Max loves to run more than any dog I've ever heard of. He bowls me right over whenever I go to open the door, and takes off like a bat out of Hell. He'll break screen windows out, just to go out and run. I thought moving to the country would be a good thing - he was one of the biggest reasons I bought this farm. I thought that, when he broke loose, I wouldn't have neighbors to contend with. I thought I could let him run and that would help to get rid of his excess energy.
I have "seen the light," now, and I don't want him running free at all, even in the yard.
Now, he's like a dog on cocaine or something. He's completely unpredictable and the energy has most certainly not decreased. He stays on our property, for the most part, but he'll chase an animal until he catches it.
His prey drive has absolutely skyrocketed, and he will chase anything that moves. He has actually opened my chicken coop (very difficult feat - smart dog). He kills just to kill, not to eat. He just picks the chickens up off their perches by their heads and breaks their necks, then goes on to the next chicken - doesn't even draw blood. He then piles them up.
I do my very best to keep him contained, but about once every 1-2 weeks, now, he bowls somebody over and gets out the door.
I know it's my fault for letting him run when I did. He got a taste of it and thinks it's his right now.
He used to be so sweet and gentle - I trusted him around children and little kittens (supervised). Now I wouldn't let him near a small child, for fear that he'd think the child was prey.
The neighbors (life estate people in trailer on our property) have small grandchildren who come over and jump on their trampoline occasionally. I'm scared to death that Max will get loose again and think those kids are prey.
Max can jump very high fences. A nine-foot fence surrounding my house is absolutely out of the question right now, as I am in the middle of a divorce and basically broke.
Do any of you have any training suggestions? I'm keeping the windows closed so he can't bust out screens, and I've got the kids trained to open the door in such a way as to not let him out, but I'm afraid a visitor will accidentally let him out (we only have visitors about once a month).
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