dog aggressive dog a danger to cats?

HEllo friends

well as i have said many times i am now working with a TNR service and trapping and releasing all the feral cats around my house. I am currently waiting for spay/nuter vouchers and someone to come out with cage.

One of the people realized i live in a large house and love animals and have previous experience with dogs so asked if i could foster this 9 year old aussie shepherd who is going to be put down due to it being very dog aggressive.

She only wants me to take him for a week or so because she knows i have roomates comming with dogs.

HOwever what are the chances this dog is going to be aggressive to cats? My current rescue that was a duped stray is now living in my house and is like a dog as in it just wants to be everywhere with me. I noitced this cat is not afraid of other dogs and seems to be very interested in them and wants to play fight because of the way it acted towards my friends dog. She thinks all dogs are happy friendly wrestling friends for her to play with.

Anyways i feel sorry for the aussie shepherd but the cat is much more important to me and i will never risk her safety and if something happend to her because of me i could never live with myself. ANyways tell me what u guys think i have experience with dogs never a dog aggressive dog so not sure how safe that dog would be with cats i am waiting on a reply from the owners to tell me how she reacts with cats also.

It's possible. Being that this dog is a herding breed there's other behaviors that it will have with small animals that need to be looked for and corrected. Definitely do not leave the dog alone with any cat as you are not completely familiar with how it will act.

I grew up with pits, a breed that is notoriously dog aggressive (only one of ours was), that didn't have any aggression towards our cats. But they did grow up with them.

I admire you for trying to do so very much...but I would say no. You know the dog is aggressive. IMO there is nothing more to say.

I feel for the dog, I really do. I love all animals. But you know how he is. I saw my sons dog kill a cat, and it isn't anything I ever want to see again.

You answered your own question when you say your cat is important to you and you would never risk its safety.

IMO you would be doing that exact thing, if you bring an aggressive shepherd into your home.

the owner just e mailed me and said the dog is godo with cats

Originally Posted by chausiefan

the owner just e mailed me and said the dog is godo with cats

Click to expand...

I would want to witness that. I know the testing that some people do with dog and cat interactions and it is questionable.

It all depends on why the dog is aggressive with other dogs. If it's a deep seated alpha issue, I've seen dogs go after people as well as other dogs, and if they are willing to attack dogs and people, why not cats?

I've lived with dogs nearly as long as I have with cats and I would not volunteer for that situation. If you have a separate room where you could keep the dogs away from the cats 100% of the time, and it was only for 1 week, then you could consider it. But I would have a muzzle on it anytime it was out of that room.

ok thanks she says her dog is very good with the cat that she lives with but shes never met any other cat

she said the cat she lives with and her dog currently play and chase each other

If you do end up bringing this dog into your home, make your cat as an escape place where ONLY SHE can go to. My Husky can get a bit testy and aggressive with cats, so I leave our bedroom baby gated, it's Blossom's (cat) safe place and the dogs are not allowed in it. She knows it and the dogs know it, but I keep the gate up just in case. Blossom also have access to a high cat tree, which of course the dogs cannot reach. Even if they do seem to get along, don't leave them alone unsupervised. When I am not home, my dogs are kenneled.

Dog aggression is dog aggression. Period. It does NOT mean that a dog will be aggressive toward people or other animals. Dog interactions are complicated, and some dogs just plain don't like other dogs. Sigh...it always bothers me when people are all "Eek, he attacked another dog and that means he's going to kill my children!!". It does not. It means he attacked another dog. That's all.

My first dog was a Lab that absolutely HATED all other dogs and would attack them viciously. I don't know what went wrong....Labs are supposed to love everybody. She was wonderful with children and cats. Oh, she loved her kitties.

I think it's worth a try with this dog. Since she likes her kitty now I think she'll probably be fine if introduced to your cats properly. If she ends up being cat-aggressive as well, it will be an entirely different issue from her dog-aggression.

I am an all around animal lover, and I understand wanting to help this aussie, they're wonderful dogs and I cannot imagine having a dog PTS for an agression issue, these can be worked on and handled in almost all cases.

(this is not to say there aren't those dogs that just seem to have a wire missing, its just not always the case)

a lot of dog agression can stem from not properly socializing the animal when it's a puppy, which is crucial, as well as mis-interpreting what looks to be "play" during puppyhood and shrugging it off as the dog just being a puppy.

I'm curious if this dog has attacked multiple dogs or one dog?

I'd keep the dog leashed, and supervised when you first bring it home until it's comfortable for you to let go of the leash (keep the leash on incase you need to correct the dog)

Also, if the dog knows commands like sit, stay, lay etc. Be in tuned to the dogs signs, no dog attacks without showing before hand. The signs may be subtle, but look for stiffness, ear position, tail position etc, a dog will tell before it attacks. If you see this behavior, correct it, give the dog a sit/stay or a lay/stay command. When it does, reward it, and do your best to keep the dogs attention on you, not what it's going after.

Try looking into some clicker training, freshen up on that, and then check out the book "click to calm" by Karen Pryor. It may definately help, and know that a hearding/working breed like that is GOING to need to have something to do, they're full of energy and need for activity so be ready for walks and ball games.

I feel clicker training may reallly do well considering the breed (it works well usually anyways) but its a similar method to training hearding dogs anyways. (from my understanding)

I don't think this dog is a bad idea, just be sure to know what you're getting into, and make certain the dog knows a proper heel on a leash before taking it on public walks. This can easily be clicker trained too, and you want the dog at your side or behind you, should he/she see another dog immediately command the sit stay and refocus the dogs attention to you, but be prepared for a yank just in case

Just remember, if there is a dog encounter, DO NOT, get nervous or show fear or worry, the dog will pick up on this and it will only make the problem worse. Stay completely calm and confident throughout any situation, it will greatly help the dog.