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Location: Nottinghamshire UK
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 14
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Thanks again for all the replies with some very good points, i'll try and answer all the questions.
i'll try address some points:
It was my understanding that predatory aggression is the physical manifestation of prey drive. A prey drive is the desire to carry out an attack, the predatory aggression is the attack itself. So if a dog has killed or even stalked a rabbit that is predatory aggression. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
What initially made us worry she might 'turn' is the cat she killed. It was one of our pet cats she'd grown up with since she was a puppy. The cat got up off the settee started walking to the cat flap and that's when she attacked it.
It's true we could use the same argument for both dogs. But we have to look at probablility. One dog is calm around the baby, shows no interest in it whether it's moving or crying, hasn't killed anything small and furry (that we know of). The other has killed two things, shows an interest in anything the baby does, changes it's behaviour from relaxed to alert and seeking out the baby as soon as it thinks no-ones looking. We would never fully trust any dog with a baby, but we trust one of them less than the other, in our minds (and the behaviouist who came to the house and observed Rivers behaviour with the baby) there's a much high probability of an incident with River.
With regards her age calming her down, this is something that we are hoping will happen if we keep her. She already has calmed down alot since she was a pup, she listens to us more, and she likes cuddles even more too! She will actually give you a hug
and it's certainly something we look forward to if we keep her.
I'd like to make it clear that we won't put her to sleep or take her to a kennels or anything like that. We are OK to keep things as they are. Our baby is 7months old now and we can continue as we are. We have made the garage as nice a place to be as we can, it's not a standard size garage, it's bigger than most, it's well lit, they have insulated beds out there, and I have heaters for them for when it gets cold. We go outside with them, several times a day to play games and fuss them, they are walked everyday and given treats, toys and chews. We would like to keep her, we really really would we aren't trying to rehome her because we don't like her, what's prompted us to try and find a home is three things.
The first is that our other dog is starting to get upset at not coming in the house, we do let him in every day until River gets upset that she's missing out. When outside he lies next to the front door and he seems to be becoming what i'd call depressed (I know it's anthropomorphic) he only seems to brighten up when he's inside. We realise if River left it may cause other problems with him, but we are fine with putting in the work and the training to correct it. We feel we're comprising the welfare of one dog for the others sake.
The second is that up until last year myself and my wife had jobs which worked out that at least one of us was at home all week. Unfortunately I was made redundant and need to find new work. If I have to work in the week, then the dogs will be on their own for most of the day. River becomes very agitated if left alone for short periods, despite all the training we've done to try and stop it and regardless of how many treat filled toys and puzzles we leave with her.
Third is the predatory thing. As was mentioned, the vast majority of NIs are friendly with children (one of the reasons why we chose the breed). As has been mentioned though the origins of some of the lines of NI are somewhat murky there may not be just GSD, malamut and husky in there and in some individuals certain traits might be more pronounced. Looking at Rivers pedigree form, you don't have to go back far to get to dogs that probably wouldn't be classed as NI. Also we still have another cat so it would mean keeping both the baby and the cat away from her.
As i've mentioned I won't put her to sleep, but I thought if I put her on here there could be a chance that she could go to a better home. It was a longshot, but there could someone with an adult only household, maybe retired or worked from home, perhaps with a labrador or similar sized dog she could play with. They might be looking for a companion for their dog and wanted a cuddly, intelligent, and energetic dog full of character and River would be perfect. It was always unlikely we'd find a perfect home, but it would greatly improve the welfare of both dogs if we could.