A sad thing happened tonight,

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Darrell

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We have recentley adopted a young cat.

Sadly tonight whilst my wife was putting out some leftover food for the dog, the little cat wanted to have some as well. Our 7 month old dog grabbed the cat in it's jaws and basically shook it to pieces. The cat died in front of us about 10 mins after.

The dog ( Dave ) is a cross between a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever and as I mentioned before is 7 months old. He is quite well trained and loves to chase our cats around the garden ( we have a 4 year old cat as well ) nipping at them and generally pushing them about. Up until now they seemed to give as much as they got and appeared to put Dave in his place.

Both cats even slept on top of Dave during the night, to which he didn't seem to object. Sometimes the cats come in the house which we don't allow Dave to do.

We have a 5 year old daughter who loves to play with Dave and sometimes he will pull at her clothes when she tries to get into the car or is just playing in the garden. As soon as my wife or myself tell the dog to stop he obeys straight away.

The problem is that now that Dave has done this to the little cat, is there a chance that he may do it to the older cat or worse still try to attack my daughter. If she runs into the garden with a sandwich or some crisps could the dog lose it and go for her?.

When my daughter wakes up tommorow she will ask where the new cat is, this we can handle and at the moment Dave is attached to the fence with his lead. We told him off, eg "bad boy" etc etc. I really don't know what to do with him right this minute.

To help clarify anything, the dog had been fed about 1 hour before this happened and has been on a long walk and on the beach for around 3 hours today.



Thanks.
Darrell
 
Difficult one,

We have a 3.5yr old and a new one on the way. Easy for me to say but I would not have a dog with little children.

Little children poke and prod and if the dog turns no matter what size it only takes a moment.

Could you ring up a dog trainer and ask their thoughts? As you say difficult to trust now.
 
Really sorry to hear about this. I've no doubt there will be varying views on this.

Perhaps Dave had a little too much sun today. But then again perhaps no more than normal?

Dog did what dogs do.

Daughter at five is much bigger than the cat and is perhaps much higher up the pecking order in the "pack" So could be safe.

To be totally sure perhaps rehome the dog, then all doubt can be taken away from your mind.

Tough on the daughter and the family to lose the cat and the dog but better safe than sorry.
 
Sorry to hear this. Really wouldn't know how to advise you, though, except to say that even the most placid of dogs can turn without warning.
 
Sad news indeed - if there's anything for me to say at this point is that the dog probably thought the cat resembled a toy. For me, I'd always keep young animals away from any other type of animal particularly with this in mind.
I once took a dog in from Battersea who they reassured me was ready for rehoming etc etc.. I got it home.. a few weeks later I answered my door and the dog went for my neighbours jugular - no prizes for what happened soon after.

As far as where you go from here I really couldn't say..
 
I am also very sorry to hear that.
I think the advice given to discuss with a professional dog handler/trainer is probably good advice, but it is possibly already too late.
Why I say that is that several years back I knew someone with Collies and was genuinely shocked at what he had to do to them to stop them worrying sheep - we all lived in the country in farmland at the time.
He really had to administer some harsh punishment (beatings), and the timing was obviously important. It worked though. To go this route you have to act now.
If you don't have thew stomach for that - I wouldn't - then seriously think about a new owner for it.
Nature is harsh, but your daughters safety is all.
Hope this is of help at a difficult time.
 
My wifes uncle trains gun dogs. He is very well thought of in his field. I once asked him if you could train a dog to such an extent that you knew that it would NEVER attack. His reply was this- 'we can't teach humans to not attack each other, so how would you expect to teach an animal?' This is the risk we all take when having a dog.
I think that if you don't get rid of the dog now, and something terrible happens in the future, you will regret it.
I don't envy your choice.
 
My wifes uncle trains gun dogs. He is very well thought of in his field. I once asked him if you could train a dog to such an extent that you knew that it would NEVER attack. His reply was this- 'we can't teach humans to not attack each other, so how would you expect to teach an animal?' This is the risk we all take when having a dog.
I think that if you don't get rid of the dog now, and something terrible happens in the future, you will regret it.
I don't envy your choice.

My next door neighboor trains gun-dogs. He has an English Setter and a Pointer and 2 young children!

I will ask his advice.
 
Both breeds mentioned can suffer from neurological problems- epilepsy in Golden Retrievers as one example. Any sudden unexpected changes in behaviour could be neurological in origin which can make the dog's future behaviour very unpredictable. You need to get this investigated ASAP.
 
Sorry to hear about the demise of the cat. Personally I never, ever, trust a dog 100% (I don't trust many humans that much!) and my trust level of dogs when small children are involved is even lower.

The dog has to go I'm afraid. No matter how difficult that decision is now the consequences of not doing it are potentially far more unpalatable.
 
The dog has to go I'm afraid. No matter how difficult that decision is now the consequences of not doing it are potentially far more unpalatable.

sorry to say but i agree....
 
A 7 month old puppy is no older than 9 in human terms and so will do unpredictable things. That is just the way it is and depending on the breed and individual temprament they do not settle down until 18-24 months, so you always have to be careful with young dogs

Sounds to me like he was food guarding.

Dog Food Guarding Behavior - Dog Behavior Training
 

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