penny problems; more like penny chaos
as most of you know i have a mix, hound dog that was breed for hunting, mainly hogs. The blood lines go way back, with catahoola, and ridgebacks, very very competent hunting dogs, especially tracking. well she is about 10 months. very long legged and skinny, she can run at supersonic sppeeds. when she was about 7 or 8 monthst she satrted killing rabbits, and steal rats from the many barn cats. we didn't think anything of it, actually we thought that it was nice she would keep the ever growing bunny population under control. not thinking that she would not recognize the difference between kittens and rabbits!!!!! so we have had a few incidents were she has killed a kitten that was about 4 months old, then they got worse where now she has killed off everycat except for the two mothers and the two tom cats and about four various stages of kittens that we have managed to protect. if she is out for even a few minutes and is not on a lweash she will freak out. the cats are shut up in the barn most of the time but latley it has been to hot for them to stay in there as the ventialtion is not so good. we have had to keep penny and koda in our small 40x16 recantagle shaped yard with a house in the middle. there is lots of grass but no shade during the hottest part of the day 95-103 degrees. they are used to going down to the tank and swimming whenevre they were hot. but know with me working full time 1pm-11pm some days and 6.3o am -4pm other days my scheduled is messed up. Chris is out of twon for a convention for two weeks. there is just not al ot of time to get them the exercise and shade they need. as you might recall these dogs are still on his parents property, svaing for a house, so they said of penny kills a nother cat that we ahve to get rid of her, and that's putting it the nicest way possible. i am having such a hard time with this. b/c she won't stop killing them , and we need to be able to trust her to be by herself for more that 3 minutes without killing smaller rodent shped things. just this past day i went out to my vehichle let them run down to the take for i swear 5 min. i go back out to call them and Daisy(one of the momma's) is having a little, penny has alrewady killed 2. i save one and give it back to her, daisy is trying to escape, and penny takes her down. let6s just say i don't thing i have ever been that mad at a living thing before. her is sweet sweet cat that is in the process of giving birth and running to saftey and to protect herself, when this dog comes flying at her. chris came and drug penny into the fence. i just stuck the dead kitten near daisy to see what she would do. this is only her third litter, and she has had atleast one kitten die each time due to circumstances. if chris's parents find out that penny kille dthose two kittens she is as good as dead. i do not want to euthinize her, that just seems to hasty. but tryiing to find a home where she can run and get the same amount of love, without cats will be extremly difficult, espesially in my neck of the woods, i do not know one single person who does niot own a cat to keep the rodents or snakes away. my heart breaks at the thought of letting her go, b/c she is so sweet natured. i would hate to see her chained on an 8 ft lead all day long just waiting for hog season, where the only human contact would be at feeding time, as the owner walked by and threw one cup of food to her. i just am at a loss of how to handle this. i hate always writing about problems but i don't know what to do. we have tried petting them together, spraying the kittens and cats with this bitter root spray, scolding, using commands, spanking, but it's like she goes deaf and dumb when she sees a cat. i have had to physically wrestle a kitten out of her mouth before. i am at a loss. shannon |
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| She is doing what she was bred to do and what has been encouraged in the past, hunting.l I don't think you can expect her to differentiate between bunnys and kittens. I don't think you have any option other than to keep her on a leash or contained. How about a fenced yard to run in.
My family always had hunting dogs that were used for hunting and although they were greatly beloved and well treated they were hunting dogs and were kept in a pen unless they were under the supervision and control of one of my uncles. |
| I once owned a Weimaraner - the breed was bred to hunt bobcats in Germany. He was a wonderful pet; but once a neighbor's cat was spotted e houses away. Gunner shot down there like a bullet; grabbed the cat by the neck, shook it to break its neck, then set it down and walked away like a psychotic killer. It's very difficult to change behavior that is in the genes. I don't think you're going to be able to resolve the problem without getting rid of one or the other. I'm sorry you're dealing with such a difficult situation. |
| nope, you can't get the instinct out! my roomie's beagle does the same thing, she kills bunnies, kitties, snakes... my blossom kills and eats bunnies, but luckily she hasn't caught a cat yet (they said at the shelter she got along great with cats, they were sadly mistaken).
if you get the cats fixed so they don't have any more kitties, it seems like you'd be solving a huge part of the problem. maybe plant a few trees in your yard or buy a dogloo or other doghouse to provide some shade. Heck, buy a $10 kiddie pool and leave it filled for the pooches. |
| If you think the dog can handle the job of mousing and rodent and snake control, then I would re locate the cats to someone else's farm. If the cats must stay, then I think you should build a pen for the dog and keep it away from the cats. |
| For a temp solution while you're t work, give them a shde cover and a swimming pool of their own. |
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