dogs with a strong prey instinct - and small furries

Why oh why would anyone want such a creature in their home? It truly boggles my mind and I cannot begin to imagine the thought processes behind it.

I've had lurchers without any problems at all, in fact we had kittens at the same time and my saluki x greyhound would carry them around and they slept with her in her basket.

I suspect mollie's dog had been used for hare baiting hence the behaviour. Chasing furry creatures is in lurchers blood but thankfully ours rarely caught anything other than the odd wild rabbit (with myxomatosis), they were too lazy.
We were always incredibly careful about letting them off leash on walks and never had any problems.

Personally I wouldn't want a dog with that or any other bad trait (all our dogs bar one have been rescued dogs), because of the constant risk.

Sorry, mollie I'm a dog lover, but I wouldn't bring a dog with a history of killing a cat (even one) into my home. I'm surprised the adoption was permitted. I have known of dogs like this who were kept in rescue but not released for adoption. Volunteers would go along to play with them and let them run in the fenced field, so they could enjoy life.

Our lovely greyhound occasionally eyes the odd cat when out on a walk but usually shuffles past looking sheepish if the cat refuses to do the proper cat thing and run away. Grace is always on the lead anyway and while I suppose she might attempt to chase a feline intruder, the cat would be in the next county before she got near!
Squirrels are however her favourite enemy no. 1, but again they hop up on the fence and are off up a tree before she is half out of the kitchen. She is 12 after all.
Our previous greyhound once attempted to chase a friend's cat when we were invited to bring the dog with us to their farm where they also had a lurcher, a greyhound and cats. I was assured all would be well, but envisaged a sharp and embarrassed exit. However the dog took off up the stairs after the cat, got as far as the first landing where the cat was waiting, swiped the dog round the face, showing her who was boss and there was no further trouble.

I don't know what my whippet would do if she found a cat in the garden, and she is always on a lead when she goes out. All dogs will have a prey drive of some kind and, with sighthounds if something runs away from them it is their instinct to chase it and bring it down. Because we don't let her off the lead when there are other dogs around, she has been attacked several times; usually by small terriers running up to her and getting her round the throat; thankfully her wide hound collar has protected her from serious injury; one owner didn't apologise but said it was our fault as 'dogs will attack dogs that are on leads' ; it was last seen chasing a horse that happened to be on the beach that day. As far as people are concerned she is the gentlest creature ever and, even when frightened at the vets when having treatment has never been know to even growl at anyone. I don't leave her with the grandchildren ever, but bought her for the very reason that they are the gentlest dogs I've ever known with people. When brought up with cats and kittens they all sleep and play happily together but if they haven't been brought up with them the prey drive will take over. I have fenced off part of the garden for my dog, mainly because she would eat all of the plants if she could get to them, but don't know what would happen if a cat did get into her area. If I was a young mother I would be more concerned about seeing people with hugs mastiffs/pit bull types that they have absolutely no control over.And the latest craze for buying huskies that don't have any recall and need tons of exercise.

Its hard to believe that people would want to keep a dog that has a record of killing cats. I would have thought that the meeting to inform the neighbour that your dog has killed their cat must have been extremely awkward. Instinct is one thing but modern town life is another. I don't think this particular dog has a place in a modern town. I know this is hard. I'm fond of greyhounds and lurchers: most are fine. This one doesn't sound as if it is. Sorry again-I know you love him.

My Cairn will catch and kill a mouse or rat if he can, but he will also chase a rabbit, squirrel or cat (such fun) but if the cat stops and confronts him he screeches to a halt and goes into quick reverse.
With regard to the lurcher - I don't think it makes any sense to condemn the dog for what is clearly instinct. He won't distinguish between one species or another as we do, neither does he distinguish between rural and urban living. Of course the owner should ensure everything is done to prevent him chasing a cat in future and perhaps some serious training to produced a more balance dog is in order, but to condemn him makes no sense.

Quite a difficult situation really. It isn't the dog's fault but if I had a beloved cat or other pet that was killed by a neighbour's dog I would be very upset and annoyed. That would probably be unfair of me, but I'm sure that's how I would feel.

I wonder if there is any way of training the dog out of this behaviour - by attending obedience classes and instilling the "recall" command? Or is he too set in his ways for this to be effective? Or are there certain sounds that will stop him in his tracks (I believe some pet stores sell gadgets that emit sounds to prevent certain sorts of behaviour). Perhaps a vet or dog training school could advise you. I assume you've searched on the internet to see if there is any expert advice as to whether this instinctive behaviour can be stopped and, if so, how.

I don't know what else to say. The only other way to deal with it, I suppose, is to remain vigilant at all times to ensure that there are no cats or other animals in the vicinity. It must be very nerve wracking though and has the potential for causing problems with neighbours.

Perhaps a muzzle for the time.

Has he been neutered - this does help to minimise hunting and other instinctive behaviour?

If it's ingrained in the breed then I think it would be very difficult to override that with training. Muzzling is a good idea but won't stop the chasing instinct which would be just as distressing for the prey.
I'm not sure neutering makes any difference.

Other breeds like terriers are often the same.

loop I know! My terrier is coming as a dragon/dog on Monday.

I look forward to meeting a dragon/dog! It's a new breed to me!

Our border collie likes to chase deer, but of course never catches them.
Except for once, there was a young fawn following its mother and it tried to hide in the hedgerow. Dog got right up to it, they were looking eye to eye, then she stopped and sat down. The fawn ran off to join its Mum.
The fun was all in the chase.

My dog has a beautiful temperament and would love to make friends with our neighbouring cats. His tail-wagging attentions are often perceived as aggressive but, as with our own very old cat (sadly, now dead), he only wants to make friends. Our cat thought he was a danger and biffed him on the nose. His eyes would widen and he'd jerk his head to one side, totally flummoxed as to why his friendly overtures had invoked such aggression.

As with humans, harmless intentions are often misinterpreted.

I currently share my life with a labradoodle and a cockapoo (I know, lunacy to have 2 poodle crosses). I've some experience of lurchers as my sister has them and I'm their holiday home.

My labradoodle is like many others who have standard poodle/working lab in their background. She has a high prey urge and for her first 2 years, believed she was on a mission to bring her prey down every time we left the house. I got 1 - 1 support from an experienced dog trainer when she was 13 months because she could scent a sheep/deer at very long distances. She caught and killed a baby rabbit at 13 months, which did nothing to diminish the hunt instinct. She has always been the kindest, most gentle dog - unless you happen to be a small furry animal, sheep or deer. Given we live on the edge of the moors, serious training has been needed. I wouldn't leave her of lead if I knew sheep were in the vicinity but a couple of months ago she did start to chase sheep who'd been brought down from the moors, we'd no idea they were nearby. I whistled and all the training has payed off, she did a complete about turn, came back and sat at my side. The younger cocker spaniel/miniature poodle cross just doesn't have the same prey urge. His dna is flushing ducks….

We're lucky in not having cats who visit our garden and squirrels are so fast the dogs have no chance.

mollie - sadly I'm not sure there is a solution with your dog, other than keeping it on a lead. The urge is so high isn't it. I've been lucky with my doodle but I have spent more time on the recall and leave it command than I ever thought would be needed. I also upped her general obedience training, took her through agility courses, with the help of the trainer, taught her some (not very complicated) tricks and did loads of work on the leave it command along with recall training. I suspect maturing and the training input have been the key things. Lurchers are a different ball game!

Our terrier loathed cats but never got near one - they would jump on to the fence and sit there taunting him and he would get frantic, jumping and barking until the cat got bored and went away. I am sure if it came to a confrontation the cat would have got the better of him and he would have run away.

Do dogs know the difference between cats, rabbits and other small animals? I think they do.
DD had a dog who would hunt rabbits, kill snakes (they live on a farm) but lived in a sort of tolerant indifference with the cat, as does their other big dog, who once squared up to the cat. The cat soon let the dog know who is boss and it was the dog who got a scratched nose and went away with his tail between his legs.

My dog adored his own cats –all six of them – and was fiercely protective of them, but he was a demon barker at any other cat that walked on our garden walls or had the temerity to invade his territory. He was all mouth and trousers so no animals were injured. One of my cats, however, was a mean machine when it came to hunting and often deposited the corpses of rats and squirrels at the bottom of the stairs. He never attacked other cats, though, but I would have backed him against a fox any time. None of the others, who were not related to him, had much of a hunting instinct, although I think Dingbat once caught a worm.

Awww Dingbat!

Gosh, I bet that took some doing, well done Dingbat!
Great name btw

Our spaniel leapt into the air and caught a wasp - and got a very swollen cheek for his pains. It could have been worse.

mishap - that was harsh - he is not a vicious dog and it was not that I lacked any thought in taking him on (had a lurcher previously so knew the score) - I suppose in your eyes he should be destroyed
my neighbours understood that their elderly cat should not have been in the garden as they knew I kept him on the lead when passing their house but it would be unfair to do so in his own garden.
his recall (or observance of the word 'wait', 'leave it', or 'stop' ) is fine unless he spots his prey and I would add that my previous lurcher was the same and she had definately not been used for hunting.
I am amazed at the condemnation of lurchers as some kind of 'demon' dog dangerous to everything that moves both there and on mumsnet.
all rescue centres check that the home for a lurcher is cat-free if it is that way inclined - would you rather they were left in centres or pts. Cats should stay out of my garden and leave my wild birds alone

and Jane10 - for your information I do not live in town - but in the middle of the country

I do understand [being an ex cat owner myself] how awful it is for someones pet to be killed by a dog and can also understand why they should be so angry [I would be myself]. But I'd like to know, statistically, how many people are bitten by sighthounds compared to other dogs and my bet would be that they'd come somehwere near the bottom [if not at the bottom] of that list.

In fact, second highest on the American list I've just seen is the cocker spaniel which would surprise a lot of people but I have owned them myself and I'm not surprised, as inbreeding for a long time resulted in very aggressive/unpredictable dogs. They can also be very jealous when it comes to their owners, especially when introducing a new baby to the household, if the dog has been treated in a baby substitute sort of way. [I'm saying this as someone who absolutely adores them, by the way, but I'm very concerned about the cockapoo hybrids that are being bred]. Also near the top of that list are huskies; yet again a dog that I adore but don't agree with them being pets, especially when there are children in the house. Not in that list at all are the dear old staffies who have had the worst press of all due to the sort of people who often buy them [but they may be in a British list if I could find one].