Posted on 07/10/2023 7:23:56 AM PDT by Lazamataz
My dog has a behavioral issue, and gets loose from time to time and kills cats... two so far. This is something that is making neighbors angry, obviously. Clearly the dog cannot stay here.
She is also perhaps the stupidest dog I have ever owned and is completely untrainable. We have successfully housebroken her. However, for the eating ritual, she WAS sitting when commanded, and began eating on the release command 'Okay', but she forgot half that training and now just stares at you when you release her.
Obviously we would never be able to train her not to kill cats.
I want to exhaust every option before I put her down. Is such a dog someone I want to give up to a shelter / rescue? Or is it best to just put her down?
Please contact a rescue.
I am by no means a cat lover or a dog hater. What I am saying is that a dog that enjoys attacking other animals might go after a small child and is an accident waiting to happen.
She's an outdoor dog and she has slipped out of her leads plenty of times.
I’m for killing feral cats.
Not my call. Neighbors have semi-ferals.
The dog was trained, that’s why it couldn’t get home. However, if it gets startled enough to panic that momentary shock will not stop it.
I would only go with a physical barrier of some kind. Leash-lines are very cheap and they work.
Put the dog down and get a new dog.
You can combine a leash-line and a harness.
One weeks or less is what it took to teach our dog not to run away while off leash, to not pick up and eat things (like dead birds or snakes) off the ground. I taught the neighbors dog to stop jumping the fence in day. PetSafe training collar
https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Rechargeable-Waterproof-Vibration-Stimulation/dp/B073WYL89X?th=1
Use the highest shock setting for bad habit training out.
If you dont have time to fix the behavior, not sure what help you were asking for, FRiend.
But then what do you have? It would likely be like an animal that paces its cage in a zoo.
Long time dog owner here.
We once had a dog who was wonderful to us. But he nipped at everyone else. We brought in trainers, behavioralists, and a couple other experts.
Finally, our vet pointed out the obvious: “That dog ain’t right in the head.” We had to put him down.
Nearly 50 years of dog ownership…and this was the only one we could not control.
Sometimes they just ain’t right in the head.
I didnt read the harness part. Your best bet is to find a home that has a fence.
That would be different if you built a fence, how?
If you cant build a fence, a leash line is your second best bet.
Whether or not to put the dog down.
Sounds like a great dog to me.
Your call on that, sir.
Socialization (and lack of) is hard-wired into them at 6-8 weeks. They learn that if they bite, they may be bitten. Well socialized dogs aim to please their master. Unsocialized dogs just don’t get it. That said, I had a pit that chased invasive cats out of the yard. His cats...pack members...could, and did, sleep on him.
My dogs on the farm never bothered our cats, only others that wandered onto our farm.
Hey Lazamataz...
Dog trainer and Cat Behaviorist here.
First off, Huskies are known runners. First chance they get, any open breach in a fence they run. Had a client with a 10ft. fence his dog climbed the fence weekly. All the exercise in the world didn’t tire her out. Only thing that stopped her was a car.
Pit Bull with a taste for cats, yeah I wouldn’t trust handing the dog off to someone else. Especially one that already has a taste for the red stuff. With a Pit, I just couldn’t and wouldn’t trust a rehoming in this case.
Knowing breed characteristics and as you say, the dog seems not so smart, it may be a ticking timebomb. It seems to be a bad mix of breeds and one that should have never happened.
Sorry for writing this casual assessment.
“She’s a pitsky. Half husky, half pit. She was neglected as a puppy and has poor socialization, but she is as sweet as can be and since she grew up with a brother she’s also good with dogs.”
We are a dog family. Border collies are our breed of choice. We have our first female BC and she was very reactive to cars, she would’ve gotten herself killed if we didn’t do something about it. We sent her off for training that took 3 weeks. Got her back and she was a completely different dog. Best trained dog we’ve ever had. That cost us around 1200.00 and it was money well spent.
That said, My understanding of the Pit breed/cross breed tells me that more likely that dog will need to be put down. Once they get that aggressive nature for something it never goes away.
I agree with wild redneck. We’ve had so many pit/part pit stories here so why risk it harming someone and/or being a neighbor issue? Personally, I would not go inside a home with a pit bull without my gun on my lap. German shepherds the same.
Currently when I walk I carry my gun. So many dogs being dumped and/or breaking out in our county. And, yes, many dogs seem to not break habits from their puppy days.
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