[malluver1005]

I would like my mal to be off leash in safe areas. The problem is, he has an incredibly high prey drive. He's fine on walks, except when he sees a rabbit or cat. He has tunnel vision and listens to no one. Not even the trainers. He's very food motivated but that doesn't even work. I put the treat right in front of his face, but he doesn't even see it. A long time ago, when he was about to turn 1 year, I took him to my dad's ranch in Reno. He has lots of animals there. Goats, sheep, cattle, horses. Aspen was off leash at the time and I didn't think he would be a problem to the animals because he was still a puppy. He took off after one of the small goats! He chased it for about 2 minutes. He would have killed it if it weren't for my dad shooting his rifle in the air. He looked like what a lion or wolf looks like when chasing their prey. Aspen's eyes were completely black and totally fixed on the goat. He didn't listen to anyone. This is how he is when he sees a cat or rabbit or something small. He has no problem with small dogs. I have read that mals have a higher prey drive than huskies. Don't know if it's true though. Any suggestions or tips?

 

[DaneMama]

Some dogs are just not meant to be off leash. You have to have something that is FAR more interesting than whatever he is going after. Treats wont always make the cut for this, especially if he is not treat motivated.

We have had such an easy time with Shiloh, wolf dog, being off leash. She used to just run and run and run, but now she sticks with the pack. We went camping in the backwoods of CO and she stayed close the entire time. We can trust her off leash now. But we didn't train her to do this, maybe a little while working on "come" but not staying close. She learned that one on her own. I think its because she wanted to stay with her family.

 

[malluver1005]

Some dogs are just not meant to be off leash. You have to have something that is FAR more interesting than whatever he is going after. Treats wont always make the cut for this, especially if he is not treat motivated.

We have had such an easy time with Shiloh, wolf dog, being off leash. She used to just run and run and run, but now she sticks with the pack. We went camping in the backwoods of CO and she stayed close the entire time. We can trust her off leash now. But we didn't train her to do this, maybe a little while working on "come" but not staying close. She learned that one on her own. I think its because she wanted to stay with her family.

Aspen will run a little ahead of us, and then come back. The problem comes when he sees a small animal...What wolf is Shiloh and how much of it does she have?

 

[DaneMama]

Shiloh we don't honestly know what her %age is, but high enough that she looks and acts differently than most other dogs we come across. Her mom was a husky mix and her dad was a Timberwolf. We are very lucky with her. She has serious separation anxiety, an escape artist, but she is 100% love. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body.

She is also very prey motivated. She has caught several rabbits when we take her places. We obviously don't care about her eating them, we are just surprised at how agile she is to be able to catch one.

I would say that if he has good recall, and just goes for small animals...just avoid taking him off leash in places where you would get in huge trouble for you dog killing one. Like don't take him to a ranch...but take him to an off leash open space, where there are wild animals instead.

There is a reason why he is prey motivated. Its in his instinct to hunt and its not going to hurt him to catch, kill and eat the animals he hunts. As long as he doesn't get in over his head and try and take out a bull Elk LOL which in that case he would probably get scared in doing so.

Our dogs have had plenty of opportunities to go after deer and elk and they don't. I think that they are scared of them LOL. They wont even bother cows.

 

[malluver1005]

If my dad wasn't there, I would have let Aspen catch that goat. Fresh meat!! Aspen's not dumb. He won't go after large animals. He didn't even go near the larger goats or cattle or sheep. He chose the smaller, weaker one. Heck, he kills opposums everyday in our backyard and I don't have a problem with it. I think I'll keep taking him to the ranch, but I'll make sure he's the only animal there. Now, I think he could catch and kill a small goat because he's bigger, leaner, and a lot faster and stronger. :wink:

 

[LabbieMama]

I used to have a female Greyhound with a very high prey drive. I never allowed her to run off-leash except in a securely fenced area. If I did, she would have ran fast and far for many miles then become disoriented and lost.

Every morning I take my 3 dogs out for a run in the woods. They run far and fast, exploring, chasing squirrels, chipmunks, etc. Once my spaniel mix caught and killed a chipmunk then buried it. They keep an eye on me to make sure I'm not abandoning them, and when they get out of sight, I blow a loud whistle and they come running to me.

 

[whiteleo]

When I was growing up at the mountain, my father was an avid hunter, Wyoming for antelope, Alaska for Moose and Caribou. While in Alaska he found and bought and had shipped home a 3/4 malmute and 1/4 wolf female. She was a great dog, "Chimo" had a couple litter of puppys that she dug a den 3-4 feet in the ground to have.

She use to go to work with my dad almost everyday, killing rabbits and field mice. When my dad started to slow his work down she reverted to killing the neighbors chickens, ducks, etc.
These dogs need to be busy, lots of exercise, much more than most other dogs.

If I were you I find a abandoned logging road or something close and run your dog as much as you can. Good Luck!

 

[malluver1005]

When I was growing up at the mountain, my father was an avid hunter, Wyoming for antelope, Alaska for Moose and Caribou. While in Alaska he found and bought and had shipped home a 3/4 malmute and 1/4 wolf female. She was a great dog, "Chimo" had a couple litter of puppys that she dug a den 3-4 feet in the ground to have.

She use to go to work with my dad almost everyday, killing rabbits and field mice. When my dad started to slow his work down she reverted to killing the neighbors chickens, ducks, etc.
These dogs need to be busy, lots of exercise, much more than most other dogs.

If I were you I find a abandoned logging road or something close and run your dog as much as you can. Good Luck!

We do run on the trails that we have close by. They aren't abandoned though and I have been looking for something like that. There's lots of bushes and stuff were we run. And lots of squirrels. I wouldn't mind him going after them, but the city would! LOL :wink:

 

[Unosmom]

I have a similar problem with my dog, his recall is only about 50 % effective, when he sees a deer or cat, he just takes off, I've been working with him for a while, but he's not food/toy/praise motivated, he's even jumped barbed wire fences and cut himself to go after the deer.
This one time we were hiking and already hiked for 5 miles and he was a bit tired, so I let him of leash to sniff around, then he saw a herd of deer and took off, he usually comes back after couple mins, but this time he didnt, so I waited and waited and waited.. started to panic, but I didnt want to leave the spot because he might lose my scent, so 20 mins later, here comes Uno, heaving, foaming at the mouth, tongue falling out completely pooped.

Of course that was the last of it, I wont be making that mistake again.

 

[rannmiller]

You might be right about the high prey drive thing in malamutes, my friend had a pet duck when he was in elementary school and his malamute went after it and killed it one day when it got bigger. Consequently, he hates malamutes now, but that's beside the point. I would say work on recall with your mal with a really long training lead until you feel more confident about your pup's recall. Then maybe you could try to introduce other animals as a distraction very slowly. Also, as was previously suggested, go to a fenced-in place and/or one with no cats or other animals people would kill about Aspen going after.

 

[malluver1005]

You might be right about the high prey drive thing in malamutes, my friend had a pet duck when he was in elementary school and his malamute went after it and killed it one day when it got bigger. Consequently, he hates malamutes now, but that's beside the point. I would say work on recall with your mal with a really long training lead until you feel more confident about your pup's recall. Then maybe you could try to introduce other animals as a distraction very slowly. Also, as was previously suggested, go to a fenced-in place and/or one with no cats or other animals people would kill about Aspen going after.

I am so sorry for your friend and what happened. In my opinion, malamutes and ducks don't mix. Or any other wild animal. Maybe if they grew up together it might work, but I still wouldn't have a duck and malamute in the same house. Again, just what I think. Where the mal and duck raised together...?