Happy Monday everyone.
I was watching the Dog Whisperer yesterday and he was working on desensitizing a lab that killed and ate two pet chickens.

Opinions as to whether or not a dog that has killed and eaten other animals can ever be completed trusted not to kill again?

I used to have an akita/shep X that killed and ate pet bunnies and poultry. The dog got to the point where she would COMPLETELY ignore other animals when we were around, but she couldn't be trusted alone with them.

Can the killing be completely eliminated?

Roz.

Years ago I had a neighbor that decided to get some chickens. Every once in a while one of them would manage to get over our fence and into our yard and if I wasn't there to stop it, carnage would ensue. I always found the bodies with the legs and neck pulled off. He never ate them, just mutilated them.
Fast forward 5 years. My father-in-law had a small flock of pet mallard ducks. The same GSD never showed the slightest interest in the ducks, but I never left him alone with them. One day we came home from a party only to find my hubbies white GSD had massacred all the ducks. Both dogs were in the pen, but for whatever reason my dog didn't participate (but I could swear he had a $hit eating grin on his face).

I would add that this came up at our club one day, about dogs who have already killed critters, and the unanimous opinion was that this can be trained (with a lot of work) but that no one would ever trust that dog, no matter how well-trained in the handler's presence, alone with the critters.

I think it was this forum where I read the phrase "I've known some sad duckling times" (or similar) with regard to this subject.

Thanks Connie. I'll search "duckling" on this site. I was going to do a search, but had no idea what words.

Dog very obviously found the other pets were crunchy and tasted good without ketchup.

I've had other dogs that I've trained to kill very specific things (rats, mice, wild rabbits), and they've never turned the killing to household pets. But this one akita/shep was just a killing machine. Could never break her of it completely. Then again, she was pretty aggressive in a lot of respects-and unstable and crazy to boot.

Roz.

They just didn't have ketchup handy.

It might not have been ducklings in that post ..... it was definitely a fluffy-lil-bird thing.

I would never leave any dog with high prey-drive & killing experience unattended around pets, livestock, or wild game -- IMHO, no matter how well trained to obey & ignore temptation in a handler's presence, when left to their own devices, a successful predator's instincts will eventually overcome the desire to please its absent owner...

Connie - it wasn't "duckling". Search came back with nothing. Let me know if you find that thread again. Would be interested in reading it.

Candi - I never intentionally left the dog alone with other creatures. It's unfortunately hard not to have "accidents" with: killer dog + young child + husband that isn't as attentive to whereabouts of killer dog + a lot of pet birds + pet rabbits + horses + chickens + turkeys + cats + etc.

If I had been single that dog would have been a perfect pet for me.

Roz.

 Quote: roz kovacs

Connie - it wasn't "duckling". Search came back with nothing. Let me know if you find that thread again. Would be interested in reading it......

I know.... I've been searching off and on (between working). It stuck in my head for a looooong time because it was so poignant and yet funny, the way it was worded. It was something like "I have known some sad days for ducklings" or something a lot like that.

Roz, I was just replying to your question about whether a dog who has already eaten other pets could ever be trusted not to kill again, despite extensive desensitizing/re-training -- IMHO, the answer is, "No, particularly not if left alone with animals it inevitably views as prey"...

As some have said, you just can't trust a dog to be left alone with other critters (rabbits, chickens, ducks, etc). My dog has tons of prey drive, and if not supervised, will attempt to catch squirrels, cats, birds or anything that is small and moves quick.

My sister's in laws have a GSD, with no prey drive. I've attempted to play fetch with this dog, and he could care less about toys. However, he has mauled my sister's in law's chickens twice. The first time it happened, her father in law caught him, and whacked him with a shovel because he would not let release the chicken (I know, you shouldn't be doing this to a dog, but her father in law is a real fu***** a**hole, I hate him). I hope that one of these days he pushes my buttons so I can whack HIM across the face with a shovel.

Anyway, his GSD has already mauled two chickens, and the thing is that the dog has no prey drive whatsoever. He doesn't eat them, he just kills them. My sister has a 8 month pitbull, and she has mallard ducks on her property. The ducks have been left alone with the pitbull several times before, and he's never mauled a single duck. However, I've caught him chasing rabbits and chickens (he has low prey drive), but gives up on the chase quickly.

So IMHO, I don't think it's a very good idea to leave dogs with smaller critters, or pets of a different species.