Hello everyone,
sorry this is my first post but we are trying to rehome our 4 year old female Northern Inuit. She's called River and she's spayed. She was spayed at 18months as it was this long before she had her first season.
I'll start off with the bad bit and the reason we are trying to rehome her.

We have been told that she has a high prey drive and that she might be unsafe with our 7month old baby. She had always been interested in smaller creatures, but was well behaved around them in our presence, and we had taught her the 'leave it' command since she was a pup. Then last year she managed to kill a rabbit and a cat so we sought help from a behaviourist who told us she had an active prey drive.

I found this website that seems to sum up the issue accurately: sorry the link didn't work i'll try find another one

We went for several one-on-one training sessions and the outcome was that training out the predatory nature would take along time and even at the end it would be unlikely that it could be eliminated altogether and she could not be trusted with small animals. Although we have only introduced baby and dog for limited periods we have been advised against it as a precaution.

So that's probably scared everyone off straight away, but i'd like to tell you a little bit more about her, she isn't a nasty dog, she doesn't growl or bark.
She is a very loving dog, she loves fuss and attention. She enjoys training and she is incredibly intelligent. She doesn't always want to be peoples friend straight away, she has to get to know them first.
She likes cuddles and long walks and sitting on the sofa having her belly tickled afterwards. She loves to play with other friendly large dogs.
Her recall is excellent when there are no distractions. We no longer walk her off lead and her recall is good when on an extendable line, she walks to heel well but when a Halti.
She is house trained but she does suffer from seperation anxiety and will howl.
She is trained to go in a crate.

We have two dogs and they are both in a large garage attached to house (they can see into the house through the dining room window), the other dog is fine with the baby but we can't let him in the house as River then gets upset as she's on her own. We feel it's unfair to make them live their life in a garage and it's unfair on our other dog to leave him in the garage when he could be inside.

We are very attached to River and we're very upset to have to try and rehome her, but the behaviourist said that she would not take the risk herself and our vet agreed. She would be perfect for someone with a little bit of space, ideally have another bouncy large dog that she could play with and keep her company if left. Ideally she would go to owners who were at home most of the time. She's fine with teenagers and adults.

I know it's alot to ask, but could anyone help? If anyone has any questions please ask.

Here's a couple of pictures:

P.S. We did contact the breeder, but although she was a well known breeder she was reluctant to help. Apparently even though she has many, many kennels she did not have room for her, and we've been at the top of her 'waiting list' for rehoming for about 6 months now but have had no luck.

In retrospect, i think you are better off rehoming, you clearly dont /cant trust her & she will be better off elsewhere, hope you find a fabby home

I really think youve scared yourself. I really cant see the problem. Everyone with a youn child should be careful, it sounds like you are paranoid. Loads of husky types live with kiddies with no problems.

Why do you think shes just going to "turn"????????

You have obviously lost trust, so I think it is best the dog is rehomed, though do think it's very sad all round.

If it's any help, I live with a dog with a very high prey drive for small furry animals, he lives with 2 kids and two cats. He has hunted and killed in the past, but is a big baby with my kids, and any kids that come in the house. He is interested in them as play friends, and I always supervise him when other kids come round, but I do that with my Goldie too. If kids are messing about and being kids, then the dogs gets put in another room, as they can get too bouncy for some kids, but I have never seen anything where he reacts to the kids like prey.

Good luck in finding her a home, it must be awful to not be able to trust your dog, best of luck xxxx

My two have a huge prey drive, but are absolutely fantastically wonderful with children, babies, old people and Uncle Tom Cobley. I never trust them of course around children, and watch them like hawks and always tell little ones they can stroke Tai but not Ben because we haven't had him living with us very long, but I would stake my life and that of my daughter's on them never harming any child. It is absolute nonsense and complete tosh that dogs can view children as prey - humans do not feature on the wolf menu, despite popular myth, and our dogs, being descended from wolves, think no differently. A vet should know better than to talk such rubbish.

I'm sorry but I am one of the people who HATE to see people rehoming an animal that has given the owners their all only to be rehomed because something else came along..

Of course you're baby is more important BUT as any responsible parent/dog owner would'nt leave their baby alone with the dog anyway I really don't see your issue!..They already live in a garage..not an ideal situation but managed correctly it should be acheivable..

I personally don't think you have given the dog enough chance to come to terms with the baby..all you will succeed in doing is making the dog wary of the baby as you are keeping her away..

The breeder should NOT be breeding if they cannot take back their pups..irresponsible idiots!!