So this week I've had to be out at my dad's place looking after my brothers. I've had Shiva with me, and have kept her on the leash or locked inside with me at all times.

However, last night I got back from work and she was out. Long story short she had cornered and attacked 2 sheep (one of which we had to kill) and killed the 5 chickens in the run.

I feel absolutely terrible, I should not have trusted my brothers to keep a good eye on her. But it's happened and so I'm here asking anyone who has heard of or experienced this sort of situation. I have been researching just over the internet, but there is a lot of mixed opinions, and also nothing specific to a husky.

Firstly, is there anyone who has retrained a dog around animals after they've already "tasted blood" or is it as some people say and you can't ever retrain them? There is a lot of mixed info around. Obviously, she will never be off lead around livestock etc, but is it still possible to semi train her to behave in their presence? If so, any methods? Is it worth acquiring a shock collar? (Not that that's something I want to have to do)

Secondly, I have not really punished her yet. I wasn't here as it happened, and since have been busy dealing with the whole mess. She has just been tied up and ignored. Some people say that tying a dead chicken to them for a few days is the way to go (whilst some are VERY against it..) but has anyone here done that with a husky? Has it worked?

I don't live around livestock myself, but I would like to know if it is possible to calm her down around them for the future, even if it means a lot of extra training.

I have come across one husky who has killed livestock, he was never able to be trained to be around them and in the end the owners made the decision for the safety of the dog and surrounding animals to re home him. The people that took him on knew his history and he is now safe in a town environment where small animals are not accessible to him. He is a lovely dog, killing did not affect his temperament at all, he is still very social with other dogs, he is wonderful with kids, he has never shown aggression etc it is simply in his nature (as with many huskies) to pursue and kill if the opportunity is there.

What is your standard situation?

Personally if it was me and your normal everyday situation does not include Livestock I would not attempt to train her around them I would simply make sure she is not put in situations with them otherwise you may be setting her up to fail.

You could possibly try and de-sensitize her slightly by working her on a leash close to stock (outside the paddock etc) and treating whenever she ignores them or even looks away from them to start with, this way she would learn you expect her stay calm. The issue would be trying to snap her out of an excited state once the animals start to run. I really don't have any idea's on how you could achieve that sorry. It is natural for farm animals to run in a herd from danger and it is natural for her to chase and kill those animals, trying to eliminate instincts like that in my opinion is like trying to teach them not to sleep ever.

If you did not catch her in the act it is far to late to punish her. She will not understand so it is not fair to her.

I too have heard many "punishments" for stock worriers none of which I agree with personally - one lady who is part of my local dog club had a terrier who killed a number of her chickens and she decided to hit the dog with a dead chicken to create bad associations with the chickens for her dog. What ended up happening was the dog reacted out of fear while she was hitting it with the chicken and bit her. In my opinion her actions were disgusting and she deserved what she got. Long story short I don't think the whole "bad associations" method of punishment works, whether it is tying a dead chicken to her or anything else you could think of.

I'm sorry I'm not of more help, I wish I had a magic answer for you. It is a terrible situation to be in!

Shiva is very much like that dog you have mentioned too. I don't live at where this happened, I'm basically in a town environment, so fortunately I would not have to re-home or whatnot. I have just been at this place playing parent while my dad is away, and avoid going there with Shiva usually. If I do she's always tied up or inside. Unfortunately, my brothers did not pay attention to her in my absence, and I think she must have unlocked and opened the sliding door.

Yeah, I was thinking it must be too late for any form of punishment.. I will try with the desensitizing, I know there will be no fix, but hopefully it can calm her down about it for the future.

Thanks for the advice! It really is a horrid situation, I'm just lucky it was my dad's stock, not one of the neighours!

It was definitely a stroke of luck that the stock was your dad's! Most farmers I know shoot dogs on sight if they are attacking stock which is unfortunate but understandable. I'm glad for both your's and Shiva's sake that this is not your standard situ, hopefully it will mean that this was just a one off accident rather than having the potential for recurrence

I hope your brothers better understand the importance of keeping an eye on her now that they have seen the consequences! If it was me I definitely would have given them what for lol

With a lot of hard work you could make her better around livestock, but not really trust worthy. We have dairy goats and chickens on the same place as our husky Maya and some peaceful co-existence has been maintained. In a most simplified way you must teach her that livestock belongs to you and she may not play with or eat them. Doesn't matter if they are yours or not in reality, in the dog world everything is yours or the dogs. I just took time with Maya walking her around the yard on leash and moving in closer to the other animals, when she starts to fixate on something I would give her a stern "No!" and redirect her focus to something else. The rest is just time, as long as it takes, she should get the picture eventually to leave the other animals alone. It's just like teaching anything else, time and patience, and no strange tricks like tying a dead chicken to her?? That's just weird. Good luck.

Yes, time and patience seem to be the key to most of these issues.

The chicken thing is an old farming method, I think. People say it works. Others think little of it.. But either way it's too late for anything.

Cheers

She can be some what desensitized (my dog mishka has a strong prey drive as well she's almost injured my cat) I try very much to keep her away from small animals for this reason but when they cross my path I cross the road and and keep her close and when she seems to calm down and face forward I treat her and praise her this has worked well for me and you may beable to try it and it may work and I don't think the tasting of blood will change her behavior or personality I hope my info helped