my staffie kills chickens

Hi i rescued a female Staffie from the pound..she is a very sweet little girl with a few bad habbits no1 she growls and snaps if you go to take her food ...she kills chickens and ducks on sight ....sher dont like cats much either ...sort of ok with my pair now ...after much trying, but if push came to shove she would still hurt them i would say .....any help or comments??

Hi, Moo has a high prey drive also, for that reason I keep her onlead anywhere that there maybe something shouldn't catch, ie ducks/cats ect, but she doesn't mind catching a squirrels lol!

As for the food it sounds like aggresion which can be easily trained out, when giving the food make her wait and make sure she knows the command well, put her food down and use the command when you need it. Might take a while but be patient and she'll learn.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

I'm pretty sure Rocky would find all the squirrels in our local park and bring them home too, if you know what I mean.
We just keep him on a long training line when out for walks in the woods.

She's a terrier thats what they do! some have a higher prey drive then others. Harvey has catch a rabbit and squirrel up to yet

Think Tilly is just fortunate that she's not actually caught a cat or a squirrel or a bird yet though it's not for the want of trying

There isn't much you can do about a dog's prey drive, especially a terrier. About all you can do is keep her on a long line anywhere there are likely to be small furries that she likes to catch. You could try working on a really strong "Leave!" or a strong recall, but once that drive kicks in they tend to go deaf.

With the food, as Janey says make her sit & wait while you put her food down & only let her have it when you say so. Stand by her while she eats & after doing that for a few times, gently run your hand down her back. If she accepts that, you can go on to scratching her neck & arounf her head (obviously not until you feel she's ready).

I'm surprised they let her be rehomed with food aggression - was it a rescue centre?

All you can do is keep her away from small animals. Some will tolerate them immediately and some (mine included) will just kill them.

are u on a farm?

this is what i did we had a pet rabbit (R.I.P comfort) she had the whole run of the garden so putting her in the run would have been cruel to her ...we got Trouble and to start with he was on the lead and we would constantly say leave every time his attention was focused on her when he looked away we gave lots of praise . over a course of a few days we would let him get closer and closer along with the firm command of leave ( as mentioned in an earlier post ) eventually we were able to let him off lead he eventually learned to ignore her ..so it can be done but needs a lot of patience and constant reminders ...

i dont know what he would be like with wild rabbits though lol ...but with the pet he was fine , in fact when she dies he pined for her and sat by her grave for about a month it was sad

Cant say I've ever had to take Ledgers food off him to know how he would react but I have managed to get some nasties that he has picked up in the park out of his mouth and he does have to wait and make eye contact before he can go to his bowl when I put his food down.

One of my parents dogs was very possessive of her food bowl when they rescued her a combination of being on the street for a long time and being in kennels but she calmed down after a few months of learning that she wouldn't be left to go without food

As for small furry animals he is mesmerised by the rats in the brook and will chase a squirrel but hasn't caught anything yet! And he is more wary of cats as one of the local ones thinks its a dog and it strutted over and squared up to him in the park a few weeks ago

Thanks for the replys ...we also have an older staffie Sykes he is not bothered he will let the chickens and ducks eat his food ...sometimes they will shoo him away....he is very laid back with em ...Belle on the other hand kills em on sight ...she recently killed 10 ducks and 6 chicks on us by eating her way into the coop!!

Caryll wrote:There isn't much you can do about a dog's prey drive, especially a terrier. About all you can do is keep her on a long line anywhere there are likely to be small furries that she likes to catch. You could try working on a really strong "Leave!" or a strong recall, but once that drive kicks in they tend to go deaf.

With the food, as Janey says make her sit & wait while you put her food down & only let her have it when you say so. Stand by her while she eats & after doing that for a few times, gently run your hand down her back. If she accepts that, you can go on to scratching her neck & arounf her head (obviously not until you feel she's ready).

I'm surprised they let her be rehomed with food aggression - was it a rescue centre?

Hi Caryll its a long story really .....the short version is we had out staffies stolen by Travelers ...we got one "sykes" back in a pound 60 miles from us...my old girl never came home she was blind in one eye so no use to them .....i wont swear!! when i brought my boy home there was a little black staffie there looking lost , so i went back to rehome her ...this is the lassie that has done all the damage..i dont want to send her back as she is a sweet thing most of the time!

You could also try hand feeding her. She might be food aggressive because she'd had to fight for food in the past.

Hand feeding can sometimes break that vicious circle of having to compete for their food. Just put the food in her bowl, but don't put it down, just sit down with the bowl on your lap & get her to sit in front of you (if she jumps up, then you'll need to stand!). Feed her one handful at a time, making sure that she can see where you're getting the food from.

P.S. I don't know how you feed your three, but at least for the time being I'd feed Belle seperately to avoid scuffles.

Yeah it's definitely natural to chase furry things. Some more than others.

My MILs stuffy bitch is extremely placid, with people/dogs almost dappy in a way and IMO quite fat lol. But as soon as she's sees something small and furry...boy that tank can shift!

She's caught a few rabbits, something which surprised me tbh and if she could would kill cats. BUT that's because my MILs cats were spiteful to her as a pup and would chase her...well they didn't realise the table would be turned when she grew up! Its the change on the expression on her face which gives you a clue before she bolts after them....it's rather scary lol.

Anyway shes trained Diamond for perfect recall (which to be fair doesnt always work when they are in that mind set) and also will use a long lead if she's in a cat neighbourhood or anywhere different just to be safe. You just have to be vigilant when out and about.

Sorry can't help with the food prob tho, but you got loads of good advice.

I think what you have to remember is that all dogs have some prey instincts, from 1 - 5...

1. Stalk
2. Chase
3. Catch
4. Kill
5. Eat

They will all have different combinations of those instincts, and some may have all 5, although that isn't common.

Bandit had 2, 3 & 4; Dempsey has 1, 2, 3 & 4. Most of my other dogs have had only 2 or 3.

Thanks for all the replys ...very helpfull...i will try your sugestions ..i got new chickens today hopefully they will have a happy life here.....and not hunted..