Does anyone have any tips on stopping the prey drive in dogs? I have a Alaskan Malamute and he gets so tense when sheep are around and wont take his eyes off them. I know he wouldn't hurt them but the farmer wont look at it that way. The reason i know is because he has met some face to face. I knew someone that had hand reared some and they were really tame. All he was doing was licking there face.

__________________

If You find the secret can you please let us all know
I wouldnt take it as read that he wouldnt chase and even do worse to a herd of sheep. One of mine I rescued at 15mths was rehomed by her previous owner for that very reason, she was an escape artist in general and killed a sheep.

The way to deal with it would be to train a reliable watch me command so that they focus on you and you can try and re-direct their attention. Using a head collar too can help, as it would help to turn his head and break eye contact and focus on the sheep.Teaching the Leave and come commands should give you some success too. Although timing is very important. Will it work on a really prey driven Siberian or Malamute, you may have some level of success, will it work every single time without fail I wouldnt bank on it. one of mine was going to be promoted to an advanced obdience class before she started having seizures, and was 100% in class. take them outside with squirrels cats other wild life it can be a different ball game. Reliably teaching the commands should give you some success on lead.

Accepting That a Siberian Husky or a Malamute has a really high prey drive is part of owning one Im afraid. I certainly wouldnt have one off lead anywhere near the vacinity of any livestock, chickens, geese, sheep anything tbh.

__________________

You'll never get rid of their prey drive it's part of their heritage just as it is with Husky's. Best you can do is be aware of it and manage it. All part and parcel of owning this very special breed.
Do you have any pics?

Just to add I know someone who's Mal mauled a couple of sheep and was very nearly shot so don't under estimate him.

__________________

Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

You cannot remove the prey drive. It is an inborn instinct. All dogs have it in varying degrees. If you have a dog with a very high prey drive, your best hope is to redirect the drive onto legitimate chase targets such as balls, toys, etc. That coupled with a high level of obedience and a strong recall are the things you need to work on. I strongly recommend reading the book "Stop! How to control predatory chasing in dogs" by David Ryan.
IMO dogs should never be off lead around livestock, no matter how well trained, unless they are dogs specifically trained to work with livestock.

You could also buy the book - The Alaskan Malamute yesterday and today. - recently reprinted to give you a greater insight to the breed.

__________________

Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

I don't have a malamute, but have a Rhodesian Ridgeback with a high prey drive. If I walk him near to sheep (never, ever off lead) without distracting him he fixates on them and starts to whine and jump about. I have no doubt that he would chase them and probably do worse, yet has met one face to face as you describe - the difference being the one he met wasn't moving and wasn't making any sort of noise. A ridgie was shot and killed near where I worked last year for worrying sheep.

My strategy (although it sounds a bit barmy) is to carry a squeaker from an old murdered toy in my pocket. As soon as the fixation starts I squeak the squeaker and Kilo breaks his stare to look around and I give him a treat. I repeat the process every time he begins to stare but don't do it when he is just walking through the field (he can be fairly good when the sheep are at a certain distance or standing pretty still; as soon as they move, he gets very excited) and it works well.

Something else I have observed is that Kilo's prey drive really kicks in when 'prey' is channelled - he gets really excited and desperate to chase when sheep, a cat etc are channelled down a narrow space such as a track or footpath, yet is much less excited walking through an open field containing the same animals, which is useful to know.

ETA: I can highly recommend the book 'Chase!Managing Your Dog's Predatory Instincts' by Clarissa Von Reinhardt.

__________________

Meeting tame sheep face to face is one thing. When a sheep, or flock of them, runs and his prey drive kicks in, it's completely different.

Difficult one this. Chasing equals pleasure and the dog's brain fillls with chemcals that make that pleasure iriresistable. Think habitual pleasure and you get the picture. Once they have done any chasing it is even more difficult, because the brain has experienced those lovely chemicals that give the dog so much pleasure. To close down those pathways in the brain, needs professional guidance, a rehabilitation regime along with patience and consistency from the owner. after all that hard work, could you be 100% sure the dog will never chase again. I doubt it, but it would go a long way to helping them calm down around livestock. Helping both the dog and the owner.

Unfortunately you cannot stop prey drive. It's innate.

You can teach your dogs skills (new behaviours), which you heavily reinforce to perform in situations where he is likely to encounter prey objects (making sure he is onlead too), whilst giving him a suitable outlet to perform and fulfil his natural predatory driven behaviours (chase games etc).

Suppressing behaviour alone is always a bad route to go down.

__________________

Check out things like the Look At That game on You Tube, or in 'Control Unleashed' by Leslie McDevitt. Basically, every time your dog looks at sheep, they get a huge reward- something they find very reinforcing. Doing this extensively should make the situation much more manageable. You can say 'Look at those sheep' and the dog will know the game of looking at them, then looking back at you. It replaces the behaviour with something more interactive with you, allowing you to manage situations and calm your dog down around triggers in the environment. This method also teaches a 'Watch' command almost by default!

Predatory behaviour may be innate or instinctual, but that does not mean that it will be part of a dog's behaviour, or at least a troublesome part. Nature, genes, innateness, instinctual behaviour- whatever you want to call it- needs to be given the opportunity to develop in the brain like every other behaviour. Just because a breed has those behaviours available to it during development, doesn't mean that they will actually surface. What's more, there are many parts to predatory behaviour- not all dogs have the grab or kill bites hardwired, just like many dogs don't have the collie 'eye' or orient installed- and even dogs that do will not develop them if not given the opportunity.

I would work out exactly what your dog's behaviours are, what triggers etc., what doesn't trigger and work from there. The more chance you give her for practising these behaviours the worse it'll get- as Grandad has pointed out. Any time you are around the sheep, practise the LAT game or other focus exercises, and don't let her off lead.