New neighbours have a cat - I have a greyhound. Help??

[acrispyguinness]

As per the title, we have new neighbours. They have a cat which they have now started letting outside. Their cat likes to scale the fences and walk along the tops and over my shed - ordinarily not a problem, I like cats. My senior greyhound however does not. He’s very reactive to them and honestly I’m not sure what he would do if he were presented with the opportunity.

How can I deter their cat from strolling the fences? I’m having to keep my poor boy inside as I can’t supervise 24/7 so he’s no longer able to sunbathe in the garden as I work. He was sunbathing by the back door this morning and their cat appeared at the top of the fence about 2m from him, luckily he didn’t see and I quickly ushered him indoors and shooed the cat but I can’t do this every time it scales the fence. Help!

You'd be pissing into the wind, you cannot 'apply to have a dog put down' - you would have to take the dogs owner to court and prove they've behaved negligently, and outside the law - and you can't because if a cat jumps into a dogs back yard and winds up injured or dead, they haven't. You would need to fund a civil action as no crime has taken place there.

There is no legal precedent for a destruction order in this scenario - whilst cats can legally roam (that's not the same as having the right to go where they please, it just isn't illegal to allow it), there is no right for them to remain unharmed and if they are harmed by accident, that isn't an offence if its on someone elses private property or out in public.

The only time you'll find such case law is where a dog has got into the cats garden or house, but even then a court is unlikely to instantly grant a destruction order based on the cat owners wishes, for a first offence, there would need to be other circumstances taken into consideration - say the dog owner on CCTV actively sending the dog in to do it.

Generally speaking without prior offences or sometimes even with prior minor offences, the courts first course of action will be fines and a control order.

She said upthread that he has used a muzzle before and doesn’t want the dog to kill the cat. Greyhounds are particularly liable to cat killing as they are quick and quiet enough to do so. I haven’t said she must, just that I would do so in the same situation.

this

I have had a greyhound, and I am in several groups for sighthound owners.
A cat coming into their garden, and being killed has never resulted in any prosecutions or dogs being PTS. It has not even resulted in a fine. At the very best, and if you spend silly money on a lawyer etc, you would get reimbursed for the cost of your cat, and the money you get will go down as they get older.

When you have a cat that roams, you acknowledge that it can be killed at any time in several different ways outside of your property. Cars being the main ones.

Greyhounds are trained to chase small furries, and even ones that were not raced have it in their blood.