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Lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback Predation Behavior – Including Kill – What To Do?
Need any and all ideas to help a female Labrador Rodesian Ridgeback mix, 8years old and owners have all but given up trying to break a bad habit of hers aside from having to kennel her when outdoors OR leaving their home outside the city in state of Washington. She goes after ANY small creature that gets through the fence and into the yard , instantly killing it by breaking its neck. She doesn’t chase it down for fun! She’s on it the second she sees it and they say it’s as if something in her mind snaps and by now they’ve learned there’s no getting her attention until she’s caught and killed it. Here’s the thing I found interesting, owners don’t leave her outside loose unless one of them is home to keep an eye on her as well as Copper, which is a 7 year old Doberman Pincher, who is now following Kya’s behaviors as it’s a learned behavior of course. They’ve watched her “gulp down the mice and bigger than that (squirrel or bunnies)” their always able to call her in and she drops the dead creatures instantly and comes in where she’s reprimanded “ bad girl Kya”. Recently was a baby bunny that she thought she’d killed only for owners to hear and see the poor thing in it’s condition of a broken neck and having to put the bunny out of it’s misery theirself. They love their dogs immensely and are desperate to deter her and any creatures from this happening…Help
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6 Replies
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Michelle, I moved your question to the HMWTC channel and added a Ridgeback photo to help more people see it. I’ll give other members a chance to reply before I jump in… @dog
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I do have one question though – if she’s 8 years old… why now? Why do they want to change her behavior, assuming they’ve had her most of her life?
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@programdev I thought the same thing about why now are they trying to change behavior of an 8 year old and now?
@dog Is it a new behavior? Newly adopted dog? Also, I am wondering if the Dobie is a new addition? Is the Dobie only doing the behavior when the Ridgeback is present?
First we have to research and understand what Ridgebacks were bred for. Knowing they were bred for hunting you can take this line: “it’s as if something in her mind snaps”, and I think it is safe to say instincts are telling her what to do with the stimuli (small animals or prey etc.)- hunt! All dogs have a predatory sequence and this is hers, designed by genetics. I think it is going to be extremely difficult to remove this from her behaviors since it is likely hard wired. First they may want to manage her and her going out routines. They may have to keep her leashed and supervised. They can try acclimating her to a muzzle to prevent her from physically being able to grab small animals.
They can surely try to use desensitization and counter-conditioning. They may want to consider helping her find another outlet to practice her predatory behaviors by purchasing a flirt pole and engage with her themselves.
What is their end goal? Are they willing to invest time to manage and train? I think success or not is going to depend on their expectations and, the time they are willing to invest in any kind of behavior training with full transparency that this behavior may never go away completely.
Looking forward to what others think and have to say about this case!
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I think management is really the only thing you can do in this situation. I doubt counter conditioning in this situation would help much. Maybe training with a flirt pole? This is hard wired in brain. Maybe taking the dog out of his home environment and try counter conditioning. I find that dogs like this form a strong habits at home. I see this with aggression a lot. Bring the dog to a different location to see if there is a difference. Obviously dog would be on a long line. I would also like to know how he reacts to other types of movement like cars, runners, bicycles
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I agree that it is devastating to watch your beloved dog become a hunter. I had a walking client who had a husky-GSD mix female who got away from the owner (prong collar broke) and she caught and shook a shih-tzu to death who was on another walk. It was a complete disaster/mess and neighbors were trying to get her to drop the other dog, kicking her…the dog is not aggressive with human beings, she actually was very sweet and tried licking a few of the people after they had just kicked her! That went to court and they ended up fostering her for another year until they rehomed her. Devastating to the owner of the shih-tzu…devastating to the owner of the Husky mix.
I think it’s great that the owners are out in the yard with this dog! Maybe they could keep her on a long line in the back yard and/or muzzle (like @jenwalker said). Give her other activities to partake in, with them, while in the back yard…love the flirt pole idea! Old dogs are still able to learn new things, it just takes longer. She sounds incredibly intelligent!
As for the idea of being in the back yard, maybe it’s “the hunting grounds” to her. Maybe trying to classically condition what the back yard means to the dog will help change the behavior, allowing her to engage in some positive enrichment that the owners can be there to help shape.
Just some thoughts! Good luck and let us know!
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Wonderful, insightful detailed replies here – you guys rock.
I really don’t have anything to add – what I was going to say has been said so well already!
@dog Have you had a chance to take a look at these? Please give us an update when you have a moment.
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