't understand is why you have let this turn into what it has.
Let me try and break this down for you...
1) You want those dogs to stop fighting? Then CORRECT THEM when they even start to look at each other the wrong way. You're lucky you get enough time to see them staring at each other and growl before there is any contact. YOU lead this household, not them and so there is no reason for them to fight for rank in your household. Leave their leashes on them and give them a sharp pop once they start looking at each other the wrong way;
2) Your Husky is not going to go "crazy" because of this duck. You have to stop believe old wives tales first - just because the dog gets a "taste of blood" does not mean it is going to go out stalking the neighbourhood looking for its next kill. What happened here is simple - dogs have prey drive. Your Husky was just satisfying his natural instinct.
If you are going to have any type of "prey" animal near a dog - it is up to YOU to keep that other animal safely contained and away from the dogs, no matter how much you think you can trust the dog.
- ♥ Cioccolata ♥Lv 61 decade ago
Aphrodite said it well.
Huskies (well-bred or not) are known for their high prey drive. It was only a matter of time with the duck.
Will following an instinct drive him to start killing willy nilly? Of course not.
I don't live with you, I don't know how you handle your dogs, but from what you've written here it sounds as if you don't enforce any rules or use corrections. If I had a dog and he so much as lifted a lip or stared too long at another creature, he'd receive a correction and then a command - Sit-Stay or Down-Stay. You intervene and demand a different behavior.
- 1 decade ago
Hi, i'd keep the 2 dogs apart for now, the problem may be 2 males that have reached sexual maturity which is why the female dog doesn't get involve, one of your male dogs has to be the dominant one so he bites the other male to show he's the dominant one, one thing that might fix the problem would be to have both male dogs desexed, this can help calm down their male dominance tendancies, it helped, with my male dog, if money is tight some vets will allow you to pay of your bill in installment, if u explain what it happening the vet can help u with this
maybe some obedience classes for them might help
as for your husky killing the duck that might have just been a moment of normal dog behavior, dogs chase birds all the time, i'm pretty sure this one incident wont send him into madness
also check with your vet to make sure that the dog isn't sick or in pain sometimes this can cause them to lash out,
so i'd strongly suggest a trip to your vet,
and watch his behavior very carefully because if he does have a disease he may just attack u, so be very careful until u know what the problem is, i hope it all works out for you, i have a few dogs & they are just like family members so i understand how worried u are
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Not going to read all of that.