To cut a long story short I rescued a male, whole GSD about 4yrs old a few months ago. He`s been as good as gold & is like my shadow. About 5wks ago I put him in a spare kennel next to my own dogs & very quickly he was staying in the house during the night. Around the same time as he started sleeping in I found a kitten & he was living in the kitchen. A couple of wks ago the kitten started to venture out & explore then this morning while we outside cleaning the terrace I heard the kitten squeal, rushed in & he was staggering. Rex went & sat in the porch, but the kitten was very badly hurt internally & died after a few mins.(not mauled, one small puncture wound)
I can`t trust him anymore & I`ve told the resue folk he`ll have to be rehomed but I suppose I`m shocked, it all happened very quickly & it`s only just sinking in really. I`d started to introduce him to some of the girls as well. They mentioned second chance but I don`t think so! Anyone else had this happen?

Christine, Spain.

Not with a kitten, but I'm sure my Dane who is 11 months old would kill a cat if he got it, or one of the Guinea Pigs, or the rabbit!! He has a very high prey drive and sniffs at the GP's through the cage, but goes wild if he thinks he has a chance of getting to them :(

Sorry to hear what happened.

Why can you not trust him ? He may never have seen a small kitten before or encountered a cat worse still he may have been badly hurt by a cat in the past

Has he shown any aggression to other dogs or people ?

You haven't given him much of a chance

When I got my last rescue GSD she obviously had been used to being allowed to chase cats, my cats were very dogwise & ignored her totally being both brought up with GSD's. She learnt that they didn't run away & there was no point in chasing them

Had they been unused to dogs or kittens I would not have allowed her near them without close supervision

She is now totally cat friendly & super with my toy dogs, but is still large dog wary as she had been badly attacked by other GSDs before she was rescued

Very sorry about about the kitten I've had other people's dogs hurt young cats of mine which means I was very careful about bringing up my cats with dogs. A lady near where we live had her husband's employers kill her cat in front of her, but as they were hunting dogs & her husband's bosses hounds she could do nothing & will not have another cat until she moves away

Hi Christine

Sorry to hear what happened but I must say I am a little suprised at your reaction.

It is not nice when any animal kills another, but there is a certain 'law of the jungle' to it. Centuries of cartoon dogs chasing cats chasing mice did have a basis in fact.

Any rescue dog, whatever the size/breed/age/circumstance comes with a certain amount of baggage that the 'new home' will never ever know fully. Lets face it even though we have almost a clean sheet of paper with an 8 week old puppy, there may still be inherited traits that suddenly appear later in that pups life.

Living, as I do, with a breed notorious for not being good with small furry creatures, the hardest bit is trying to explain to other owners that don't think it will ever happen to them, that when your dog has killed, for a while, if not for ever, you may well 'hate' the dog for what it has done.

We have in our time had 3 older dogs come in, in all cases it was at least a year before I really felt we saw the true & final picture of their temperaments, reactions, attitudes etc. With your GSD a few months is not long, and 4 years is a lot of baggage to carry possibly :-)

It sounds like any overly strong nip followed by a rapid retreat rather than a 'lets set out to torment & maul this to death'. Only you know what you deep down want to do, if you can continue to give a home to this dog, however should he go back I would urge you greatly on behalf of all rescues not to get another.

It is unusual not to see you helping others with your kind and sensible advice, I hope this helps you

Hi all, thanks for the input. I`ll just answer generally. Firstly it took me by surprise because none of my 9 other dogs have done this, although only 1 is a rescue but she was a tiny pup when I found her. The kitten had been in the house for about the same time as Rex & he`d never shown much interest in him & I also have another cat aged about 4ish.who comes & goes daily & can sometimes be found sleeping in one of the dogs beds!! Because of the heat here(temps around 40 for a few wks now) all windows & doors are open so impossible to keep the cats in. For about the last 2yrs I`ve only had one cat, Tiger, until Ginger the kitten, but have usually had 2 cats.
About Rex....I was asked by the rescue people if I had room in the boarding kennels to look after 2 males & 3 bitch puppies who had all been living together, for 2wks max. till their kennels were ready, I did so I said yes, Rex was one of the males. He had been abandoned in some pine woods thats a favourite place for dogs to be dumped. They were here for about5/6wks & because as I was going away they had to take them back but I had fallen in love with Rex. Anyway, they brought a family round who wanted him, they were totally wrong for him but because the rescue wrere so desperate would have Rex go with them. I stepped in & said leave him here,it`s not the best time but we`ll manage! All the time I was looking after them Rex just seemed to gain dignity daily, a sense of belonging & it`s been great to see that, he`s a very noble dog & aful to see him cowering. He was very subdued, you only have to raise your voice & he`ll cower so I`m aware he`s been mistreated. But he still retained a sense of himself, if you know what I mean. I in no way hate him for what he`s done, in fact he never got told off as I was busy tending to Ginger & it was too late for telling off.
Maybe I was naive, who knows??? But for now he will stay here, with the same routine, except he will now go & sleep in his outside kennel at night because I do have to ensure my older cat is safe, I couldn`t be so cruel as to do anything else, knowing I now have his trust, until a suitable family can be found for him......or maybe I change my mind :)

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine

I think that is a sensible solution for you to work with, the older cat is a lot more 'aware' and canny I would bet :-)

Good luck I wish the best to you and all your extended family :-)

I woulnd't be making a decision about his future too quickly after one incident which could have been triggered by so many things, and with careful planning avoided altogether - you may regret it for a long time to come. My own dog killed one of my hamsters - it was my own fault, I hadn't checked and double checked the catch on the hamsters cage - there is no way I'd have rehomed a dog for following his natural isntinct in that way.

My own dog killed my bird - not his fault mine. Junior caught tiny (bird) in flight jumped right up and grabbed him. Tiny had no punctures at all I think it was more fright that killed him. Tiny was very special to me. I bought him for my grandma too keep her company and she just loved him to bits, taught him to talk and everything. Then my grandma passed away and he came to live with me so he was more then just a bird , very hard to lose both in the same year. :( But I would never think of getting rid of my dog.

For one it wasn't ur dogs fault the cat died it was urs. Animals are our resposibilty and their actions no matter what they may be we are held responsible for it. Maybe when he is inside keep him on leash around the cats so u can correct him if he decides to do anything he shouldn't. Maybe the cat and him were playing and well he is a big dog he probably played a little (alot) to ruff.

Very sorry for the loss of ur kitten :(

ttfn :)

Kassie killed my rabbit not long after I'd got her- same as your kitten not mauled just one single puncture wound- I put it down to her playing too rough with it. If Kassie ever tried it on with my cat- I'm sure she'd get more than *what for* off him:D

Sorry to hear about the kitten Christine, hope you're feeling a little better ow about things:)

Stacey x x x

Hi Christine so sorry about the little kitten, like you i had a kitten that got killed by one of my dogs .
I felt very angry as it was belonged to little grandaughter Aislinn.
However not all dogs like cats and sometimes there is a killing.
I had got over the anger next day and realised i had not taken enough care to see it did not happen.
so spent a few days being angry with myself. All your reactions are natural ones .Hope you feel better soon and I know any decision you make will be the right one .All the best Mari

Hi Christine Im also sorry about the poor kitten but its probably a one off , a long time ago we had a lab who killed one of my Yorkies he had found a bag of goodies and the yorkie went over to look and he snapped at him the yorkie (who was tiny)died instantly there was no marks on him ,we were all in shock and I did rehome my Lab to someone in the family but he led a blameless life after that never ever did anything like it again he died recently age 13.

Just a thought but it sounds like you didn't see what happened? Is it possible that either this was an accident (the dog playing too rough with the kitten) or that the kitten did something to provoke the dog's reaction? A GSD male could easily kill a kitten by simply picking it up too roughly. Do you know that he went after it as prey? Sounds unlikely to me if he had lived peacefully with the kitten and cat for several months. Surely if he had a strong prey drive he would've shown signs of chasing long ago?
A tragic thing to happen but - I would agree with others - rehoming him seems like an overreaction (understandable though it is as an emotional reaction).
Janet

Hi Christine.

I've been very fortunate never to have had a problem like that with any of my 7 adult dogs, and my 2 cats, however, I understand that it must have been absolutely awful.
Two of my bitches had a fight, one GSD, and one collie cross. The GSD was so close to killing the collie.....it was horrific.....if it had been one of the cats, there's no way it would have survived. I'm still upset about it now, and my collie is still alive, so I really do understand how awful it must be to have your kitten killed.
I can also see that you love this dog, and the dog has obviously come on in leaps and bounds since he's been with you.
I'm not trying to make you feel guilty........but seriously, maybe this was a one off.....an awful thing to happen...but something that is natural to dogs.
It's not easy to feel the same way about a dog after they've done something like this, but deep down, you still love them.

Ahhhhh go on...give him another chance!

Again, really sorry to hear about the kitten.

Take care

Lisa

He`s still here & I`m still thinking :)

Christine, Spain.

I'm still inclined to think it was more acident than malice, abit of "of Mice and Men" where the big man always ended up killing the pet mice. :(

Maybe seen as you have another cat, would re-homing him be an option? Maybe with friends or family so you can still see him? No one would blame you, personally I would think it was the right thing to do, for the safety of the other cat?
Good luck whatever you decide :-)

Hi Christine,coming from spain think about the puppyhood your GSD has probably had, the rejection and little time spent with him to adjust to a normal life. coming into the house he couldn't believe his luck! you sound a very experienced dog person, so show him what is expected of him, in a gentle but firm manner. its like starting over again for him. I took on a Saluki/greyhound cross and she clearly wanted to kill my cat when i fist brought her home and with a sharp tug on the lead and a low toned NO! and followed by praise if the desired results were displayed, she soon got the message, and is 100% livestock proof and has learnt to share our home with ferrets and other animals in harnmony. give him a chance his clingyness shows he loves you and Work on his insecurities. all the best willow

Hi Christine. So sorry to hear about your kitten, I have to agree with the other responses though, I'm sure this has been a simple case of a big dog being too rough, he probably thought the kitten was a toy, it sounds to me as though he picked him up once and the damage was done. Being a rescue dog he has probably had a terrible life, please don't give up on him for this one mistake, give him a chance at a happy home, I'm sure you won't regret it. Good luck with your little family :)