Has anyone ever heard of this behaviour?
 

I found this shocking ad for a yorkie on Petfinder.com. A mill dog is being accused of killing another dog. I know they were bred to hunt rodents, but could a Yorkie actually kill another dog? Even a small dog?

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/17986474


In case the link doesn't come through here is the text of the ad:

"Mary is a very sweet 5 year old Yorkie who is a tramatized mill survivor. She has some typical mill survivor behavior such as running in circles when outside of a crate. She LOVES being held and shows no aggression towards other dogs.

But there's something about Mary we need to discuss: Mary is accused of killing another dog at the mill. That being said we have observed that when she meets a new dogs her introduction to them is running full force into them but in a playful way - not aggressive. We can only assume she did this to another dog at the mill and a fight occurred. Other than being charged with Murder 1 Mary is a sweet dog who has the unfortunate black mark on her record but anyone who understands puppy mill dogs will know that this does NOT make Mary a "bad" dog. Imagine being crammed in a cage with tons of other dogs with inadequate food, water, shelter, and love. Many things happen in mills that would not of happened had the dog been cared for. "

The idea of aggression with an unspayed female is not totally out of the question. What is disturbing to me is that a dog with this type of temperament was used to breed. Millers breed to make money on puppies and do not take things like temperament into consideration. Truthfully, she was luck to end up in a rescue:(

I think the rescue stated it as well as they could. It can't be proved that Mary was the culprit, but even if she was, the circumstances have to be taken into consideration. Yorkies are bred to kill rodents, but bred to kill they are. And when you consider what even humans in the most dire of situations can be reduced to, when the survivor instinct kicks in...well, the survival urge is a drive more powerful than anything else. If you're fighting for food and water, and you know that you have a litter of pups inside you that you have to nourish as well, I would imagine that you could kill in desperation towards that end. Humans could and have. God bless this little pup that she has been rescued and given a chance at another life. The 2 rescues I have were both breeders and they have some quirks. Bridget's trigger is quicker than the others and I would imagine that it had to be to survive.... I hope she can overcome that...

Your comments about how the mill dogs have to rely on their survival instincts just to get food and water was a real eye opener for me. I've been saddened by the lack of love, socialization and medical care that they suffer, but I never thought about the day-to-day struggle for food and water that they must also go through just to survive.

We also have a former puppy mill mommy dog, and she definitely bears the physical and emotional scars of her previous life.

Though she has bonded well with my husband and me, and is a snuggle-bunny now, my husband likes to point out that our 7 lb little Tina is the only one of our animals that has ever drawn blood from either of us. They were walking past a construction site, and Tina snatched up a chicken bone she found on the ground. My husband tried1 to take it out of her mouth, and she chomped down on his thumb. He came home with his hand elevated, blood dripping down his arm. Whereas our other dogs will let us take things out of their mouths, we've learned our lesson with Miss Tina! I'd just assumed it was because she didn't realize Jim had her hand there, and that the bite was an accident. I never thought about the fact that she probably had to fight for her food before, and isn't about to let even US take anything away from her.

That must have been a shocker for you. Lucky for her you didn't let it dissuade you. Others would have made that a deal breaker and returned her. I just pictured multiple dogs in one cage and nobody checking to see who gets their share of food and so it's every dog for itself. Makes you wonder how many of those initially rescued and evaluated have to be put down and not adoptable because of their food aggression.

I believe it was Megansmomma, in her excellent sticky in the training section pointed out the reason so many rescues are 'poop eaters' is because they can't get to the food and that is what they are reduced to...our rescue Bridget has been caught doing that. She is very timid at meal time and I have to feed her up and away from everybody else. If she is eating and one of the other dogs goes anywhere near her she is gone like a shot, so clearly she was one of the have nots....A more dominant dog, pregnant or not, seriously hungry...yeah, I could see fights to the death.

Isn't it wonderful to have one of these rescued babies and watch them 'unfold' for you, even if it's a slow process...congratulations on yours...

I seem to remember a fellow yt'er posting that her yorkie had killed another yorkie at the groomers. I could be wrong.

My husband is finishing up his PhD in animal nutrition so I've been privy to some of his studies. Aggression is a common behavior associated with overcrowding and has even been observed in humans. The fight for resources whether it's food, place to sleep or even space often comes down to who's willing to fight for it. Sad that someone would do this to such a naturally loving breed.