Minnie beat up a poodle

I am not sure what to do...Minnie is territorial, he doesn't like other kitties for sure in his yard...I have to say he is the sweetest kitty. Today on his break outside he was sunning on the drive way I was out there with him doing yard work...Well, someone walking their toy poodle had the dog off-leash and the dog ran up to Minnie and Minnie swatted at him then started chasing him Minnie caught him and was about to pounce on him when I grabbed Minnie..The dog was scared...I felt bad I have never ever seen Minnie do that..He has two brothers(large dogs)...I put him in time out for a little while so he could have some relax time...Didn't know really what else to do? Was he going to beat the little dog up?? Maybe he has had enough of dogs chasing him

The poodle came on your property right? Perhaps you have a guard kitty

He was being brave, not something to be punished for.

that's great, you have a guard kitty, next step is to buy one of those signs that says this house guarded by an attack kitty it wasn't yours or Minnie's fault, Minnie was in his yard and that poodle shouldn't have been off his leash- maybe that'll teach the poodle's owner

He was just "guarding" his lawn. Funny thing, Mitten was terrified of dogs (big or small) - got treed a few times by them.

One day this dog started coming on to the property and Mitten actually took out AFTER the dog and chased him off - he didn't run from the dog. Thought it was pretty weird and cool

Good cat! I agree - you have a guard cat - and also, I agree, the dog should not have been off leash. What if it had been a large dog that ran up to your cat? That would have been very scary!

Agreed, that's pretty normal behavior. There's a difference between the dogs in your household, which your cat has learned to live with, and strange animals. Strange animals -- particularly ones that wander onto a cat's territory -- are a threat.

I can't believe anyone with a tiny toy poodle would risk letting him off the leash! Maybe the owner learned something from the encounter. It could so easily have been, not a cat, but a great big dog who could have swallowed that poodle in a single gulp!

I found out this morning that the toy poodle was a visiting my next door neighbor...thats why she didn't have her on leash...I didn't even see them walk up..Anyway, my neighbor is really cool she has 4 dogs and 1 cat....so she was laughing however her friend was a little angry
Now that I have been really watching his interactions; Hulk(my 68lb Boxer) runs from him too Minnie is the king of this jungle.

Here's cute puppy vs cat videos I found - its really funny.

Smart kitty!

I have a miniature poodle and she does get to come outside with me off-leash... however her recall is VERY strong and she knows better than to go off chasing cats. Sometimes I let her chase squirrels in the park... it's cute; she'll see one, perk up, and then sit her little fanny on the ground and look around at me, waiting for the okay to give chase.

If she were silly enough to approach a cat, especially after I called her back, I certainly wouldn't be miffed if the cat decided to eat her lunch! I'd probably be sitting on the sidewalk laughing.

Just how small was that toy poodle? If he was 5 pounds or less, I'd look back at the incident and see if that mightn't actually have been predatory behavior. Very small dogs might look an awful lot like big rats to your cat.

Anyway, I don't think it's behavior that ought to be encouraged--it's aggression against somebody else's pet; and that's not a good trait to have in a cat. Not that a cat would do much harm against a dog any bigger than that toy poodle, unless she got the dog's eyes with her claws; but still... I wouldn't like the idea of my cat becoming the bully on the block. The time out was pretty appropriate, in my mind--give the cat time to calm down, remove her from the situation.

Guard cat? OK. But attack cat? Not so good.

Still, I would probably have laughed at the little dog yipping away with its tail between its legs... Why wasn't it on a leash, anyway? Dogs ought to be leashed...

Minnie has been tree'd so many times by dogs in the neighborhood..I think he wasn't going to have it anymore...He was standing up for himself and I am glad..He is not aggressive and hasn't ever showed signs of it. The poodle was probably 7 or 8 pounds but again it came chasing after Minnie. Minnie was more pissed he has to get up from his sun area then about the dog In my opinion some of the smaller dogs have prey drives that have been ignored or not addressed because of their size. Our boxer we have worked really hard on his so that when he see a cat we say "leave it" and he is on his way. For some reason, in this neighborhood people think that because they have small dogs it is okay for them to be off leash, but those have been those dogs that chase Minnie up the tree.

Our Meggie hates small dogs. My SMIL and FIL have a yorkie poo, and Meggie was stalking her and had that "I'm gonna kill me a dog" look in her eyes (a very scary look, I have to admit!) She tried to eat her; we had to save the dog ! 100 lb. GS, no problem; goofy, foot slappin, cat squashin' Boxer, her best friend ...So, no more small dogs in our house...

Catsallover-

Goofy foot slappin....that is the boxer

My vet last week also said that running off the retaining wall, landing in the driveway and beating and scraping the heck out of her hide while "playing chase" with one of her cats is "Boxer" too (she should know, I think she has 7...) (she's fine now... ). Yes, goofy dog...