How guilty do i feel..my Akita attacked two cats....long

[luckylady]

DH and I went away with our two children for the weekend to Paphos, we had a fab time but...

We were going to cancell as the kennels couldnt fit our dog in for the couple of nights. One of the lads who works for the dog section is a friend (plays rugby with DH) and loves Akitas so said that they would have her for the weekend. When I dropped the dog of his wife informed me they had a cat. I did say that storm wasn't keen on cats do you not want to have her. They said no things will be ok, they will keep them seperate.

Well the cat came into the front room and Storm got hold of her. She has ripped the cats underneath and left pubncture wounds. The cat spent 6 hours in surgery luckily she is ok. I have said we will go halves on the vet bills.

But then whilst our friend took Storm to work that night (to the kennels) they put her in the open run, she managed to escape when they opened the door for her, she was making her way home (all in the same area) she got hold of a ferrel cat (sp) and killed it

I do feel guilty but our friends are taking full responsibility as they know the breed well and know that as a breed Akitas will attack any small animal, that it doesn't know, if they are of the lead.

STorm is generally a really good dog she knows that humnas are in charge etc and is fantastic with children and adults, she is very affectionate, I have never even heard her growl before.

Do you think this was because they were cats and also she was feeling betrayed as we had left her for the weekend. Akitas are very territorial and don't really like change. Normally when we are out walking ans she sees a cat she pulls alitle but when we say leave and tug the lead she just ignors and carries on walikng.
We never let her off the lead.

Would you feel guilty? Is it my fault..

Chandra- THEY KNOW THRE BREED HE USED TO BREED THEM SO THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE TAKING ON IF THEY DIDNT KNOW THE BREED I WOULD NOT OF LEFT HER WITH THEM>

SOrry for shouting but i don't know how many times i have to say this.

The man of the family we left the dog with is an RAF Attack Dog Handler, who as I have said used to breed akitas.

Oh, didn't notice about he breeding them, soooooooorrrryyyy ... then you are right, pay half the bill but.... sign up for the training anyway

May I recommend www.barkbusters.com?, they are fantastic (we used them to train our dogs before DS arrival) and the nice thing is that you pay a flat fee and you can ring them as many times and when needed without paying an extra, even when the dog goes to other hands. I leave their telephone to our dog walker every time we go on holidays.

If the dog is not even a year old then I would have thought this was a big WARNING that this particular dog has some very worrying traits.

Chandra_ we live in Cyprus. She will be having lessons in obdience etc as she is being trained as a show dog.

I have just spoken to the breeder who has reasuured me in what i was saying.

This unfortunate incident over the weekend will not affect how Storm is at home with us. They just do not like cats. They have bred Akitas for over 20 years, have two children in early teens. She also told me that when they first got Storm mother improted for the UK she killed there famnily pet cat . She said as a rule they will just not tolerate them but it will not affect the way she is with family.

I will be sticking to my guns /plnas of not letting her of the lead when out and praying that no cats come into the garden. (which tbh if they do they would have to be pretty stupid as Storm is in and out all day) but at;east they can jump up on walls and escape.

If he's already caught a feral cat then a domestic one is unlikely to jump up and escape, I wouldn't have thought. Could you muzzle him in the garden? Losing a family cat can devastate people.

morningpaper- she had escaped from the run at the kennels when the guard opened the door. (person looking after her ahd took her to work)

the other cat was in the house (front room) of the people who were looking after her.

Cats have got into our garden before she has chased them and barked and they climb on the kennel roof and onto the wall then out. There is one cat aroubnd everyday and this sits on the other side of the fence tormenting her, I just get her into thehouse until the cat gets bored and goes.

like the others have said,you did warn your friend so its not your fault,but i would certainly be very concerned.im sure you love your dog to pieces,just as anyone would their pet,but akita's can be very unpredictable.
my father in law was attacked by one last year and ended up in hospital because of it.the police were involved and the owner was told that unless the dog is muzzled each time it goes out,then it'll have to be put to sleep.since then the owner has died so i dont know what happened to the dog.

hmmm - i don't agree with some of the logic on this thread - ie that because a dog attacks a cat it will go on to attack a child. my lovely lab, a breed rightly in my view identified here as a good family pet, is an avid rat and rabbit killer. so are/were many other labs of my aquaintance. from a dog's point of view there can't be that much difference between a rabbit and a cat (both roughly same size, furry etc) yet to a dog none of the labs have tranferred their hunting zeal to babies.

i also have a lap dog - v small, sweet looking, affectionate and much loved by children who think she is a living teddy. of the two she is much more likely to learn to snap at a child, despite having zero hunting ability. because she looks so sweet, children want to pick her up and cuddle her half to death. she could easly be hurt by a toddler and would, i am sure, growl and possibly bite if she thought that was going to happen. i see it as my responsibility not to allow either her or a child to get into that position.

i have no particular axe to grind about breeds of dog, although i have deliberately chosen breeds likely to get on well in a family environment. i admit that an akita would not be on my list of suitable family pets.

i can't help feeling a bit sorry for luckylady tho. having looked at all of her comments on this thread and another on the board she seems to be pretty responsible. i feel that some of her points have perhaps been overlooked. it can't be easy to face a barrage of calls to put your pet down. i hope you aren't going to suggest that i do that to my two!!!!!

At the end of the day all dogs have the nature to attack if they chose too, just as a human may lash out if provoked. My 2 dogs, irish woldhound and german shepherd are both very good with cats/dogs/children (not that I would ever leave them alone with a child) but out of the blue one day they managed to open the run to my guinespigs and ate them both, leaving a few bones and a blood bath. Obviously I was absolutely mortified but in reality a dog is a dog and if it is a hunter it will hunt.

I must admit I used to vet nurse and we would always insist on an Akita being muzzled in the surgery but the same went for rottweilers too - mainly because if they were to turn we wouldn't stand a chance. I do not, however, believe that it is necessary to put a dog down for a killing a cat.

I probably would feel guilty aswell, not saying you should at all. Thankfully you warned the owners beforehand. Sorry you are having to go through this though