Pet Information > ASK Experts > Dogs > Dogs > Attacking puppies

Attacking puppies

19 11:44:37

Question
Hello Kristin,

My boyfrriend and I are encountering a serious problem with our Siberian Husky "Lightning" who we adopted from the SPCA 3 months ago.  He will randomly attack puppies up to it seems 5 months of age, without warning. So far he has viciously attacked two golden retriever pups (one of which was almost an adolescent) in 3 months,just last night, on Lightning's 2nd birthday it required 2 grown men to remove him from a pup. The pups were okay, no stitches required, but it also has my boyfriend and I scared that he will be the same with children. Its very heartbreaking, because we love Lightning, in all other ways he's the perfect dog, but we don't know if we can keep him after this incident last night.  He was brought over from Shanghai at the age of 1 and was given up shortly after, possibly because of this problem.  When he attacks these pups, it seems to be for no reason, it's just a very instinctual and ruthless attack. He is good with all other dogs. The lady with the pup last night did mention that this was the 2nd time that week her dog was attacked, but that doesn't make me feel any better about the situation. Any help would be appreciated, we are at a loss as to what to do.
P.S. We are starting to be concerned he might not be a purebred siberian, but perhaps a wolf-hybrid as everyone says siberians are always friendly.

Answer
No need to worry-Siberians are actualy known for being animal aggressive,and I knew of one that killed a couple of cats,they have a a VERY high prey drive though,and are also known to kill sheep if let lose

Now what you can do,is muzzle him and let him play with some puppies,so that he knows they won't hurt him,but at the same time he can't hurt them-and have him play in the puppies yard or else were but not in his own yard,as that will make him defensive