[Raindropvampire]

I am sick to death of getting phone calls at work about mom's dog. I'm sick to death of letting her out at night and having to dispose of opossum bodies. Apparently tonight she set a new record and got 6. I'm guessing a mama and babies but didn't ask.

She is a black lab, beagle, pit bull mix. I realize that is 2 hunting breeds mixed with an animal aggressive breed. She is wonderful with our cats and the chihuahua. But wildlife is a whole other ballgame with her. Does anyone have any suggestions to curb her natural instincts to hunt and maim wildlife??

Hubby wants to beat her butt every time she brings something up. He also thinks we should withhold affection since she's being bad. I can't get it through his head it's not bad. To her it's just instinct. Mom wants to put her on a chain or get hot peppers and dose her every time she hunts. I don't like any of those solutions. I've tried an air horn but noise doesn't phase her in the least. We always go out with her but it's a huge yard and unfortunately she moves much faster than us so by the time we get to her it's too late.

Personally I don't think this is something you can train out of an animal. It's a base instinct. If they were in the wild it would be a survival instinct because it's how they would get food. But if anyone has any ideas I'm open to suggestions. I'm tired of corpse cleanup and listening to people yell at the poor dog that has no clue what she's done wrong.

[Travelinglady]

I am thinking she believes she is doing something good by bringing you her "prizes." I am not sure you can train her away from this behavior, but maybe other folks have different ideas.

I don't know that she would understand why she would be punished.

[Silent Void]

Wouldn't the logical solution be to chain the dog?

[Fresia]

I can understand your concern and frustration. A natural hunter and strong prey drive takes persistence, discipline and patience to work with, to redirect, and retrain their attentions to hunt not only what you want and when you want, or in this case to stop it. I suggest you contact a behavioralist or hunting trainer for the proper methods to do this if it is important to be able to keep her off lead/leash, loose in the yard.

It would be safest in the interim, not only for the animals but more importantly for the health of you, your family, and especially the dog that is in close contact with the animals, (as the other critters being carriers of disease), to keep her on a line/leash when she is out to prevent her from getting to the critters or to fence in the yard with a solid fence, and needing to be solid to not only keep her in but to keep critters out.

It is not an easy thing and I wish you well in finding the right solution for your family. Do what you need to keep everyone safe. Hang in there. (((((raindropvampire))))))

[Raindropvampire]

We have a wooden 6 foot privacy fence around the entire backyard. Apparently that does nothing to deter wildlife. When we put her on a chain she howls, pulls until she cuts her neck with the collar and refuses to use the bathroom. It's why to me a chain is not an option but to my mom it is The one day I was stubborn and left her on the chain for 2 hours thinking she'll get used to it and settle down. 2 hours and she didn't use the bathroom until she basically soiled herself when she passed out and she pulled on the chain until she choked herself out with the collar. I was watching from the window and saw her go down and ran out to check on her. Other than a nasty abrasion on her neck she wound up being fine but I still worry that she will wind up severely injured if put back on a chain. She is the most stubborn dog I have ever encountered. Never seen an animal freak like that on a chain. I've also tried taking her out in the backyard on her leash because she loves walks. As soon as you walk into the backyard she hits the ground and won't move.

One of my other solutions was to just have everybody take turns walking her around the neighborhood. She is perfectly fine on a leash in the neighborhood. She loves meeting other people and animals. The only time we've had an incident was a neighbor's dog was loose and being extremely aggressive. She did not take well to that but I was able to keep her inline and the other dog back until the man came and got it. She'll whine if she sees a rabbit or squirrel but doesn't really act up. She still gets exercise, no accidents in the house and we get some exercise. Should be a great idea right? Nope. No one else wants to go to the effort to walk her. They would rather gripe, moan and yell at the dog for being a dog.

I will look into a behavioralist or hunting trainer. One of our cats goes out with the dogs sometimes and she's fine with that. Anything wild though and she goes nuts. She's caught 4 birds, 1 squirrel, umpteen opossums, umpteen moles/shrews, 3 snakes, 2 rabbits and a turtle which she didn't manage to hurt before I got it. She even hunts bees. Stupid dog has gotten stung in the mouth about 15 times and it hasn't deterred her in the least. Noise doesn't bother her. I'm guessing pain doesn't bother her as evidenced by the bees. Never ever in 38 years have I seen an animal this stubborn.

[Sabrina]

As annoying as this must be, I think she sounds quite precious!

[Yoda]

I kind of prefer a dog that keeps the wild things away. I had a German Shepherd and an Australian cattle dog that were good at killing or scaring raccoons and possums. The possums I don't like because they carry protozoa Sarcocystis neurona which can infect horses with EPM, a myeloencephalitis that can cause permanent damage to the central nervous system. And the raccoons will eat kittens (plus they are the largest carrier of rabies in this locale).

I talked to a DNR agent about the critter situation and he said it is best to just kill them (humanely) because they have used tracking devices that showed when they relocated raccoons 25 miles away the still went back to their original location.

My last dog, a collie/GS mix would lie on the porch while the wild critters would come on the porch and eat his dog food. Silly dog.

[Nammu]

How is he at playing fetch? Maybe giving more to learn like agility training will give him purpose? He probably thinks he's doing his job to keep wild life away from the house and protecting you..although the bees?

[Raindropvampire]

To be completely honest I'm of the opinion a dog's going to be a dog. Yes it's a complete and total pain in the butt disposing of her trophies but she's a dog. Like I said she's two hunting breeds mixed with an animal aggressive breed she's just doing what's in her nature. I just feel sorry for her that everyone else in the house freaks out on her and punishes her. She's a dog. She's following a natural instinct. She has no earthly idea why she's getting yelled out and then having affection withheld. Retraining them has not worked so my next bet is to try to retrain the dog

Sidestepper she's really good at fetch with me other people not so much lol. I worked with her when she was a puppy and taught her DROP IT!! Everybody else she will fetch and then play keep away lol.