Need advice about my GSD - Page 2

Enough of this nonsense, for the OP this scenario is no fun right now, I really think LadyFrost is spot on.

When I was a kid my grandmother kept multiple German Shepherds, geese, ducks, chickens and rabbits on her agriculturally zoned suburban property.  Geese, ducks, chickens and rabbits also died, here and there, at the jaws of the various GSD's she had over the years.  It certainly was a cruel way for them to die, BUT my grandmother kept them to EAT and made that notion very clear to the family, so the GSD's getting to them first wasn't the end of the world (food animals were caged at night).  They were not pets and all the kids were constantly told to not bother thinking of them in that way because they would eventually become a meal we might have to eat.

I do agree with all of the above comments, but I will note, your dog was much too old to be introduced to a small goat as a part-time, unsupervised, companion.  The only way this experiment could have even remotely had a chance of working, was if the dog and the goat had been put together and introduced at a significantly younger age together.  Or at the very least having introduced the GSD to goats at a very young age previously.

Then there are the various "taste of blood" wives tales.  I can't say I've decided on this one either way, but someone is bound to say it to you, either in person or here on the forum.  Our family kept all the dogs that killed livestock because we didn't make a living from the livestock, the dogs were thought of as guard/deterrent dogs first.

BTW, I've had some GSD's passed on to me, due to racking up a high tally of cat deaths as well.  We don't keep cats or livestock, so they have finished out their lives with me, not causing any further carnage on unsuspecting domestics.

OP, disregard what I will say, they are only thoughts that need answers from same above posters and not meant for you yourself

GSD lives in a pack, its pack in this case are the owners and other pets on property. GSd is loyal, does not and should not attack and kill one of its own pack. If that dog was capable of killing a pet it is capable of killing a baby too. That dog has a problem and should not be kept at all, it should not also be given to others where he could do the same to one of its own pack. I don't know what should be done to this dog but in no way it should be allowed to repeat what it did. These are thoughts and not an advice to OP, I am only wondering.

This talk about the dog is being a dog makes no sense at all, you are talking about a loyal dog not a wolf in the woods, you are talking about a memberr of family/pack not a tiger in the wild ! That dog is a danger to live near to human.

Sorry I had to say it this way.

 

Ibrahim

Ibrahim, what you seem to be describing is a dog devoid of prey drive. Even boarder collies need to have their drive to take down livestock stemed. The gsd has been known to be notorious horse chasers since I can ever remember, and that's a lot of years. Just because a dog, any dog, will kill an animal that is natural prey animal, does not mean it will do the same to humans...that is the same flawed mentality of too many animal control "authorities". Ibrahim, with all due respect, you have been reading too many books that have fanciful authors. In the real world, a gsd is a dog, and dogs have instincts which drive them to kill prey animals, that does not equate to killing humans....

Joanro? just to learn

What is the difference? how does a dog decide it can kill a pet but not a baby?

 

Ibrahim

A dog who cannot tell the difference between a natural prey animal- goat, horse, pig, chicken, etc. and a human, ie, top of the food chain, is a dog I would not keep. However, a dog who is never taught what is acceptable behavior and what is not is acting on instincts which ALL dogs have, and is not necessarily inherently flawed. By the OP's description, this is a well-meaning but clueless owner who has accidentally allowed this behavior. 

Humans are not natural prey to dogs, Ibrahim. Goats are. 

Are smaller breeds a prey to bigger breeds? Op says her dog had issues with smaller breeds too !!!

Smaller breeds are a trigger for some dogs. I don't care for that, myself, and will not breed dogs aggressive to small dogs (having had Chihuahuas since college), but in this case, the OP stated that both Bichons were aggressive toward the GSD first...so we don't know if that was a prey drive issue, a dog-aggression issue, or plain old self defense. Living next door to  a horrid Silky Terrier that continually attacks my dogs, I can sympathize with a GSD fighting back. Even if small dogs aren't prey for large dogs, that's still not the same as making the jump from animal aggression to killing a baby. 

The baby is a human being, the goat lived outside with the dog, unsupervised and no boundaries taught to the dog. If the goat was a pet, living in the house, and it was observed that the dog was behaving inappropriately it could have learned the goat was valued by the humans and not allowed to injure it. A baby doesn't smell like a goat, run in enticing ways and rare up to butt the dog. But Ibrahim, some people can't tell their dog "no", any better than they can tell their child no. So in some cases dogs have zero boundaries and tragedy strikes, for human babies and small animals. In the case of this dog, I have no idea if this dog has ever been taught to respect humans, adults or babies.
I have had dogs that will run down wild rabbits and when they catch them the dogs eat the rabbits. Doesn't mean the dogs are people killers, too.
Instinct to kill and eat prey animals is still present in the dog...that is what must be trained. Domestication to live with humans is what should prevail pertaining to dogs and baby humans and children.
Doesn't matter whether the dog killed a goat not, dogs should never be left unsupervised with a baby.

Per the smaller breeds, Ibrahim...remember the op said the bichon ATTACK the gsd every time the gsd goes to the grandparents house. That is enough to create a problem ,especially when nobody is in charge except the dogs.