Boxer attacks cats...

[Roxie&Oxer]

Help!

My two original dogs (1 boxer, 1 mutt) chase cats but do not attack them. When they catch them they bark and jump around. Well I had a 9 month old boxer end up with me (sort of a rescue situation) and this one is MEAN to cats. Twice now, today being the second time she has actually had one of the barn cats in her mouth biting and shaking it. There was blood everywhere, and she wouldn't let go when I yelled at her. I had to hit her with one of my riding crops to get her to let go. Other than the cat behavior she seems to be a very well adjusted dog for what she has been through in her short life.

Any ideas to stop the cat abuse?

 

[Krikkit]

The best solution for a dog with a high prey drive is not to allow them near cats. One of our girls, Bella, has a high prey drive and we just supervise so she, and cats (and any type of 'prey'), are not put in a position where she will chase. It is easier for us as we do not own a cat - but when we are out and about there are bound to be cats around. In her, this behaviour (chasing cats and other 'prey'), had been well established before she came to live with us at age 2. Bella, these days, has a very high level of obedience training and we can call her off a chase. It takes a while to get to that level of training though and even high level training will not override the instinctive prey drive (another label for prey drive is predatory aggression, or simply the desire, by an animal, to catch a meal).

There are lot of threads on the fourm about Boxers and cats, so a search is worthwhile

Here are a couple of articles:

Predatory Aggression

Dogs & Cats in Harmony

Cat Testing

Cat meets dog - will they live together peacefully?

Sharon

 

[Roxie&Oxer]

Thank you for your help and advice. I suppose I can give the barn cats away rather than let them be mauled by my dog. It was kind of nice to have barn cats to keep mice away, but not worth it if she will continue this behavior.

 

[BeckyNC]

I got Tae through non-Boxer rescue. Before I adopted her, another woman attempted to adopt her. I was told that this woman had cats and also fed strays. Tae goes nuts over cats and apparently the woman's cats defended themselves and ran away, but the strays didn't (?). Tae killed two by shaking them. I just keep her away from all cats and when we went to see a friend who has kitties, I had her put them in a different room for their wellbeing!