Dog Aggression

[Nicoolx2]

I mentioned in my previous post that I'm debating on bringing an old dog of mine back into my 'pack'. She's in my mom's name, but she is "my" dog. We've had her since I was 11, which was when I started grooming. I groomed her myself, trained her basics myself, but mainly it was a co-exist relationship where she followed me everywhere and if she was locked out of the room she would lay outside the door. She is a standard poodle named Daisy, silver color. Either 7 or 8 years old. My concern is her aggression. She has had only one dog aggressive incident, wait, two.
One was my mom's now husband brought his german shorthair over to live, and we used to have two other standard poodles, well, as a pack does, they surrounded her and basically attacked her, not as serious they weren't killing at the throat but, you probably get what I'm saying. Then the next is when I was driving down the road and a black/white pit mix was on the road, had a collar and tags, so I knew it had a home. I took him to my home, gave him some water and food, he didn't want either of it. Called around, maybe an hour later he was back with his humans. NONE of the dogs at the house wanted that dog there, but Daisy felt 'threatened' I guess. Ever since, I want to say a year of age, I'm not sure, maybe 6 months, who knows, she's been killing animals(excluding dogs). She know how to open cages, this is scary. My guinea pig didn't die but my brother's did, she would watch me open the cage to clean it. So, one day she pushed the cage in, flipped it up, flipped my brother's guinea pig into the air and snatched it. It happened in a split second. I stopped it right away but the pig died later that night. This happens over and over, opens my rabbit cages, or guinea pig cages, she killed a possum and a wild rabbit before. Kills cats, this is my main concern. She has killed most of the cats we ever had(strays or strays that were made into indoor). One survived, my baby, I miss her(she was taken from me:() I do have a cat now, but I want Daisy to be back in my life.
My question, do you think its possible for Daisy to learn to co-exist with a cat AND bird(she has never encountered a bird before). I don't expect her to play with them, just ignore them, and if they come over to just ignore it. With her past, do you think this is possible?
In my state of mind right now I think it is possible, but I also know I'm putting risk to my own animals I currently have. I plan on having her muzzled almost 24/7(she's unpredictable), then she has a crate, she'll have a choke collar and be connected to me whenever I'm home. Then she will be exercised daily. At least by treadmill. Daisy is not spayed either, I know that comes into effect of everything too but she is older so I don't know if its worth putting her through surgery or not..but it probably is...So..First off..Before we suggest methods...Do you think I'm crazy for wanting to risk my cats and eventually bird's life to try to make Daisy's life better?
Thank you in advance.

[Doberluv]

This isn't aggression. It's natural predatory behavior of a dog...instinct. Some dogs have more of it than others and some dogs that are raised with other animals or conditioned to them get along fine. It may be possible to gradually condition your dog to these other animals, but I wouldn't bother if it were me with this older dog. I would make sure that the cages were not accessable to the dog and physically keep her from being able to get to the animals. JMO. Sorry you're having this trouble. As far as meeting new dogs that are going to be in the same house together....it's best to desensatize them to eachother on neutral territory first and gradually introduce them in the yard next, then try the house. There are certain techniques you can read about online. Or you might get a certified behaviorist to help you.

[Nicoolx2]

Oh..hah..Yea..I worded that wrong, sorry, she definitely has a strong prey drive. The thing is she is fine with other dogs, majority of the time. Its not like she's the only dog in the house, there are many, many dogs, large and small. Then if I let her in she'll have a new dog to meet, our Staffy. She's fine with brand new dogs, or going to the vet. Its just those two dogs she fought with triggered something in her. I read the threads I could find on this site about gettings dogs used to cats.
For some reason I think this is all very possible...I have no idea why, I have this attitude that she can change. I just don't know...I want to try..If I don't..I'll regret it..and I'll feel guilty because she didn't leave this world with me by her side. Plus, she isn't being cared for where she currently is. Which is with my mother, she's late on vaccines, possibly almost a year, more likely. She has not been groomed since I left...So I have almost 8 months worth of matted coat to work through(aka clip off). If I can't get her to be okay around small animals, then I'll at least make a trip down to my parents to care for Daisy throughout the year. If your wondering, I'm roughly 9-12 hours away from my parents.
I guess I just made up my mind.:) Its just getting the necessities accomplished(grooming, vet, training), then after/during that she'll meet the dogs(again, except Stump, she never met him), then just get used to a routine and hopefully get her used to my cat. :\...I hope nothing happens to my kitty..

[Doberluv]

Well, dogs are different. They're not prey to your dog, like rabbits and other small furry things. Dogs are the same species. However, not all dogs are enthralled with all other dogs. There are bound to be some that don't like each other just like with humans. We don't like every person out there. Dogs just deal with things differently than we do. It's hard to say if those dogs she doesn't like are sending her some kind of signal that you don't see which might be setting her off. Or, who knows what else?

Try introducing her, like I said on neutral territory and keep plenty of distance between them at first. (2 people, 2 leashes) And walk them back and forth, making a little arc....gradually getting closer. Feed them treats when they are calm and collected. You can go for a walk together with some space between. Walking the same direction sometimes helps. Then move on to trying in the yard, as long as everything has gone well on the neutral territory. It may work and it may not. It just gives you a better chance of having them get accustomed to each other with fewer triggering factors like territory guarding etc.

Like I say, she may never get along with the dogs and you'll have to keep them separated. As far as the small furry or feathered critters, they are prey and I would never trust her not to act on her instincts. So, whether you could get her "trained" to not try to get them, or not....I don't think it would ever be worth it to let her have access to them. So, somehow, you need to make sure she can't get to their cages....better cages, a separate room for them, heavy supervision....I don't know. But at her age, it is doubtful that she's going to "get along" with those little critters that represent a food source to her. (in her hard wiring)

[Chewbecca]

I read the thread title and I thought, "OOOH, SOMEBODY LOVES ME! This is RIGHT UP my alley!"

Then I read and realized it is prey drive.
And your dog seems to have a lot of it.
Which my dog does, too, so I can also relate to the high prey drive.

How much training does the dog have?
Not that you can train prey drive out of a dog, but you CAN learn to manage the dog and teach the dog "leave it" by introducing rewards for "leaving it". Not that a dog won't be a dog outside of your supervision, but you can crate, you can leash, you can a lot of things to prevent any falling outs with other dogs and/or other animals.

[elegy]

please PLEASE do not muzzle your dog like you're considering. it is not right, it is not fair, and it could very well be dangerous to her. she's a dog. you need to honor and respect that. keep the bird someplace inaccessible. teach her to not chase the cat, and keep her separated from them both when you are not there to supervise.

[Chewbecca]

yes, baby gates and crates will become your best friend tools.


I also was going to comment on the muzzle and TOTALLY forgot to.

Yes, please don't muzzle your dog. She is only being a dog. If you really feel that you would have to muzzle her 24/7, don't take her in.
I think that muzzling her is only going to cause NEW issues on top of the ones she already has.
Please don't band-aid the problem.