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Question
Why would a female dog kill her own newborn puppies...She had 7 and has killed 4 of them.
I'm sorry to hear about this.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the dog, her past history, and her medical condition to give a clearcut answer. I DO know that in the wild, if the environmental factors are such that the survival of the pack depends on keeping the size of the group low, a female wolf will sometimes kill another female's pups, and in rare cases, even some of her own, usually those she perceives as the "weakest" in the litter.
This behavior may be triggered by certain hormones like estrogen, or the lack of others, like oxytocin (the nurturing hormone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin). For example, if there wasn't enough oxytocin released to her brain during the whelping process, she wouldn't have "bonded" emotionally with her pups in the way she would in a normal situation. Why she wouldn't have the proper amounts of this hormone in her system is anyone's guess.
I hope this helps a little. I'm sorry you had to witness this terrible event.
LCK
Related Articles
Answers by Expert:
Lee Charles Kelley
Expertise
I've been training dogs in New York City for nearly 20 years. My training approach and philosophy are based on the way police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs are trained--through the prey drive, inherited from the wolf. It's true that there's been a shift away from using the "wolf model" in dog training recently, and to some extent, there's a good reason. That's because trainers have been using the wrong model, the one that says you have to be the "alpha" or the pack leader in order to control your dog's behavior. This simply isn't true. In wild wolves there is no dominance hierarchy, no "alpha" wolf, and no pack leader (not in the traditional sense). The pack instinct only exists to enable wolves to hunt large prey by working in harmony. (Wolves who live near garbage dumps, for example, and who don't hunt together, don't form packs.) So if wolves don't have an instinct to "follow the pack leader" or "obey the alpha wolf," how could dogs have inherited it from them?
Years ago, before I became a dog trainer, I noticed that the happiest, most obedient, and best-behaved dogs I met weren't the ones who'd been to a dog trainer or behaviorist; they were the dogs whose owners always had Frisbees and tennis balls on hand. And while it might seem that my approach would only be relevant to high-drive dogs who love fetch and tug-of-war, it isn't. Even something as seemingly unrelated as a housebreaking issue or greeting behavior are often the direct result of a dog's predatory energy not having an acceptable outlet.
All behavior is an expression of energy. So when a dog's energy isn't utilized in a way that feels satisfying to his or her instincts and emotions, that's when behavioral problems develop. Giving the dog an acceptable outlet for its energy will almost always bring the dog's behavior back into alignment with its instincts
Feel free to ask me questions about any training/behavioral issue.
LCK
Experience
20 years as a dog trainer. I'm also a bestselling author, writing a series of dog-related mystery novels for Avon.
Organizations
Dog Writers Association of America
Education/Credentials
Just a natural gift I have for understanding and training dogs
Past/Present Clients
Too numerous to mention.
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