My coworker has a very high prey-drive pit bull who attacks other dogs with no warning. She has spent many months now taking her out on leash with a cage muzzle and introducing her, and has found her own ways to break through the dog's drive. I know how hard it is to reach a dog when they are in drive. I remember how badly Visa would scream and bite at me and grab my clothes if I tried to restrain her and make her calm down when we first started agility -- she would see the other dogs run, and if they were fast enough she would go into drive, and it's almost impossible to get into their head -- they don't see or hear anything but what they want to go after or what they wnt to do, and holding them back only sends them into a frenzy. I had to develop my own techniques to deal with a highly driven dog bred for the prey drive to do protection sports, and I think you can develop your own techniques for Tikeya and her prey drive to catch small prey.![]()
I wouldn't use a cage muzzle with her, I would use a tight muzzle every time you introduce. I found this very helpful with my dogs when they go into drive. When dogs hear themselves screaming or barking, they tend to make themselves more excited (and I know how vocal Tikeya is LOL) and soon your voice is just a mere echo in the far off distance to them. They just go into a frenzy. The less they hear themselves, the better.
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