Akita V's hedgehog!!!

My mum has a lovely male Akita (neutered) called Kai about 6 yrs old - he's absolutley soft as pudding is totally a big teddy bear but talking to mum today and she was very upset as Kai killed a hedgehog last night

Evidently he was just out in the back garden mooching about when he came across one and he just leapt in the air and came down on the hedgehog with all four paws and basically squished it He then proceeded to rip it apart before my dad could get to him and remove it!!! This is the third time he's done it as well!! Once in this new house and twice in her old house

After the first time she spoke to one of her friends who also has a female Akita who does exactly the same!!

Is this an Akita thing??? No-one has any idea where he learnt it from as mums had him since he was a pup as has her friend had hers!

Also how can you possible hedgehog proof your garden?? It is as you can imagine quite upsetting for my mum n dad when it happens, they do try to keep an eye out for them but when it's dark and they hide in corners they're pretty impossible to see and Kai likes to spend loads of time outside too - always has done - think he overheats in the house!

Any ideas??

oh no!

The only contact mine have had with hedgehogs is when keisha got one in my parents' garden then ran into and around the house a few times before swallowing it . Luckily they have their last toilet on their last walk and tend not to go in the garden when it's dark.

I have no idea how to hedgehog proof a garden sorry hopefully someone will be along soon with ideas x

I do feel for you and your mum, because our last dog used to kill hedgehogs and it was heartbreaking (it also annoyed my husband no end because in the process she would dig vast craters in the lawn). She was a collieX and in her case, it was mostly young ones that she killed. There was no way that we could hedgehog proof the garden as it was way too big, and included the ponies' paddocks etc., but I think that it may be very difficult to prevent a determined hedgehog from coming into a garden, as they can squeeze under gates and through the smallest gaps. They can also climb!

It's upsetting isn't it, hedgehogs are such useful and dear little things.

just make sure her worming and tick-proof flea treatment is bang up to date...
No idea how to hedgehog proof a garden, but tell your folks to try not to take it to heart. Its not nice when an animal kills another animal but it's better in a way than them leaving the animal hurt where it will ultimately probably die anyway. I had this before with my cat, which wouldn't leave the poor baby bird alone. In the end it did, and dropped it at my feet I tried to save it, but after sitting on the phone to a wildlife charity for ages, it sadly passed away. In a way, i wished the cat just killed it quickly instead of clearly playing with it then dropping it half-dead on my shoes...

Perhaps next time they can take the dog out on a lead and carry a torch with them so they can scour the garden for any spikey friends.

At least soon it should be time for hedgehogs to go into hibernation. So looking on the bright side, they should all be tucked up in bed and sleeping away soon away from the naughty akita dog

Our two have occassionaly found them in our garden. Both of them tend to bark a lot and then start to play football with them even tossing them in the air (Hedgehogs don't bounce by the way )

Last time it was in the evening and I managed to pick it up on a spade and carried it to the gate and deposited it outside the fence, the next morning 6am, dogs were outside barking, OH looked outside and the dumbo hog had come back SWMBO then ordered me to rescue it a second time, I put on my dressing gown and went out, picked it up by the same method (On a spade) and to make sure it didn't come back I walked half a mile down the road, then deposited it by the side of a small stream, luckily only the local farmer went by in his tractor, probably thought 'There goes that crazy English man with a hedgehog on his spade'

It's not a learned behaviour, Akitas are hunting dogs so killing small furries (and spikeys) is instinctive. My Mal puppy has a high prey drive and killed a blackbird fledgling at the park when she was 15 weeks old.

My old staffie used to attack hedgehogs. I would spend hours pulling spines from her muzzle......

Sad........ but true....

We would barricade the fencing up but to no avail. They would get in no matter what.

it's the way he does it that amazes me - jumps up and comes down with all 4 paws together and splat!

Luckily he's not had any spines in himor I'd have had a phone call - mum and dad are both pensioners and their eyes aren't quite as good as they used to be!!

I'll remind them about de-fleaing but they're pretty good at keeping stuff like that up to date

Hopefully they'll be hibernating soon so we won't get a repeat but Dad has a veggie patch in his garden so he likes them to munch on the slugs etc instead of them munching on his greens!!!

Human nature, I'm afraid..... There's another thread about this at the moment. It't gone from one dog who has been put to death because it killed a cat....... to one about cats killing birds and mice.... and voles and slugs......

My boy brings them in the house no matter how many times Ive told him he is NOT allowed pets! Fortunately he has a mouth like butter so harm gets done.

At least the fleas are big and shiny to easy to pick off his chops. I get the boyf to put them back out in the garden.