Stupid Dog!

[becky3086]

The worse part is the dog is mine. He is a shepherd/chow mix and he is on a steel run for a reason but has never bothered any of the cats! EVER! However, today one of the new kittens wandered over to his run, a pretty little black fluffy kitty and he apparently killed it. When I ran over to it another of the kittens followed me and I turned around to find the dog with it in his mouth! I am fairly sure the dog has a headache now but the second kitten was saved. It is just so depressing. The poor little black kitten was the sweetest of the bunch (4 of them) and my daughter(she is 16, they are her cats kittens) just went all to pieces.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

He's a dog, the kitten came into his space....not his fault and he is not stupid, just doing his dog thing!

 

[becky3086]

The cats are always in his space. He lets them come eat out of his dish!

 

[la dee da]

I'm so sorry that happened, poor kitty

. Do you have any idea at all why he might have started killing them?

 

[buck-wild-chick]

I had a pit a few years ago that all of a sudden turned and started killing cats,rabbits,guinea pigs.EVERYTHING ! We finally had to shoot her.

Hope the kittens will stay away from him. !

 

[deb1]

Culd he have been playing with the kittens? Or he could recognize the cats as belonging to the home, but not the kittens.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Quote:
It doesn't matter if they've been in his space before and he never touched them. We have to remember no matter what breed of dog we have they still have instincts that are very deeply inbred. They may never surface but you just never know. Just keep the kittens away from him and you won't have to worry about it. He was more than likely thinking they were a play toy and just played a little too rough. If he would have truly wanted to harm them, they would have been ripped to shreds (pardon the graphic language) I've seen that all too many times.

As the post above says he isn't stupid, he's a dog!

 

[sunket77]

I am sorry but I would feel the same way if my dog killed a kitten.... problem is once they start doing it it's almost impossible to stop. And you can't say it's a space thing... I had a full grown tom cat killed by two dogs in my neighborhood growing up (just happen to be chow dogs) They where loose and roaming and in pack mode. My neighbor tried to stop them but they turned at him. I am pretty sure that had nothing to do with invasion of space. I would suggest looking up the problem online there might be a training solution, you don't want it to go from one small animal to another. You would also be under constant stress if the dog gets out, if he wonders and gets a neighbors cat depending on the laws you could loose your pup.

 

[mekasmom]

It is just prey drive. Chows have heavy prey drive. Perhaps he just reached the age that he exibited aggression. You can't be angry at him anymore than you would be angry at a cat killing and eating a mouse or a bird. Prey is prey. He could have killed a sparrow just the same as a cat (if he caught it) or even a wild rabbit. It doesn't mean the dog is evil, he just has a high prey drive.

You just have to make a choice of what to do now. Give away the cats? Rehome the dog? Euthanize the dog because you don't feel it is safe to have around children and other pets? But don't be angry at the dog for being a dog. Their instincts are deeply bred into them. They are what they are.