Training
Hi friends,
I’m so sorry if this this incredibly long-winded. I have had a lot of issues with one of my shibas. Today he killed a young bird that was learning how to fly in our backyard. I know that this is just his prey drive kicking in, but I have had a lot of frustrations with this pup. For context, we have two shibas- my partner has had them since they were puppies. One is kind of laissez-faire and \*typically\* doesn’t have much of a prey drive, especially as he’s gotten older. He’s also special needs but he’s an overall very sweet and good boy.
The other one is 5 years old and he is just an absolute punk. Before my partner and I moved in together, I told him that I needed this dog to be trained because he can be a butt to other dogs, and my senior pup was entering the picture. My partner did all but like two training sessions and did no more (this is not great and I’ve communicated my frustrations, but there’s not really anything he can do about this now because he works quite a bit) but I feel like I’m left with this situation where I have to deal with a dog that has no listening abilities. This baby was also very antagonistic to my senior dog, which was incredibly frustrating. My journey to loving shibas has been very turbulent because I have never been around such independent and stubborn dogs in my life- but I promise that I do love them deeply 😫 With my partner’s work schedule, he is gone half of the week- sometimes more. Today our punk shibe killed a baby bird and when his prey drive kicks in, he absolutely tunes me out and gets very vocal and mouthy if he feels like he’s being cornered or manhandled. I have now inherited this burden of not only being the one to care and train him, but also kind of the emotional side of things. I’m a huge wildlife lover, and this is just really heartbreaking for me. He really needs effective recall training, but I’m not sure how possible this is with a 5 year old? I do training with him every now and then, and he seems to pick up new things still and he’s incredibly smart. But it’s environmental situations where any of his training just goes completely out the door. I just don’t know what to do with a shiba that completely disregards me in these situations. I’m worried that one of these days his prey drive will put him in a dangerous situation or he will continue to harm small animals if he’s presented with an opportunity. Does anyone have advice or tips on what to do? He’s just so different from our other shibe and I just am feeling really discouraged right now. I would love to hear about your experiences with recall training and what was effective for you.
TL;DR Looking for advice for recall training a 5 year old shiba with a strong prey drive