Dog Killing Cats...

[Serenity06]

We rescued a stray about a year ago. She was stranded beside the road and getting skinnier. We finally picked her up because obviously no one was taking care of her, or looking for her. We tried to find her a home because our shelter wouldn't take her. No one was interested. She always showed interest in the chickens and cats, but then got use to the chickens. That didn't happen for the cats. It just started getting worse and in the past 3 weeks she has killed 1, caught another, and today hurt 1 so bad we had to put it down. After the first killing we started watching her very closely. We tried to find her a home again, but the few people who were interested either had small animals or small children which wouldnt work because she plays too rough. We wouldn't let her out of our sight. We kept her inside or on the screened in porch. She was only aloud out if we were out with her. She wasn't happy with this. Sometimes she would just sit and whine to go out even after being out for an hour. We were going to get her a muzzle as a precaution, and build a pen that she couldn't escape. We have 2 small ones but she climbs the fence or digs under it. Our local no kill shelter is full so they can't take her. Other shelters will just have her put down, and if she's going to be put down I want her to at least be with me, not in some strange place with people and dogs she doesn't know. If she's not happy staying inside then she definitely won't be happy in a kennel surrounded by other dogs. She's had multiple chances, and I dont know what to do now except put her to sleep before she kills all of our cats. I love her, but I also love both of the cats she killed. I don't want to lose anymore. Does anyone have any other suggestions, maybe something I haven't thought of? If not, well how should she be put down? Please don't criticize me. I feel like she's leaving me no choice...

 

[JenniferCNY]

I am sorry you are going through this. It is so kind of you to have taken in the dog when she had no one to care for her. But she is showing that she can't be around other animals.

I would put a dog down that killed one of my cats.

I hope you find peace with whatever you choose to do. Again, so sorry you have to face this.

 

[Teila]

Hey Serenity06

I too am so sorry for your loss and also that you are going through this. Kudos to you for doing all you can to care for the dog and find her a home.

If I read it right, she is not vicious with the cats, just killing them by playing too rough?

Do you know what breed she is and approximately how old? If she is still young, some training might help with the playing rough.

Any chance your remaining cats could be inside cats while she remains outside until you can train her to not be so rough?

If she is not playing, like JenniferCNY, I would have her put down and I would ask a Vet to do that. However, if you can not afford a Vet, under the circumstances, one of the shelters that do euthanize may do that for you while you are with her.

This may be the best option if she is not playing as, if you do manage to find a home for her, if she does kill one of their animals, they might not be so understanding and treat her cruelly or dump her.

PS. The reason that you found her may be that someone dumped her for that same reason.

 

[DutchBunny03]

You could try training her. There are many training methods that can help. One good option is Don Sullivan's training method. It works on the same way as a wolf pack, with you being the dominant, and the dog the sumbisssive. The dog learns to respect you. The training method requires a special collar, which is about $16 on Amazon. The DVD is also on Amazon. If training doesnt help, your best option is euthanasia. The dog would be very hard for a shelter to adopt out, because of its history with apparent aggresion.

 

[dainerra]

what breed? what training does she have? how have you worked on socializing her around the cats? are the cats outside or inside?

lots of questions before you can work on a solution.

DutchBunny, alpha theory in dogs was debunked years ago. The command collar is simply a plastic prong collar. And the methods are largely basic obedience and training. Not alpha theory. Dogs aren't wolves and they know that we aren't either.

 

[Serenity06]

what breed?  what training does she have?  how have you worked on socializing her around the cats?   are the cats outside or inside?

lots of questions before you can work on a solution.    

DutchBunny, alpha theory in dogs was debunked years ago.  The command collar is simply a plastic prong collar.    And the methods are largely basic obedience and training.   Not alpha theory.   Dogs aren't wolves and they know that we aren't either.   

We're not completely sure what breed because we never saw her parents, but she definitely has some kind of pitbull in her. She knows basic commands sit, stay, leave it, come when called, etc. But it's like she gets in this trance when it comes to cats, and she doesn't hear leave it. The rest of the time she minds well. In the beginning she was only allowed around the cats under supervision until we thought she would be okay. She did fine with them for a while. She would sometimes stop to look at the cats like she was about to chase, but if we said leave it she would keep going. The only time she did chase was when the cats would run. If she was just laying down, and a cat ran by she would immediately go for it. I don't know what changed. Maybe after the first time she actually caught one she enjoyed it so much that she wanted it more?
The cats are mainly outside. There are a couple who like to sleep inside in the Winter and we let them. We'll occasionally bring one in just to pet and play with, but we can't let the dog see us doing this or she'll want to catch it. If we pick up a cat with her around she'll jump at it, and if she watches us pet a cat she wants to chase it. She's been inside with a cat a couple of times, but it's worse in the house. She can't take her eyes off of the cats, so, we didn't do that again. Right now she stays inside most of the time, and only goes out on a leash. If we want to let her off leash outside we have to bring all 4 of the cats in. We've been doing this about every other day so she can get out a lot more energy.

 

[Serenity06]

You could try training her. There are many training methods that can help. One good option is Don Sullivan's training method. It works on the same way as a wolf pack, with you being the dominant, and the dog the sumbisssive. The dog learns to respect you. The training method requires a special collar, which is about $16 on Amazon. The DVD is also on Amazon. If training doesnt help, your best option is euthanasia. The dog would be very hard for a shelter to adopt out, because of its history with apparent aggresion.

I did some research on this, and read a lot of reviews. I don't think it would work though because she is already submissive to us, and I read one review that said if their dogs went after a squirrel they could call them and the dogs would come back immediately. What if we weren't there to call her off? Obviously the dogs listen better, but it doesn't completely stop the behavior. :/

 

[Serenity06]

Hey Serenity06

I too am so sorry for your loss and also that you are going through this.  Kudos to you for doing all you can to care for the dog and find her a home.

If I read it right, she is not vicious with the cats, just killing them by playing too rough?

Do you know what breed she is and approximately how old?  If she is still young, some training might help with the playing rough. 

Any chance your remaining cats could be inside cats while she remains outside until you can train her to not be so rough?

If she is not playing, like JenniferCNY, I would have her put down and I would ask a Vet to do that.  However, if you can not afford a Vet, under the circumstances, one of the shelters that do euthanize may do that for you while you are with her.

This may be the best option if she is not playing as, if you do manage to find a home for her, if she does kill one of their animals, they might not be so understanding and treat her cruelly or dump her.

PS.  The reason that you found her may be that someone dumped her for that same reason.

She is definitely vicious about it. Whatever she is has a high prey drive. She's some kind of Pitbull mix, and we're thinking about 2 years old. She still had a tiny bit of growing to do when we found her, but had already had a heat. So, we thought she was close to a year which would make her about 2 years now.

 

[Serenity06]

I am sorry you are going through this. It is so kind of you to have taken in the dog when she had no one to care for her. But she is showing that she can't be around other animals.

I would put a dog down that killed one of my cats.

I hope you find peace with whatever you choose to do. Again, so sorry you have to face this.

Thank you. There are times when we want to put her down, but then she is so sweet to us and we know it's not her fault that she has such strong instincts. She deserves a home where she can be happy, and play outside. Here are some pictures of her if you guys want to see.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi.

This is a touchy subject for me as I have a love my 3 rescue dogs which I can promise care more about me than cats. However I do understand your dilemma.

One thing is... my dogs and many are OK with animals they KNOW belong to them. For example, they know they can't touch my chickens but are after ANYTHING else that moves on our property. My friend who has both dogs and a cat.... his cat is fine but others are prey. The dogs know which ones belong there. So since yours are mostly outside he may not realize those are a part of your pack.

And I will say being the leader of my pack definitely makes a difference. Not just about them submitting to you, but understanding that you are in control of the situation. And you are correct that you won't always be there to call them off. Animals can be sneaky and dogs specifically know when they are being watched and recognize eye contact. Also, many animal people have told me that even though I train my dogs it's not the same as going through an actual obedience course. Dogs will submit out of fear but it is different when they submit out of trust. I think a lot of those training thing are as much to teach the people about being consistent and communicating effectively with their dog. Incidentally, I do find female bullies to be more prey driven and stubborn than others.

It's not true that shelters can't adopt out dogs with other dog or cat aggression. The shelters usually make that info known so they can go to an appropriate home with the best chance of living happily ever after. They will even adopt out dogs that aren't good with children to a home that doesn't have any. That's the problem with "no kill" shelters, they ONLY take the animals they want to! Also, they can still kill up to 10% and call it no kill.

But if they know they are just letting others go to the shelter across town that MUST take them, to me they are NO better.

When you see that FOCUS you must distract the dog, redirect it's energy into something productive. For example, my dog used to nibble our fingers when excited or jump... we taught her to pick up a toy or trash anything she can get her lips on that won't cause trouble. Now she grabs something and dances all around. You can try a shock collar if you have to. Shock the dog every time it looks that way. This is NOT too cause pain but to create an immediate distraction. When used correctly, it can be a great tool and is NOT in my opinion cruel. Especially compared to the turmoil in your heart of the kitties you already lost or the pain you will feel if you do have to put down the dog. I am sorry for your losses! I sure didn't enjoy disposing of cats even that didn't belong to me.

I have successfully taught many dogs to be OK around my chickens. Some NEVER will be! Breed does have some to do with it, but isn't the whole story. Many "bully" breed dogs are the best family pets ever, many are not. But I don't believe breed specific legislation is any less ignorant than segregation and slavery! A lot of it does have to do with relationship to the owner. And with no experience some breeds and individuals will need more work. If you decide to try more, I will come up with as many ways possible to try and figure it out. In other words, I hope it isn't too late for y'all.

If you decide to put the pup down, a gun shot to the head is very fast and the dog will never know what hit it. Also, the kill shelter usually gives the animal a chance for adoption, sometimes only a 72 hour hold before death though. Here is CA, it's the law they must hold for 72 hours. If it's a stray, it's free. But like $10 if it is owner surrendered. I agree though, that would be a scary end! And the vet will often do it for a very reasonable fee, with you in attendance. Probably less then a standard visit which is usually $45 for us.

Sad to remember the dogs I had to put down from cancer.

Have you tried calling any bully breed rescues? You are in a very difficult situation!

Best wishes.