Casper (male Weimaraner, 3 years old) is getting increasingly keen on chasing anything that moves.  We got two kittens in the summer and they know to keep well away from him.  It is just that since we got the cats anything that moves seems to set him off on a panting, frothing at the mouth frenzy.  He will chase birds (that are flying!) and spends ages running about the garden sniffing at where the cats have been.  He will spend up to 10 minutes just staring through the gate into the field opposite incase they are in there.  I am just getting worried now that his newly awakened 'blood lust' (I have no doubt as to what Casper will do if he catches anything) will spread to small dogs.  His recall when out is perfect, but if he smells the cats in the garden it as if we don't exist.  I just worry that if he sees something small and furry running about on the field it will be fair game in the eyes of Casper.  Do you think he could progress to trying to catch small dogs, or isn't it likely?  Am I worrying for nothing? :rolleyes:

Personally I wouldn't be that worried - my dobe is a nightmare with anything small and furry, he goes absolutely ballistic at strange cats - and he isn't too good with my own cat either.  But he can tell the difference between prey and little dogs, even at a distance.  The same is true of my rott mix, and she's a certified rabbit killer!

How did you introduce the kittens? When we got kittens we introduced thgem to my certified rabbit killers in a big cage at first. In the beginning the hounds were curious but they soon got used to the kittens and now live happily with the adult cats. That wouldn't stop them chasing strange cats, and as I said, they are all hunters of small furries. I've - rarely - known them to make a mistake about small dogs running in long grass but when they get close and realise it is another dog they pull up. That apart, they would never dream of going for a small dog and hopefully Caspar will be the same. In my experience 'blood lust' does not transfer from permitted game to other animals so I don't think you have too much to worry about.

I've seen a pair of GSD's chasing 3 Italian Greyhounds in the park - not all dogs can tell the difference. I'm sure these dogs would have harmed the IGs if they'd caught them - luckily the little dogs were much faster!!

I am 100% certain that my boy does get confused when smaller dogs are some distance away and regularly believes them to be cats. He has a particular growling/huffing noise that he reserves just for cats and foxes, which he detests. Occassionally when a smaller dog is walking in the distance ahead of us  he makes exactly the same noise, is up on his toes, straining to be off, which he never does to other dogs, so he is obviously mistaken. I am not sure how close he would get before his sense of smell would help him realise the error

Nothing small and furry is safe from Nips who has an exceedingly high prey drive! When he has his hunting head on very little distracts him either. However, he has never confused a dog with the various other species of hunting choice which are, in order of preference, weasels, rabbits, pheasants and cats.

Nothing big and furry is safe either!  My two cavie pups are smaller than my mums cats, but they still try to play with and chase them!  They have no fear!  The cats soon let them know when they've had enough though!

Moose my eldest bitch has always been a bird chaser :rolleyes:

Moose and Duds have become so much more 'Hunter' driven when out on walks since changing them over to Barf I could say 'LEAVE' if there was any dead animal on the walk but Moose now has even today chased off a Red Kite (sp) and finished off it's brekkie Wonderful watching the bird fly off