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[room onthebroom]

Hey, Pond Pals!
I am looking for advice. I am going to get a couple of young (roughly 4-6 months old) cats to be outside vermin control. (We haven't had outside cats for a few years, and the mice are totally out of control!) I plan on keeping them in my spare chicken coop/shed with attached run (2x4" welded wire) for a couple of days with access to plenty of food and water so they will hopefully come to think of this as a good place to live. (I will eventually just feed them once a day to encourage hunting.) My biggest concern is my dog. Ruger tends to kill anything he doesn't think belongs here, including one stray cat that I know of. (He also wandered over to my mom's one day and killed one of her barn cats.) I'm not sure how to get him used to the new cats. They're semi feral, so handling them is not going to happen for a while. Just not quite sure how to get him to know that they belong here and he's not to bother them. He and my house cat are the best of friends, so I know he can get along with them if he chooses to. I don't have a shock collar, nor do I ever intend to use one. I just hope that with correction if he shows too much interest, he'll figure it out.

Hmmm... I have no experience with outdoor cats so cant offer advice, but I do have a lot of experience with dogs. If I were a dog, I would see anything that's not in the house being petted by you as fair game. I know from past posts that Ruger is a superior hunter & it sounds like you're sealing the cats death warrants. I'm sorry if this sounds negative. I hope you will document whatever techniques you decide to use & what works & what doesn't.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Hmmm... I have no experience with outdoor cats so cant offer advice, but I do have a lot of experience with dogs. If I were a dog, I would see anything that's not in the house being petted by you as fair game. I know from past posts that Ruger is a superior hunter & it sounds like you're sealing the cats death warrants. I'm sorry if this sounds negative. I hope you will document whatever techniques you decide to use & what works & what doesn't.

Yeah. . I was thinking along the same lines. Might be rough for the dog to comprehend if you can't touch the cats in the dogs presence.
My dogs know and understand the word "mine"
I can pretty much bring any critter around them if they see me loving on it and telling them it's mine.

 

[Alaskan]

Hey, Pond Pals!
I am looking for advice. I am going to get a couple of young (roughly 4-6 months old) cats to be outside vermin control. (We haven't had outside cats for a few years, and the mice are totally out of control!) I plan on keeping them in my spare chicken coop/shed with attached run (2x4" welded wire) for a couple of days with access to plenty of food and water so they will hopefully come to think of this as a good place to live. (I will eventually just feed them once a day to encourage hunting.) My biggest concern is my dog. Ruger tends to kill anything he doesn't think belongs here, including one stray cat that I know of. (He also wandered over to my mom's one day and killed one of her barn cats.) I'm not sure how to get him used to the new cats. They're semi feral, so handling them is not going to happen for a while. Just not quite sure how to get him to know that they belong here and he's not to bother them. He and my house cat are the best of friends, so I know he can get along with them if he chooses to. I don't have a shock collar, nor do I ever intend to use one. I just hope that with correction if he shows too much interest, he'll figure it out.

Well.... to get our dog to stop killing chickens....

I took him out (chicken locked up, but visible behind the fence). I we did the correcting him thing... went over it a few times. As to correcting him... just fussed at him/angry voice if he tried to lunge at them.

We repeated that a few times.

Then I stuck a kid in the upstairs window with a pellet gun (the correct strength to hurt but not break skin), then took the dog to the front door and let him out.

Of course, since he was outside by himself, and he couldn't see me, he ran to the chickens and lunged at the fence... kid shot him...he yelped...and he never killed another chicken.

 

[drumstick diva]

I remember Hitchcock- his voice always gave me the creeps.

 

[bobbi-j]

Hmmm... I have no experience with outdoor cats so cant offer advice, but I do have a lot of experience with dogs. If I were a dog, I would see anything that's not in the house being petted by you as fair game. I know from past posts that Ruger is a superior hunter & it sounds like you're sealing the cats death warrants. I'm sorry if this sounds negative. I hope you will document whatever techniques you decide to use & what works & what doesn't.

You don't have to apologize for sounding negative. I'd much rather people be real with me than worry about hurting my feelings.

The chickens aren't house pets either, but he figured that out. I am hoping that with enough exposure and correction that he'll figure out the cats, too. My shed has a little walk-in space that is shut off from the "living quarters", so I thought I'd bring him in there and let him sit and see them and continually correct him. Maybe if it looks like he's not getting it, I will bring the cats back to where they are coming from....

Yeah. . I was thinking along the same lines. Might be rough for the dog to comprehend if you can't touch the cats in the dogs presence.
My dogs know and understand the word "mine"
I can pretty much bring any critter around them if they see me loving on it and telling them it's mine.

He does understand "leave it", but I don't know if he'll want to remember that if I'm not present.

Well.... to get our dog to stop killing chickens....

I took him out (chicken locked up, but visible behind the fence). I we did the correcting him thing... went over it a few times. As to correcting him... just fussed at him/angry voice if he tried to lunge at them.

We repeated that a few times.

Then I stuck a kid in the upstairs window with a pellet gun (the correct strength to hurt but not break skin), then took the dog to the front door and let him out.

Of course, since he was outside by himself, and he couldn't see me, he ran to the chickens and lunged at the fence... kid shot him...he yelped...and he never killed another chicken.

Unfortunately, I don't have a kid, pellet gun or place that could be staked out for that kind of correction. I did, however, teach Ruger to keep his nose off the countertops with mousetraps. Maybe I can get dozens of them and line them up on the outside of the cat shed....

 

[sourland]

@bobbi-j you'll probably have to keep them confined longer than planned and routinely reinforce the 'leave it' command. After he appears to leave them alone when you are present, do a variation on 'Al's' method. Have someone turn him loose while you are looking out an open window - watch closely and be ready with 'leave it' if he shows interest in the penned cats. Good luck.

 

[bobbi-j]

@bobbi-j you'll probably have to keep them confined longer than planned and routinely reinforce the 'leave it' command. After he appears to leave them alone when you are present, do a variation on 'Al's' method. Have someone turn him loose while you are looking out an open window - watch closely and be ready with 'leave it' if he shows interest in the penned cats. Good luck.

I guess it’s better to keep them confined longer than take chances with the dog. No buildings to stake out from near there, but I’ll figure something out. Maybe I can tame them during their confinement and get him used to them that way.

 

[bobbi-j]

Today I got to help DH with the harvest. No, I didn’t run the combine, but I did run the auger and unloaded the trailer into the bin.

 

[room onthebroom]

Today I got to help DH with the harvest. No, I didn’t run the combine, but I did run the auger and unloaded the trailer into the bin.
View attachment 1939267

What did you grow this year?

 

[bobbi-j]

What did you grow this year?

Soybeans and corn. We just got started on beans yesterday (about a month behind).