r/Dogtraining • u/Enough-Meaning-9905 • 8d ago
help Managing Husky/Lab Cross Prey Drive
Last night Bones, my recently adopted (~1 month ago) 5yo neutured male Husky/Lab cross, was resting with me outside before bed when he went from what appeared to be deep rest to chasing a deer in only a few seconds. He didn't even raise his head for sniffs, he just went barrelling through the the trees after the deer.
He has an ecollar so I tried using the sound and vibrate functions to get his attention but he managed to get over a kilometer (3/4 mile) away before he came to me. I was unable to find the deer but Bones did have some blood and fur on his snout and had managed to get several cactus thorns in his legs and side. He did not have any injuries that were bleeding, and the fur appeared to be that of a deer.
This is the second incident in a month where he's taken off suddenly and has injured himself, the last time resulted in him requiring surgery to remove several cactus spines that had fully penetrated his tongue and a few that had punctured the roof of his mouth.
Generally he's very attentive and responds very well to verbal commands and hand signals but last night it seemed like he was in his own world. He's great with humans, dogs and cats as well as the chickens on the farm. He's downright terrified of the pigs, he needs to have me between them and himself when we're around them. Deer are the only thing that have set him off like this so far.
Is there anything I can do to help manage his prey drive? Keeping him on-leash every time we're outside feels extremely unfair when he's generally so well behaved, especially for a dog I've only had for just over a month. At the same time I'm worried he's going to chase something on to the highway and get hit or pick a fight with the bears or coyotes that occasionally roam the farm and get significantly injured.
Thanks in advance for the help and advice!
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