I got 2 hunky/dane mix brothers, almost 2 years so old. But lately they bein on a huntng madness, and im not talking they found something dead, im talking they actually work together to hunt a stray chicken from the neighbor or some poor bird or CAT that gets inside our yard. The worst part is that they are very obidient and intelligent , but for this they seem to actually be proud of it and they even come to me when they do it with their latest catch lol. So my questions are this. Is this a husky normal behavior? Is it a bad sign the fact that they are doing it? And for God sakes is there a way to stop it?!
Ty in advance to anyone that respondes.

Huskies are known to have high prey drives and it is very likely and very common for them to kill cats, chickens, rodents, etc. And jumping in the air and catching and bird and then running all around full of glee over the kill is my dog's favorite.
I can get my boy to calm down on leash, but if he was in our yard and somehow something got in, it's game over. Kristina has some good links she can share with you on calling them off, but as for "getting them to ignore" when they creep their way into your yard and you're not present/noticing it happening, probably not, lol.

Welcome to the boards.

Let me just start this by saying that Husky in general have a very high prey drive... Though I wouldn't say all huskies are programed to hunt and kill I know personally when Tika sees a squirrel or stray cat on our walks she bolts in that direction right away. The prey drive of huskies is always something you should be aware about.

Redirection can work wonders if you stay with it. We try and award a treat when the prey is ignored on our walks or try and get her to focus on something else. High praise and reward onto an acceptable behavior instead of the unwanted prey drive hunting. You would however need to watch for the moment they go into predator mode and break them from it with the redirection right away. For us this is HUGE as we need her to ignore our cats at all times.

The better question I think you should ask however is "How am I letting them kill these animals?". Please don't take this the wrong way but if your concerned with their prey drive you might want to stay out with them while they are in your yard? Or anywhere else where they could get a kill. Which ever way you chose to discipline your dogs, if you catch them in the act, enforce or show them that is not acceptable behavior.

If they are killing things outside of your supervision then they really don't understand what they could be doing wrong. Even if you reprimanded them once they awarded you with the kill you would just be teaching them to hide their kills instead of giving them to you. You need to address the root cause and that is supervision so they don't get the kill in the first place.

You mentioned they were hunting together, maybe let them out 1 at a time for a while and see if that lowers the kill count?

In terms of your question of is it a bad sign they are doing it... Well that is up to you, I can personally think of a bunch of reason I don`t want Tika doing it... Letting her out last month at night with a skunk in the back yard is one of them I managed to calm her down before we both got sprayed but yeah.

Like Heather said, if they sneak into your back yard and your not actively watching them it`s pretty much game over for said animal. It`s going to happen from time to time, but if they are out of hand as you seem to say then I would start watching them a bit closer personally.

Best of luck!

Well, they pretty mutch stay in the backyard the whole dayuntil its nite time when they sleep in our room by the door, but the thing is , they didnt seem to mind other animals before , they would see them and be curious but not hunt them, its a new behavior. They are actually very good behaving even with other dogs, but yes will have to keep em inside for a little more time or something. Ty to both of you! Any other advice let me kow!

Diego wrote:

Is this a husky normal behavior?

It is normal husky behavior and it is also normal canine behavior, not just husky.

Diego wrote:

Is it a bad sign the fact that they are doing it?

Absolutely not, they are doing what their instincts are telling them to do which is always something I like to see and marvel at. Aside from the gross factor, I LOVE watching my sibe go into his hunting mode...that's when he's doing what he's meant to do, what instinct drives him to do...and I think it's marvelous. Even better would be watching a pair work together the way you're describing...simply wonderful I think.

Diego wrote:

And for God sakes is there a way to stop it?!

This one's been answered fairly well so far so I won't repeat too much. But put simply, best you can do is have a rock solid recall and/or make sure they can't get into a situation like that. If there are creatures in the yard, go out and shoo them away before letting the dogs out. If the dogs are in the yard and a creature wanders in then make sure you're right there supervising and have that solid recall to call them off the hunt and back to you. You can't take instinct of out them, it wasn't taught, it's ingrained in them. Plus, the hunt and kill are self rewarding behaviors so trying to train them out is very difficult like with the instinct this breed has to dig and run...your best bet is to find a way to harness that drive and use it constructively such as harnessing that hunting drive in a hide and seek type activity where they need to "hunt" down something appropriate.

Tika wrote:

The better question I think you should ask however is "How am I letting them kill these animals?". Please don't take this the wrong way but if your concerned with their prey drive you might want to stay out with them while they are in your yard? Or anywhere else where they could get a kill. Which ever way you chose to discipline your dogs, if you catch them in the act, enforce or show them that is not acceptable behavior.

I second all the advice already given. I have owned huskies for many years and seen many catches and kills, all of them in my presence and before I could stop them (except maybe one oppossum in the dark - I didn't really see it to try to stop it). But what astounds me are the folks on this forum who have told stories of their huskies catching a bird or a squirrel WHILE WALKING WITH THEM ON A LEASH! What amazing dogs that they can spring and pounce and grab before we owners even know what's happening.

Like others have said, I think more supervision and better recall can DECREASE the killing, but may not stop it altogether.

Diego wrote:

Well, they pretty mutch stay in the backyard the whole dayuntil its nite time when they sleep in our room by the door, but the thing is , they didnt seem to mind other animals before , they would see them and be curious but not hunt them, its a new behavior. They are actually very good behaving even with other dogs, but yes will have to keep em inside for a little more time or something. Ty to both of you! Any other advice let me kow!

99% of the dogs on here are amazing with other dogs. You can't compare other dogs with things like birds, cats, rabbits, etc. My dog is the absolute best around all dogs of any size, but if a poor, unfortunate soul that is a cat, bird, rabbit, etc gets into his reach, instant kill. Prey drive is different than aggression so it's not like a dog who hunts will hunt another dog.
If they were OK when younger(more curious stage) and are now older and taking action, that's normal. Koda use to just try to sniff cats and see what their story was. Not he tries to kill them brutally.. lol.

My wife was actually present on one of the last kills, some cat got inside, Diego chased him and Nando just cutted his retreat. Amazing how they work together like that to do something evil lol. All of this in under 30 seconds too before she can even try to stop it. Ty again everyone.

Delilah is surpringly wonderful with cats, but they were here first. She will bolt after strays, squirrels and well anything she is excited about, but she does really well with her feline brothers who rule our household.

It isn't evil its instinct let em rip.

I agree with everyone . . . Huskies have a very strong prey drive. Shylo is excellent with all dogs and even with our cat but get him out in the wild at my parents place in Wyoming . . . with 8 acres of wild land to roam and look out. He brings back deer bones with skin still hanging on and killed 3 ground squirrels a year ago. When I found them they were all lined up in a row, not mangled but just wet. In Shylo's mind, live toys. Freaked me out at first but then realized, its instinct. Now I supervise him better at my parents place so he stays out of trouble. Oh well, I guess he becomes his inner wolf in Wyoming.

i just agree with everything, they will not stop hunting and you know that even with supervision they move so fast its hard to stop. what ever gets into our back yard does not make it back out. not evil just animal behavior. i think for my 2 it goes cats, squirrels, birds in rank of what they go after. they have not been exposed to many others. Even at a friends house that has indoor cats my 2 are on the look out with them around and we do our best to keep them separated, as well as keep them from their little dog. after 3 yrs of hiking and hanging out Sierra STILL thinks the little one is food! i would have thought by now she would get better with at least the small dog but her pray drive is so strong. so it makes it hard for me to really think i can teach it out of her unless we were exposed to it everyday. im not sure if any of this is what you wanted to hear but its the truth.