Terrier.

[oneboy3girls]

My son has a Patterdale cross. Third owner .Knows nothing about history. Had for 5 months. Settled and affectionate. When out walking on lead goes ballistic at cats .Is she likely to kill a cat ,if she got off the lead? Thankyou.

I have a rescue patterdale mix , I’ve had him from 4/5 months and he’s 11 now he would definitely kill a cat or indeed anything small and furry or large and feathery that wasn’t a dog . However he has fantastic recall and goes offlead everyday in very select places and under very controlled circumstances ( not near cats ! ) .

Certainly has the potential to, patterdales are cracking ratters and they often see little difference between a rat and a cat. I’d ensure she wore a harness rather than a collar as it’s more secure, and consider a muzzle, just in case.
Poor thing, she’s been passed from pillar to post a bit hasn’t she?

Yes patterdale likely to chase and try and kill the cat and other small furries.

Don't take any chances!

Yes, definitely. Patterdales are working dogs with very, very high prey drives for small, furry things.

Thankyou. Yes ,she has been passed about. Muzzle good idea.

what is she crossed with?

Our rescue patterdale cross goes ballistic for squirrels. Watching her destroy a new toy within minutes leaves me in no doubt of the fate of the squirrel if she got hold of it. Yet so loving to us.

A lot of terriers hate cats that are not their 'family'. Terriers are fully capable of living with and loving cats but I would say the best way to do this is for the cats to be there when the young dog enters the home for the first time.

I don't think it's possible to train a dog to like stranger cats. Bringing the dog to heel when you see a cat and telling him to 'leave' in a firm voice may help. Distract the dog.

He may kill a cat or he may purely want to chase the cat away. Either way, I wouldn't risk allowing the dog to get close to a cat.

Absolutely. I had a patterdale and he had an off the scale prey drive and was incredibly brave. He also needed watching with puppies and small dogs, I basically didn’t trust him at all on that front but at least if you are prepared for the worst you can hopefully prevent anything awful happening.
I really wouldn’t recommend them to people after a pet, endearing characters but such hard work.

She'll need to be muzzle trained if that's the road you're going down - it can take a good few weeks to get them accustomed to wearing one for a long period of time.

For walks it MUST be a properly-fitted Baskerville muzzle so the dog can still breathe, pant, drink and take treats.

Sorry poster above, but telling a patterdale to heel and leave in a firm voice will not cut the mustard.
You need to physically get hold of them, and try to avoid getting bitten yourself. Preferably not letting them off the lead in the first place.

Also make sure that the collar/ harness cannot be escaped from. Mine could reverse out of a harness and was walked in a slip lead even though he never pulled.

Yes, very likely - if she could catch it! I had a full working Patterdale who was accomplished at catching and killing rabbits and rodents, but although she managed to chase a couple of cats they were too quick even for her.

If she had one cornered though, I have no doubt she would have killed it. She ruled the estate where DH worked and all the other estate dogs knew better than to get anywhere near her cross her.

Sadly she was also very aggressive to other dogs and people, so it was 12 years of very strict careful management before the crabby little minx shuffled off to terrorise rainbow bridge.

Agreed @Querty123456 - mine reversed out of the harness once too, right outside the front door.

There was very little that could stop her once in full flow - DH could control her with a deep growl, I had to yell like a fish wife. I stood between her and the subject of her rage a couple of times and got bitten.

I have a border terrier now - much more amenable!

I have labradoodles these days, such a delight in comparison 🤣. Borders are the only terrier I’d consider!

We have an anti-escape harness with the third clip so terrier can't reverse out, like this one

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/3-peaks-lime-blue-excursion-dog-harness-medium?size=medium?utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=googleeshopping&cmmmc=GoogleeCPCPC--%20googleeshopping--googleeshopping&ita=1976&ito=googleshopping&istCompanyId=7255ccad-a1fc-4729-af31-478f79e5071c&istFeedId=385e6b9a-8b03-4076-a8bb-e4737df8549c&istItemId=itxmxlwwi&istBid=tzwt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv5uKBhD6ARIsAGv9a-yMq03hha1hDhLJXwa1z-vnBGiwTNrayIf4sMibbKAEQ7F5H8bCUtQaAn-6EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#

You can get a connector to link the harness and collar together as an added safety measure too.

I have two patterdale x JR brothers of 18 months and they have a really high prey drive.
They can't go in my daughters room as they try and get to the budgie and the hamster , can't have a pet rabbit or guinea pig or cat , they are very bark aggressive if they see a cat outside , dog reactive which I'm working hard on and have such a bad recall they are on lead on every walk. Absolute loving boys but huge prey drive ... strangely the only animal they've been less bothered about ever is the fox we feed nightly outside , they like to watch from
The window quietly and never bark at her

I call them my "terrorizers " because they really are not for the Faint hearted are they , I would never be able to get them to come back to me by calling if they had a scent of something or line of vision , I've been told by a vet that they have all the worse breeds in them lol

I use indi dog Houdini harness with mine so no chance of escape , he has escaped from other harnesses when he was younger . Mine is a patterdale x JRT , I didn’t find him that hard to train for recall and he walks beautifully on a loose lead although can be reactive on lead with large dogs and if he sees a cat / squirrel . I think the key is to not set them up to fail so I don’t let him off in woods or areas where there may be fox holes etc as that may be too tempting but he’s fine in parks / beach etc and offlead is ok with other dogs and has actually become more tolerant as he has aged surprisingly. He was our first family dog although I grew up with dogs and he is a perfect family pet and extremely loving .

I have two patterdale x JR brothers of 18 months

As soon as I read this, my immediate though was "Good God, you're brave"

My border terrier needs to be walked on the lead. Cats, possums, rabbits, skinks. She would probably bail up a snake, too ( tiger snake - no 2 most poisonous). If she saw one, there would be no calling her back.

@icedcoffees 😂that's one word for it 😂😂

Asked my son ,probably crossed with a Lakeland .Does that potentially make things slightly easier?

@oneboy3girls

Asked my son ,probably crossed with a Lakeland .Does that potentially make things slightly easier?

No, not really. Lakelands are also very high prey drive

I think the answer is to walk on lead, or in a muzzle if you want to let her off, so she can't actually kill anything. And off lead only in areas you are pretty sure she cannot escape from and get in to trouble - not near roads, livestock etc, and probably areas well used by dogwalkers so it's quite likely nonself-respecting cats will be there anyhow.

What is she like near squirrels and rabbits? She might do a very fast vanishing act if she encountered those too