Ditto on the greyhound experience. My parents had one years ago who was the sweetest, nicest dog. Unless you were small and furry.
Huntertwo cats don’t bother our livestock but they kill the baby chicks, ducklings, goslings, and Turkey Poults we raise. Right now we have over 500 of them and cats are a constant threat until their big enough. We don’t raise them for the cats to eat we raise them for us to eat and sell. We shoot the cats that go after them same as any other animal. Around here everyone protects their livestock and poultry I have no idea about if you do or not thats your business.
simply kim,
It is true that dogs with high prey drive may chase people or small kids while running, but I’ve known many dogs who would definitely kill a cat, but had no problems with small kids. It depends on the dog. For the most part, though, prey drive doesn’t transfer to other types of snappishness or aggression.
Obviously, if you take a dog onto someone else’s property, you have to make sure it isn’t going to kill their cat. Killing stray or other cats on your own property is a different matter. It can be upsetting, certainly, but if you want to protect your pet from attacks from other animals it is best to keep it on your own property (and for cats, that often means inside).
Eventually, a shock collar might be useful to stop the cat in the act of chasing, but I would wait until I’d done a lot of obedience (that way, you can call the dog off the cat, and then shock the dog for not obeying the command that you know she knows).
We have two greyhounds. The trouble with them is they are fast enough to catch a cat.
Whether ours would kill a cat, I don’t know; I think with them they would not as neither has that glassy-eyed prey drive stare. However, we did take each one when it arrived into our small office with our barn kitty where she could jump to safety. We held the grey on a leash and told them “No” and a jerk on the leash when they looked at the cat. Seems they have a truce. But Miss Muffett lives in the barn and is safe in the hay and there is no real desire on the dogs’ part to go hunting for her. We have rabbits here and the greys chase them, but so far they always get away, and the chase seems just that, a chase without aggression. NOT SURE THOUGH!! We never encourage them to chase anything.
Dog wanting to kill cats
I also have adopted a dog that was living by eating what it could catch. Cats look and run a lot like squirrels so I have been unsuccesful in making him think cats are not going to taste just like chicken even though he is never hungry and lives in the house with us. He is not aggressive towards any other animals or people. When I bring him with me to other barns I keep him on lease or tied. I do not want to take a chance of him snapping the neck of someones cute kitty, he is really really fast.Very smart dog and we love him so no cats on our farm.
I know that stare very well. My rottxmali gets completely entranced by cats, small furry wildlife, and small dogs if they exude any fear. Statue still, tail vertical, ears forward, unbreakable focus. The only part of her that moves is her mouth. She licks and starts the anxiety drool. Reminds me of salivating over dinner. She’s never caught one yet, but I’ve no doubt that she’d kill it if she did. Naturally, I don’t keep a cat.
And on the other hand, she lazily snoozed there on our patio not 10 yards from my garden patch, which is in her yard, and watched the deer eat my beans. Worthless mutt! Damn buck came back into the yard while I was giving her an exasperated “What good are you?!?! Garden - good! Bambi - bad!” speech. So I chased it. And she chased me. But chase the deer? No such luck. 
[QUOTE=Go Fish;4034432]
Any of my dogs go after a cat with intent to kill is one dead dog…
That being said, I have a 27-pound cat that can cure any cat-killing dog immediately.[/QUOTE]
Can I send you my lab cross cross that tried to get my friends cat last time they baby sat our girls? She is great, except she really likes to chase cats (well and squirrels but I dont mind the squirrels since they eat my bird seed and they are a dime a dozen).
[QUOTE=horsey nurse;4039400]
Can I send you my lab cross cross that tried to get my friends cat last time they baby sat our girls? She is great, except she really likes to chase cats (well and squirrels but I dont mind the squirrels since they eat my bird seed and they are a dime a dozen).[/QUOTE]
How much $$$ do you have in savings for vet bills? :lol:
My GSD was raised around indoor and outdoor cats, but his prey drive took over once he was mature/territorial and he is fine when in the house around my cats, but outside he would kill them. I don’t think I would ever trust that prey drive not taking over despite training efforts. It’s hardwired in and it’s what they are. I’ve had other GSD’s that were ok with my cats outside, but they were female, so maybe that’s the difference. The best course of action is not to take the risks of your new dog around cats. It’s like trying to tame a wild creature – at some point they will not be your pet.
JMHO
PennyG
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;4037401]
We have two greyhounds. The trouble with them is they are fast enough to catch a cat.[/QUOTE]
Heck, my beagle’s fast enough to catch a cat. :winkgrin:
I don’t trust him around any small furry animal (he’s great with kids though). If an animal runs, he chases it with a vengence. He becomes particularly infuriated over cats. I don’t want to find out if he’d kill one. My guess is yes, he would.
I have several parrots. Thank god he’s petrified of birds (for some unknown reason). I will never own another hunting breed of dog. Their whole brain seems to be devoted to sniffing and chasing. 
My dog is cat agressive but only on the chase. Once the cat is cornered she wants to play but I don’t let it get that far. I really correct her and make sure she is contained when there are cats around.
[QUOTE=In_;4033907]
When she did meet a brave cat face to face, she seemed to want to play - pouncing up and down. When she sniffed too close, the cat gave her a good swipe and she did not even blink or move away - right back again! (Very brave but very dumb cat) [/QUOTE]
It does not sound like a dog that wants to kill cats, but play or herd. My German Shepherd had a huge herding drive and would chase our cat every time she knew it moved. I had the cat first and the cat had a cute bell on his collar. The bell had to come off when the dog came because every time the cat even shifted its weight, the dog would perk up and want to play/chase. The dog liked to play the ‘catch the cat in midair’ game when the cat jumped from the dining room table to the fridge where his food was kept (only place I could find where the dog could not get to it). I used to pick him up and put him on the fridge to eat.
The dog also liked to play the ‘circus’ game…she would put her entire mouth around the cat’s head, but never bit down or acted vicious. Cat did not approve.
Cat used to play the ‘you like the bathroom game’. The bathroom door swung naturally towards the closed position (crooked apartment). The cat would allow himself to be chased into the bathroom, run behind the toilet, paw open the door and out. Dog would jump on the door and close it firmly. I used to come home to the dog in the bathroom. I actually left for work one day, got to my car, forgot something, went back upstairs to find cat sprawled across the floor and dog already firmly locked in the bathroom.
This activity was compounded by an ex-fiance that would undo any training I tried to put into the dog.
If your dog was going to attack a cat, she would have attacked the one that swatted her. She did not, I do not see a danger, other than possibly to your furniture and house while the kids are playing games.
The best way to train the dog out of this activity is the same way you train a dog off horses or other herding behavior - it requires a lot of attention to the dog and a leash both indoors and outdoors.
Prey drive is instinctual, you won’t train it out of her completely but you can manage it somewhat by training her not to focus, not to obsess, not to go after cats, that means always on a leash and within reach of making a correction at the second she needs it. Don’t allow her to stare at the cat, ever, instant correction if she does and a correction that lasts until she changes her mind.
Keep your dog muzzled and keep it at home.
I swear, I don’t know what people are thinking when they want to bring their dogs to every barn they visit. or to a horse show. I have dogs; I don’t want any others. Yes, I know my acreage is very appealing to city-dog mommies who want their darlings to have room to run, but tough titty. My own dogs don’t have the run of the place, so why should I let yours? Puts me in mind of people who think their kids are welcome anywhere, by anyone, and won’t be put off by, “Don’t bring your spawn onto my property” or any other subtle hints that the fruit of their loins isn’t adored by everyone on the planet. :rolleyes:
Ok, that is hilarious!!! At least the dog wouldn’t die of thirst stuck in the bathroom. :lol:
Well, I can tell you what worked for me when we acquired our JRT 12 years ago. We had, let me think, 3 cats at the time (moved here with 5, coyotes had at that point gotten 2). We knew there’d be a cat issue, because our little pup’s Dad’s day job was killing the feral cats that tried to move into the feed store (plus, of course, the mice and rats).
When we brought him home, and he could fit pretty much in the palm of your hand, we introduced him to Spook, our gorgeous 16 lb black cat. Spook was sitting in the family room. Little Sparky’s thought balloon said ‘ooh, cat, I think I’m supposed to kill that,’ and he made a mad rush toward Spook, who, without budging from his regal sitting pose, simply reached out and raked little Sparky’s nose. Sparky jumped back about oh, 4 or 5 feet, screamed mightily, collected himself, thought some more, and made another mad rush at Spook. Again, a rake on the nose. After the second round of screaming stopped, Sparky processed the lesson not to mess with cats (though he did always have a little tendency to saunter up behind everybody but Spook and give just a little hint of a chew to a hock).
Redux
Not the OP, but have the same issue- kind of.
I have 3 house cats, 2 barn cats. I have 3 house dogs- all of the above are rescues. I got the JRT and the mixed breed last November- not sure what she is…
Everyone has gotten along okay- not great, but okay until last night. I am not sure what happened, but I woke up to the dogs going nuts- we have invisible fence, so we just let them out whenever. The house cats are indoor/outdoor, and come and go as they please. I called them in, and then one of the older cats came in right after they did, kind of upset, but not terrible.
I guess after I left to work, my husband got in the shower after letting them out. WHen he got out of the shower he heard barking that sounded “bad” and found them cornering our youngest cat- about 2 years old- under the house. She had gone out at about 1 in the morning. (I had warned him about the cat being out and that the dogs were chasing Rocky last night, so be careful, but he says that he did not hear me…) I called after class to check in and he told me what he had found, and that she had walked when he carried her inside- she was laying down and panting when he got to her. He left for work (really???) so I ran home to check on her. It had been about 2 hrs…
She is at the vet right now, on fluids, but it does not look good.
I am irrationally angry. I am past being angry, and am actually scared that I might hurt them. (I wouldn’t, but boy, it sure has crossed my mind). The shock collar is charging, and I have visions of shocking them if they even LOOK at our cats. The cats were here before we adopted the two dogs in November- and chasing/killing cats falls into the NOT OKAY category for me. They were from the humane society, and approved with cats, FWIW.
I asked the vet if she thought they could be trained out of it, and she just shook her head. I think if they can’t, I have a simple answer. It’s a very sad answer, but killing/chasing the cats is NOT okay. I can’t stop crying, because it’s such a lose/lose situation. We live on a large farm so the animals can be safe in running around. It’s kind of strange, but if the fox or coyote got them, I could actually be okay with it (If they killed it outright…). Our pets killing our pets? Not so okay with it.
This may be more of a telling of a story then anything, but if anyone has any stories to share of ways I might be able to train them out of it, I would really appreciate them.
I believe you can train any dog to not-chase/kill cats when you are present to give them commands, but some dogs just should never be allowed to be around cats unsupervised. Also a lot of dogs might be ok with a cat in the house, but let one run outside and the dog’s instincts might be triggered. And I don’t see any correlation between prey drive and other forms of biting-type behaviors. Prey drive has nothing to do with aggression. Many of the dogs with the highest prey drive are those dogs that are the least likely to ever bite a human.
I’ll be honest- I encourage it at home, I hate all of my neighbors cats and would be very happy if they never set foot in my yard again. I prefer not to have catshit all over my vegetable garden and I had to take my bird feeders down because they killed so many birds. And they fight at 1am.
and this is why I know- I also encourage my dogs to chase and kill if possible trespassing cats. Can’t stand them. Keep your cat on your own property. So my cat- and marmot- killing great dane is a big sweet cuddlebug with anything not small and furry. Not an aggressive bone in his body.
[QUOTE=Huntertwo;4034695]
Wow - what a man you must be… :no:
County, instead of blaming the cats, blame the irresponsible owners who don’t spay and neuter! The dimwit owners are the ones responsible for the pet over population.
Why take it out on the cat who had no choice being born into a lousy situation?[/QUOTE]
Sounds like the dog is trying to help solve this problem.
[QUOTE=annikak;4121042]
Not the OP, but have the same issue- kind of.
I have 3 house cats, 2 barn cats. I have 3 house dogs- all of the above are rescues. I got the JRT and the mixed breed last November- not sure what she is…
Everyone has gotten along okay- not great, but okay until last night. I am not sure what happened, but I woke up to the dogs going nuts- we have invisible fence, so we just let them out whenever. The house cats are indoor/outdoor, and come and go as they please. I called them in, and then one of the older cats came in right after they did, kind of upset, but not terrible.
I guess after I left to work, my husband got in the shower after letting them out. WHen he got out of the shower he heard barking that sounded “bad” and found them cornering our youngest cat- about 2 years old- under the house. She had gone out at about 1 in the morning. (I had warned him about the cat being out and that the dogs were chasing Rocky last night, so be careful, but he says that he did not hear me…) I called after class to check in and he told me what he had found, and that she had walked when he carried her inside- she was laying down and panting when he got to her. He left for work (really???) so I ran home to check on her. It had been about 2 hrs…
She is at the vet right now, on fluids, but it does not look good.
I am irrationally angry. I am past being angry, and am actually scared that I might hurt them. (I wouldn’t, but boy, it sure has crossed my mind). The shock collar is charging, and I have visions of shocking them if they even LOOK at our cats. The cats were here before we adopted the two dogs in November- and chasing/killing cats falls into the NOT OKAY category for me. They were from the humane society, and approved with cats, FWIW.
I asked the vet if she thought they could be trained out of it, and she just shook her head. I think if they can’t, I have a simple answer. It’s a very sad answer, but killing/chasing the cats is NOT okay. I can’t stop crying, because it’s such a lose/lose situation. We live on a large farm so the animals can be safe in running around. It’s kind of strange, but if the fox or coyote got them, I could actually be okay with it (If they killed it outright…). Our pets killing our pets? Not so okay with it.
This may be more of a telling of a story then anything, but if anyone has any stories to share of ways I might be able to train them out of it, I would really appreciate them.[/QUOTE]
Shock collars on husbands is pretty severe!
