love an animal that killed an animal that you loved??? Yesterday my daughter (who is 10) and I went to the city and when we came home my husband saw that our two doxies (Daisy Mae and Baily) had killed her cockatiel, Trusty. My daughter and I stayed outside as he cleaned the mess. He saw things that I just couldn't image. My husband thinks it was Daisy (I don't know what he saw and he won't tell me) and now he will no longer pet her or look at her (and he used to always play with her). We always left Trusty out and let him fly in her room for the past 5 years (he was her first pet) - well yesterday he must have decided to fly out of her room and the dogs got ahold of him. As I am writing this I am crying silently. I feel as though I have let my daughter down and can not understand what went wrong!! My daughter is trying real hard to just get over this and I am just so sad!! I can't help but look at the dogs differently (though I don't want to)!!! And my daughter now looks at them differently too (she says they are no longer innocent). There is just a horrible air in my house right now - it's just so sad and uncertain!!
If anyone has any advise or knows of anywhere I can turn to for advise I would really appreciate it. I love our dogs, and hate to think of what our future is with them if we can't get over this......
Stacey
This is tough, I know, but here is my 2 cents.....for what it's worth.
While it is tragic that Trusty got attacked and killed, you realistically need to look at the breed you have as your pets. They were BRED to be hunters. They undoubtibly thought that when Trusty flew into their "territory" that he was free game and took advantage. Dachsies are wired that way. They really didn't mean any personal spite against you or your family or Trusty. They simply did what came natural to them. While it's sad that this happened, it would be so unfair for the daschsies to now be treated like they were unloved and unwanted and bad and evil. Remember, they are NOT human. They are dogs and they did what dogs do. They also don't hold a memory. To them, the incident is forgotten and now they're stressed because they can't understand why the people who brought them into their home, to love them foreve,r are treating them like they are unloved. I know this may sound harsh but please.....please....don't let this affect your future with your dogs, and if you think it will, then PLEASE, see to it that they are provided with a loving home, even if it's not yours. It could be truly damaging to them if you find you can no longer accept them and yet still have them in your family. What a tragedy that would be. I believe you and your family to be loving dachsie parents and I know you will do the right thing. While you are hurting right now, please do not pass that hurt onto the pups.
That is so true that they are hunters. Many years ago one of our longhair standards killed my daughter's hamster that had escaped from its cage. We buried it in the flower bed and I wrote a note to her teacher explaining why she might be upset in school that day. She helped bury the pet and the dog was never punished for being a dog. Children get over things easier than adults sometimes if adults will back off and let them. The child should have a chance to bury something that reminds her of the bird.
Amanda Hodges
Stacey,
You just have to do the best you can to reaffirm in your mind what you already know. Dachshunds were bred to hunt, as many breeds were bred to do. Your dachshunds cannot not understand that you loved this bird, and therefore treat it differently than any other small prey they might encounter in their home or yard.
My dogs are hunters too. Many birds, several moles, a rabbit and a squirrel have been killed by my dogs (mostly Gwen) and Gwen also injured an opossum just this week. In a dogs mind, it is no different to kill a pet cockatiel than to kill a wild bird in the yard. It is just their instinct to do that.
I know you know these things, and that if you try, you will be able to get past this.
May I also suggest that if you ever get another bird, that you only let it out of a cage, when you are there in the room with it, and the dachshunds cannot enter the area. Also, shut the door to the room where the bird is, when you are gone, even though it is caged.
Stacey,
When I was a teenager, my brother had a cockatiel named Joe. It was the coolest bird and could even whistle Dixie. Normally when he was in his room it was out of the cage, but when he left, he would lock it up. One day we were eating dinner and we heard this horrible sound from my brother's room. He not only forgot to lock it up, but did not shut his door all the way. My dad ran back there and found Benny, our Shih Tzu was in my brother's room, "playing" with Joe. Needless to say Joe did not make it out alive. My brother was upset, but we all knew that dogs are dogs. We did not treat Benny any different, well, I think it was 2 or 3 days before my brother would pet him again. A week later, my parents got my brother a new cockatiel, a hand fed baby that he named Willey and all was forgiven. My brother made sure that the bird was never left out and even taught this one to whistle Dixie too. It is hard to get over, but you love your dogs and know that they are little hunters. I think a few more kisses from your babies, will help some too!
Stacy, while my heart goes out to you and your family, the fact of life is a dachshund was bred to hunt and to kill their prey! I too have a 10 year old daughter and recently George and Grace were able to reach out and pull down a nest of baby birds, from our pool decking! They shook 2 of the babies to death and injured the momma bird! We managed to save the other 2 babies and momma. Bird rescue picked them up and we are told they are doing well! My daughter got mad at the dachshunds too! I had to sit her down and explain that these dogs were bred to be fearless hunters and they didn't do anything mean, they did what they were bred to do! They brought in their catch and were proud to have gotten them! They expected praise for their suscessful hunt!
I explained to her that what they did was just mother nature at work and sometimes it is hard to accept, but it wasn't the dogs fault. We buried the baby birds, out of the yard, cause dachshunds would have dug them up, and policed the yard to make sure no other birds were in the "danger" zone. Then she sat and talked to the dogs and hugged them and she understood. Now I know it wasn't a yard bird for you and your family, it was a beloved pet, making it harder.
But at the risk of sounding hard here, if you've read anything about dachshunds and any hunting dog, these guys were bred to be deadly hunters, as cute as they are! When buying pets, some research should be done on what animals can live together or not. It is our responsibility as parents and dog owners to make sure that other small caged animals in our homes are safe from the dogs bred to hunt them. Knowing these dogs hunt and are fully capable of killing birds and things, it is up to us to keep the birds etc. out of their reach, or not have animals in the home, with animals bred to hunt them!
I have 2 chinchilla's caged here. My dachshunds sit next to their cage and sometimes stalk them, sometimes seem to play through the cage with them. I know full well, should the dogs or cat for that matter be given the chance, they would hunt them down and kill them! So when we are not home, part of our routine is to move the locked cage to high ground, and we never allow them to be out of their cage anywhere near the dogs, even if we are right there with them. When cleaning the cage or playing with the chinchilla's, we put the dogs in a bedroom or lock them outside the dog door! Leaving a small animal or bird, loose in the house with dachshunds is an invatation for what happened, even if they are usually ok with the small animal in our presense! It is a disaster waiting to happen!
This wasn't the dogs fault, it was a mistake on the parents, that ended tragically!
Please learn from this, go hug your dogs! They did what they were bred to do! I am so sorry to sound harsh or uncaring, but this wasn't the dogs fault. They are feeling unloved and stressed and do not understand why! Sometimes life is harsh, kids understand more than you think, don't show your anger at the dogs to your child. This was a parents mistake, the dogs are hunters, the bird should not have been left alone with the dogs outside the cage. Don't beat up yourself or the dogs. It was a mistake on humans fault, love the dogs, if you can't love them find someone who will, they did what they were supposed to do! It is up to the human's to keep them apart or not have animals in the same house that will hunt and kill each other!
This was human error, don't punish the dogs, they were being dogs! You seem so nice and loving, please accept that this was human error, love the dogs and love the kid. Love will get you past this!
One of my past doxies got a hold of a parakeet one time. It was my fault for not securing the bird in her cage when I stepped out for a while. Dogs, no matter how sweet and loving they are to us, are still animals with animal instincts. Doxies are hounds.....hunters. Please don't punish your doxies for killing the bird. The door to your daughters room should have been shut if the bird was free to fly around, for his own safety. What happened is a harsh learning experience but you shouldn't blame your dogs. Shunning your dogs won't fix this, in fact, your dogs are probably wondering why you guys aren't loving on them anymore. I'm sure they are confused, they did not kill the bird to punish you guys, they just did what came naturally to them. Dogs and small animals should not be allowed to play together.
I am truly sorry for this tragedy. Let your daughter do something special for her bird, like plant a flowering bush or a tree in his memory. It will help heal her heart. And encourage her to forgive the doxies and shower the love she had for Trusty on them. Although what happened is horrible, you and your husband should not "feed" it if you want to help your daughter. And if you cannot forgive your dogs, please find them a home where they will be loved. This was not their fault.