Lurched cross pup

[Benji13]

I would welcome views please!

We have 3 cats, one a doddery oldie and lost our beloved dog in January this year very unexpectedly to liver cancer. We are lost with him.

The rescue kennels we had him from 12 years ago have been in touch regarding a 7 week old lurcher cross pup in need of a home. She was bred but has been handed in due to the breeders illness. My concern is sighthound and cats. I know they have a strong prey drive. Would this likely be an issue - sighthound people?

Whilst we would love another rescue dog I feel we must bear our lovely cats in mind too. They are 17, 8 and 2.

We have a lurcher cross, we got her as a rescue at 1 year old. She is crossed with a collie and probably a few other things. When we first got her, she chased sheep or pheasant so she was kept on a lead and was taught not to chase. She is the gentlest of all creatures, rarely chased anything and never chased the cats. When young she was walked twice a day and would chase a ball for hours. At home she was always super chilled and could be left once she realised she was staying with us; that she had a home. She is 15 now and has brought us so much joy. She is incredibly intelligent and was very easy to train. Let me know what you decide, I keep looking for lurcher cross rescues but can't quite bring myself to get a new dog yet. Not sure if I ever will.... for now I will enjoy the last few years of my beloved pup. Good luck. ❤️

I have a lurcher- bred for working but ended up with me for a variety of boring reasons.

He is LOVELY, great with children, gentle as you like... but when he sees a cat or a squirrel ... well then he’s on a mission.

Might have been different if we’d had a cat when he was a pup, but it’s so in his nature, personally I’m not sure.

I think it depends partly on how much time you have to devote to training.

You can train (some) sighthounds to stay away from cats.

I have a failed greyhound who doesn't seem to have that instinct to chase small moving things. We don't have cats ourselves but she is fascinated by them and really wants to give one a good sniff (at best) but hasn't shown any signs of snapping or aggression.
We did have a cockatiel and managed to train her to ignore it.

They're not always the easiest dogs to train.

But it also depends what it's crossed with.

I think having a cat already will be good as they show who is boss. Cats are always in charge in our house.

We had an old cat when we got our lurcher puppy. The puppy was terrified of her! The cat died before Ddog turned 1 so not sure how it would have panned out long term. His prey drive (albeit not a strong one) kicked in when he was two. I think it would have been ok but long term I would have probably kept them supervised or seperated

I've got a lurcher who could never live with a cat, but we got her at 15months. At 8 weeks I would expect with good training you will be fine - I know lots and lots of lurchers who live with cats, and my DH had one as a child who they got as a young puppy who grew up with cats.

The general rule is they are fine with their cats, but will probably still chase other cats they meet out and about if you aren't careful.

I took my whippet pup to meet a Boss Cat at 12 weeks. She learned who was the boss straight away!

Despite being eager to chase/bark at a cat, would stop/go round one as she was too scared to get close.

We brought a kitten home when the whippet was 3 years old. We were careful for the first few weeks, but there have been no problems. The kitten was The Boss from the start.

And they are definitely friends now, and will sleep next to each other. Or the cat on top of the dog if there’s a blanket between. They mostly ignore each other, or touch noses. The cat lets the dog sniff its bum. The dog just squeaks when the cat swipes her tail.

Not all sighthounds have a high prey drive. I have two wolfhounds with cats. Have the rescue cat tested the pup?
If you do decide to go ahead the Blue Cross has some brilliant advice on introducing them safely. So scent swapping. Rewarding pup for ignoring cats. Stairgates.
My main concern would be the older one being able to escape.

Personally I would never trust a dog like that around cats, though. know many do.

Would your older cat be able to run and jump out of the way if the lurcher chased it?

I would bite their hand off to be able to get a rescue puppy from as early as possible. The best way of training is for them to be around the cats from the start. We had 3 cats when we got our 10 week old puppy and instilled positive behaviour from the start. That included rewarding avoidance behaviour from the puppy (looking away from the cats, no intense eye contact, no dominating behaviour). And also ensuring there were cat only areas such as upstairs. Both cat and dog were allowed on the sofa but at separate times to avoid any jealousy whilst up at people level. It all works well and they get on well. However, if the dog sees a cat that isn't ours in the garden he will chase. We always keep him on the lead when around houses for this reason too. His recall is good but he is just so quick.