My dog concerns

[Justtryingtosurvive]

Hi. Please advise.
I'm absolutely deversatated to find out yesterday that our dog escaped into a neighbours garden and attacked a second neighbor's cat 🙁. It has resulted in the cat being euthanased unfortunately. A very old poorly cat the owners said but matters none the less.
I've made myself so ill thinking my only option is to have our dog put down.. the thought breaks my heart and seems unfair.
Do I rehome her or get a behaviourist in. She does have bad food possession and growl. But other that that is wonderful.
We have spoken to the owners of the cat who have been wonderful saying it's just nature and not our fault.

[bunnygeek]

You're lucky the neighbours have been understanding fortunately. I have heard of instances where it definitely has not been the case and the dog has had to be rehomed.

Do you know how the dog escaped? I think that would be the first concern - making sure any future escapes are impossible.

[icedcoffees]

How did the dog manage to escape the garden? That would be my first concern, as technically your dog was out of control by going onto someone else's property like that.

Whilst I know it's upsetting, your dog was acting on instinct so I think putting it to sleep would be a huge overreaction - you just need to stop it happening again. So make sure your dog absolutely cannot escape the garden or house, and keep it on a lead on streets or in places where he's likely to come across a cat.

My dog lives with cats (three of them, poor sod ) and they get on fine BUT he would happily chase a cat he saw in the street. Dogs are predators and cats are their prey - it's normal, though not very nice for us as pet owners.

[Quickchangeartiste]

The dog was just being a dog. It’s the escape that is the problem.

If your neighbours are being so understanding, there is no need to rehome, but you must secure the garden, such that the dog cannot escape again.

[Justtryingtosurvive]

Thank you to everyone so far.
As far as I can see she's actually managed to get out of our walled and 6ft gated patio by following and chasing the cat up and jumping/scrambling onto the neighbors garage roof joining our patio and at a height of approximately 4 and 1/2 ft. That's the only way it could happen.
So we will need permission from that neighbour to build a higher divide on top of their garage roof wall x I have emailed the rescue I had her from too. I feel totally at a loss and in limbo...

[Floralnomad]

The only thing you need to do is ensure the dog can’t escape the garden , so if that means he can’t use the garden unless you are out there that’s the answer . I can’t imagine why anyone would suggest euthanising a dog because it’s killed a small furry animal, that’s like suggesting you euthanise a cat for killing a bird or mouse .

[30degreesandmeltinghere]

Please don't punish yuri ddog for being a ddog..
Lack of extra physical boundaries are sadly your fault. No criticism just rotten bad luck.
Assess the fencing etc...
Make it good....
And hopefully ndn relations will smooth in time.

[Justtryingtosurvive]

Thank you @Floralnomad
I did feel like this once I calmed a little, knowing that people say they get gifts off their cats when they kill mice, birds frogs etc.

I suppose my only concern is now with our young children of 3 and 1. She has growled at them over food possession so maybe this is a sign that as heart breaking as it is, re-homing her may be the best for her and our family. But my thoughts in no way reflect the amount of love I have for her.

[icedcoffees]

I suppose my only concern is now with our young children of 3 and 1. She has growled at them over food possession so maybe this is a sign that as heart breaking as it is, re-homing her may be the best for her and our family

Can you not try and get the help of a professional behaviourist before going down that road?

[LST]

You do not need your dog PTS. It's an awful set of circumstances but your dog was just doing what a good majority of dogs do. It's good your neighbours are being understanding. The next step for you is to make sure the dog cannot ever escape again

[GingerAndTheBiscuits]

Secure the garden. Contact an positive behaviour therapist to deal with the resource guarding.

[Floralnomad]

Resource guarding is an entirely different and unrelated issue that you need to get a behaviourist to help you with .

[bunnybuggs]

my second lurcher was a demon about cats - sadly he attacked and mortally wounded 2 cats both elderly who did not have the sense to keep clear of his garden or run away fast enough perhaps up a tree where they could not be reached.
In both cases he killed them swiftly and then ignored them - there was not a mark on them. Berating him was no good - his prey drive was high so whenever I took him out in populated areas where he could encounter a cat, he was on a lead and I was always on 'cat watch'
Sadly I could not do that in his own garden - the cats were loose, they were country/farm cats and they took the risk. There was no chip or collar to identify them and I only by chance knew that one of them belonged to my neighbour from a field away.
Sad that it happens - but not justification for 'putting down'
Try and secure your garden from any escape by the dog - is the most you can do.

[Justtryingtosurvive]

Thank you everyone these are such comforting supportive advice x x

[DeathByWalkies]

I've made myself so ill thinking my only option is to have our dog put down.. the thought breaks my heart and seems unfair.

I absolutely wouldn't put your dog down. It's acted on instinct, as many dogs will, and the cat owner is being remarkably understanding about it. However, even if the cat owner had gone to the police you wouldn't be ordered to have the dog put down.

You do, however, need to take reasonable steps to prevent this from happening again - specifically, you need to remove any possible escape points from your garden.

Do I rehome her or get a behaviourist in. She does have bad food possession and growl. But other that that is wonderful.

I'd be getting in a behaviourist - but primarily for the resource guarding (which is the technical term for the food aggression you describe). By all means chat through the cat incident while you're there, but the resource guarding is arguably a much bigger problem.

It's important to know that literally anyone can call themselves a behaviourist (or trainer) so it's important to find someone with proper formal qualifications (NB not all qualifications are equal... it's a minefield).
www.apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/
www.asab.org/ccab-register
abtc.org.uk/practitioners/

[TheBearBones]

As people have said, many dogs do still have prey drive instilled in them and are very capable of going off after smaller creatures, some breeds have a stronger desire to do this than others. Animal aggressive doesn't always mean the dog is human aggressive, and I wouldn't rehome or euthanize because of this - just a very unfortunate accident that will need further preventions in place to make sure it won't happen again.

What breed is your dog? I know a lot of terriers that are crazy escape artists - easiest solution would probably be to have the dog on a long line and supervised whenever it is in the garden.

Of course, a chat with a qualified behaviourist would always be a good idea, especially with the resource guarding.

[Justtryingtosurvive]

Thanks again all. She is a lurcher x husky.
I wish I could attach an image of the area she escaped from

[Happyoldbat]

Secure the garden and pay the cat’s vet bill, but definitely do not kill the poor dog. As others have said, cats are the natural prey of the dog, so your job is to keep the two apart. Some dogs can be trained to live with cats but they are probably in the minority.

[30degreesandmeltinghere]

We have a Husky and Lurchers..
And 2 dcats..
Our garden walls are 10 foot.
And bush /bramble - free on purpose..
In over 6 years have only seen 1 dcat pass by and they never even barked but not sure if it had landed...