[AmberLove]

Hi,

I have a beautiful 1 year old pitty mix that I am having a problem
with. In the past two months he has taken to chasing the kitties and
when he gets them cornered he tries to pick them up around their
middle. Is this a prey drive problem?

I have owned other pits but have never had this problem. He gets
along with them just fine when they are not running. He gives them
kisses, cleans them and sleeps with them.

He is crate trained and I never leave him alone with the kitties but
this does worry me a bit. Is there a way to train him not to do this?

I spray him with the spray bottle in the butt when he does it right
now. He loves water so this is more for a surprise factor than
anything else.

He gets along with other dogs even.. I have socialized him a lot.
Why is he doing this again all the sudden??

As to exercise he goes out to play with my other dog 2 times or more
a day, for 30-60 minutes depending on the weather. My other dog will
not get her feet wet so if there is even the smallest of puddles she
will not go out. LoL

Can he be broke of this or should I be worried that it will only get
worse?

He was neutered at 8 weeks old so it isn't that he is unfixed and
hormone driven.

I should add that he did this when I first got him at 5 months old
but spraying him in the butt for about a month he stopped this time
it doesn't seem to be helping.

I really don't want to have to rehome him but am wondering if this
can be trained out and want to try anything I can before doing so.


TIA
Amber

 

[yungster]

Does he want to hurt them, or is he just trying to play?

 

[AmberLove]

He has got ahold of one and came away with a mouth full of fur. Another time the cat cried when he grabbed him. He is so focused on the kitty I'm having a hard time redirecting him.

I think it could be play but he plays really rough with our 75 pound female dog and has even hurt her.

 

[Knomad]

Its could be many things, anything from a poor bite control understanding to just not realising that not everything is as durable as it.

Teach the off command and use it whenever it exhibits a level of force you dont like. I have to use it often with my bitch who is rough as hell on her partner Moto.
Its not that shes mean, she just likes the take down game and plays rough. I use off regularly and she learns to play the same game more gently next time round.

Dogs learn much of this from their brothers, sisters and mothers, a pup who hasnt had that has huge chunks of eductation missing so its not at all uncommon for them to behave in ways which might disturb you. Im sure to your dog it all makes perfect sense. You have to fine tune them to the limits of you own "pack rules".

 

[PaulaEdwina]

Having lost two cats to my dogs who otherwise slept with them, I do not trust my dogs with my cats. Play drive can easily flip into prey drive when the cat does a thing that triggers it. When I am not home my dogs and cats are separated.

Paula

 

[mom to many]

Having lost two cats to my dogs who otherwise slept with them, I do not trust my dogs with my cats. Play drive can easily flip into prey drive when the cat does a thing that triggers it. When I am not home my dogs and cats are separated.

Paula

I agree...while both my dogs play fairly gently with my cat, I would never assume it couldn't turn into something else in the blink of an eye. We have part of our house gated off, so the cat can jump over the gate and get to 'safety' (my daughter's loft bed) if need be, and we crate both dogs when we leave the house.

 

[yungster]

I didn't think I could take that drive from my dog, but then again, I never tried. I know several members here who have dogs that live in harmony with their cats. I chose to re-home my cats because they lived in constant fear, and would never come out of the basement. Heaven would try to kill them at every chance she got.

 

[Kasco]

I would definitely NOT trust the dog with the kittens. If the dog gets THAT interested in the cat, chances are things could turn ugly very quickly. We had a little stafy who had very high prey drive and it quickly escalated into prey aggression one day when she attacked and nearly killed a small dog. JM2C.

 

[AmberLove]

I cannot thank all of you enough. I have been so worried about Horus with the Kitties. We do cat rescue and rehoming some we just cannot do they either have medical problems or are simi-feral they are use to us but freak out around other people.

I do crate Horus when I cannot watch him.. I will work with him on off... So far he wont listen to any commands when he is like that.

I love him so very much he is so cute and goofy.

 

[Knomad]

One more tip for off. Not listening is common when they get hyped up, it takes time and reinforcement to get them listening even in the thick of things.

Try catching him just before he does it. Watch him when he spots a cat and catch him the second you see his body language change.

An example I have is when my bitch goes into "hipslinger mode" this means shes spotted a kid, or someone midning their own business and has decided with tail wagging certainty to go butt in on them and get attention. They might be 20 feet away, but the second I see her start to wriggle her ass like John Wayne gone crazy, I intercept with the heel command.

Waiting until she gets going and then trying to recall her when shes closer to her target than you is much harder to get the command across.

Maybe your dog waggles his butt as he spots the cat, has a think about it and then hares off. Try catching him just as hes making his choice and giving him a sharp off and heel. Reward him with praise if he listens. It will probably require much reinforcement but he should hopefully start to come to the conclusion you dont want him chasing little kitties and give them less attention.

If not, you just have to go chasing him, pull him away manually and issue the off, couple that with a sit and timeout to get it across that you dont aprove of him not listening either!

Hope you get some results!

 

[Miakoda]

Although it seems there are many dogs who get along great with cats, in truth it is NOT the norm. The truth is that cats are seen as prey by most dogs therefore the dogs will act upon their natural instincts to catch & in some cases eat their prey.

My belief is to not try to force them to get along & live peacefully together. Why? Because you will burying your cat soon. My advice is to always keep your cat & dog separated at all times. Allow your cat free roam of the house when the dog is outside or secured in a kennel inside. At other times, keep the cat in a bedroom with the door shut securely.

As for this issue, it's not a "pit bull" issue but a dog issue. And it's natural instinct.