# German Shepherd and Uncontrollable Prey Drive



## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

MANY times I have heard how you can NEVER have a German Shepherd and small animals like cats. These dogs have unrepressable prey drive and will kill any cats they see.. or other small animals. You can NEVER train it out of them. 

Here is a Graphic Illustration..... 

(BTW I still never leave any dog with cats alone together unsupervised)


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

My Brom is part GSD and he is constantly what I call "sucking up" to my big cat. He used to chase my little cat when he was younger but he is much better now. I can call him back when he goes to see her and most times now he will watch her run by and not even make a motion to follow. 

With Frodo, my big cat, he will groom him and lick his ears and just generally try to get on his good side. As I am typing this he just went over to Frodo and wagged his tail and gave him a little lick. Then he backed up and went over to lay down. Frodo rules the roost here, much to my unhappiness. The dogs do what he says. He also takes every opportunity to beat them up when he can 

The dogs are always in their crates when we are not home.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Cracker (obviously not a GSD, but certainly a "hunter) thinks outdoor cats are for chasing (keep your cats INSIDE people!) but my cat, Tagger, rules the indoors. They sleep together and cuddle but if Tagger is on/under the bed, Cracker will not get up..she's afraid Tagger will protect his territory...he hisses and she skitters across the floor like it was a lion she was dealing with...too funny.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

I forgot that, outdoor cats are considered "fair game" by both my dogs. I don't ever let them near any cats we might come across on our walks. Our neighbours across the street have a kitten (maybe around 6-7 months old) and she is absolutely fearless. When we walk by their house she will actually cross the road and stalk my dogs. NOT a good idea! It is hard enough to keep them focused on the walk when there is a cat around, let alone trying to keep the cat away too! I actually had to step into the road with Brom one day because she was standing in the middle of the street and there was a car coming. Luckily the driver was watching us (me and my DH and the dogs) so she was already going slow and stopped when I stepped out. She saw the cat then. It is hard to see a small white cat in the dark on a snow covered road! I really wish they would keep her inside.


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## Blizzard (Jan 18, 2009)

I think it's the other way round- the cats are th dangerous ones. Blizzard (whose mostly GSD) loves my cat Pixie, but Pixie insists that he is some sought of a punching bag. And at first Iwas afraid that Blizzard might hurt him


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## chrisn6104 (Jun 8, 2009)

Never say never when it comes to dogs.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

When my dog sees a cat ANYWHERE (outside too) she instantly wants to be friends. No chasing.. and if the outside cat hisses at her she looks so disappointed (ears down and sadly looks at me). 

Neighbors up the road had two cats and Atka would walk up and lie down.. and try so hard for them to not be afraid. She just wants them to come over and rub on her.

I still watch her and have her under control.. and I still do not let her and cats alone together. A dog can kill a cat just playing.


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## chriley58 (Mar 9, 2009)

THat is definitely a cat eating dog! You can see the fear in the cat!

Our cat, Oreo, will walk up to dogs to greet them. His brother, who lives on the other side of our neighborhood, runs right up to our three dogs and rubs all over them everytime we are out for a walk. Our dogs start looking from him as soon as we are at the boundary of their property. Oreo likes to go for walks with us around the neighborhood so we are usually the ones walking the three dogs and at least one of our cats.


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## Amnesia (Jan 26, 2010)

I've never in 26 years had a dog that chases cats. Never trained them to chase them. All my dogs have just thought that cats were funny looking puppies.

I did however have one cat that thought he was a dog. Used to walk on the leash, chase dogs down the street, eat dried dog food...


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

All 5 of my cats walk on a leash. The kitten in the photo is learning. 

When I had my last dog (also a GSD that loved cats) I used to take them all to the vet for their annual exam. The cats came in on leash and the dog was at heel off leash (dog never was on leash but she was very well trained). We would sit in the waiting room with all cats and dog in a line sitting on the floor. We then went to the scale and the dog got weighed first and then the cats each got weighed. I would tell each in turn to "hop up" on the scale (and they would) and then tell each one to "have a seat" and they would sit so they could be weighed. 

None of my dogs ever chased a cat either. Inside or outside. I do hear a lot of people say they "cannot" train their dog to "not chase things." I have never yet met a dog that I could not train to NOT chase things. 

I have not met all the dogs in the world yet tho.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Susie loves my barn cat but when we stopped in at my nephews, Susie was the one being chased. Both his cats attacked her, leaped on her back and were clawing at her. Poor Susie, all she wanted to do was get away.


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## Purley (Sep 7, 2009)

My son's dog, Cooper, has really high prey drive. In our city cats are not allowed to run at large. There is a bylaw that says cats have to be in the house or in their own yard. 

The neighbour (who is an idiot) lets her cats run outside all the time. The cat was on top of the fence one day and Cooper almost got it. My son would not willingly let Cooper kill the cat, but if he is outside and the cat illegally comes in their yard - he says Cooper would kill the cat if he got near it.


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## BrittanyG (May 27, 2009)

My cat is bigger than my Chi. Everytime I let her out to potty, Luke (cat) will wait til she's done, then will chase her back to the door. He also turns my Rott into a giant puppy, just by walking by.


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## FlashTheRottwuggle (Dec 28, 2009)

Good thing I didn't know this about German Shepherds earlier in life. Both my previous dogs had GSD in them and both lived with cats. My 120 lb Husky/GSD/Lab mix would lay around the barn and let the little kittens climb all over him. Mama cat felt confident that Casper was "babysitting" and would leave him with her kittens to go hunting. My 55 lb GSD/Lab mix was "mama" to our first house cat (we got her as a small kitten when her mother was hit by a truck). He cleaned her and always let her eat first from his bowl if she wanted to. Eventually Shep ended up with 3 cats to "care" for.



Elana55 said:


> None of my dogs ever chased a cat either. Inside or outside. I do hear a lot of people say they "cannot" train their dog to "not chase things." I have never yet met a dog that I could not train to NOT chase things.


Not only did I train Shep not to chase things, we had specific commands so he would know what he could chase and what he couldn't. Since our first cat's name was Simba, when I saw a neighbor's cat and he started tensing, I would say "it's just a Simba" and he relaxed and went back to walking. In our yard he would watch me if he saw a cat, waiting for a command. We have dozens of feral cats in the woods out back and they spray and fight and are a nuisance. So if I said "Cat" he chased them (never caught any). 

Commands not to chase were Simba (cats), bunny, bird (song birds, etc) and deer.

Commands that it was okay to chase (only used in the safety of our large yard) were cat, squirrel, woodchuck and crow. He only ever caught one squirrel by the tail and it surprised him so he let go quick. All the squirrels learned to climb higher before stopping to chatter as Shep always leapt a good body's length up the tree after them.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

My last dog herded cattle and she had to learn that as well.. what and when to chase and what and when not to. She used to kill raccoons (because they made a mess in the barn and they carried Lepto). 

One year we raised a raccoon on a bottle.. named him Ricky and he lived in the barn. When I got to the barn in the dark of the morning there were always Raccoons that needed chasing down.. and Kazi would do that. Except for Ricky. She knew Ricky and they were buds.. so she would Barrel down thru the barn at this raccoon and slide to a stop and start lickinghis head as he felt her nose and her tongue and teeth  with his "hands." 

Kazi was very biddable (had to be for herding. I could send her to kill a wood chuck.. she could have it in her mouth and if I told her "enough" she woud drop it and let it run away. That is what training can do.


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

It took some work but Nash doesn't go after our cats anymore. Other cats he will, but will call off of them. One thing he likes to do is sneak up on the cats and muzzle punch them and then run away as fast as he can.


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## Max's Mom (Feb 24, 2009)

Neither of my GSD mixes chase cats or other small critters. In fact my smallest cat used to sleep between Mick's (GSD/Dane 135lbs.) paws. It was her favorite "bed". 

Now Puddin' is another story. She is a GSD and I think that she would kill a cat if she got hold of one. She is kept separate from my cat. She lowers herself and gets this crazed look in her eyes which are locked on any cat that she sees. It's not the happy "oh boy look at him run" type attitude that some of my other dogs had.


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## Blizzard (Jan 18, 2009)

See what I mean by cats being more dangerous? Blizzard is terrified


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## Bones (Sep 11, 2009)

I hate to admit this but Bones chases the cats all over the house- his prey drive is very high. He really likes the cat poo aftertaste and always licks at their rears :O


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

I have 2 GSD's, both rescues.

Kaya couldn't care less if a cat is around, no problem.

Hope otoh would take out any cat she sees.

I hope to train it out of her some day but I don't know if I ever can. If I had her from a pup rather than getting her at 3yrs I don't think it would be an issue, but as it is cats turn her prey drive on big time.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

When another animal's life is in danger I do not hesitate to use aversive corrections to get the point across to the dog if other methods tried first do not work. 

IF you were herding with this dog, and you could not stop him, you could put your livestock thru a fence or over a cliff (and I am not saying you are herding, just using it as an example). There IS a way to put a stop on your dog. You may not want to figure out what that is, or use it if you do, but there is a way. 

Even tho Atka seldom does herding (I do not have my farm anymore) I still have put a stop on her. In this case it is not only to prevent her hurting another animal, it is also to prevent her from chasing and ending up in a dangerous situation. 

I got her at 6 months old.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

Elana55 said:


> When another animal's life is in danger I do not hesitate to use aversive corrections to get the point across to the dog if other methods tried first do not work.
> 
> IF you were herding with this dog, and you could not stop him, you could put your livestock thru a fence or over a cliff (and I am not saying you are herding, just using it as an example). There IS a way to put a stop on your dog. You may not want to figure out what that is, or use it if you do, but there is a way.
> 
> ...


I got Hope at 3yrs, not a good stop on her yet but I'm working on it.

Beginning to think only an e-collar might work though.


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

Elana55 said:


> MANY times I have heard how you can NEVER have a German Shepherd and small animals like cats. These dogs have unrepressable prey drive and will kill any cats they see.. or other small animals. You can NEVER train it out of them.
> 
> Here is a Graphic Illustration.....
> 
> (BTW I still never leave any dog with cats alone together unsupervised)


Here is Auz and my soon-to-be 3 year old tabby cat, when we were bottle raising him. Graphic picture warning... 
http://www.grammieshouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/Auznanny.JPG.w300h225.jpg
Auz and his kittens
http://www.grammieshouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/bigbadauz.jpg.w180h178.jpg


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## Morrwyn (Aug 13, 2009)

Yup GSD are absolutely vicious with kitties.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

LazyGRanch713 said:


> Here is Auz and my soon-to-be 3 year old tabby cat, when we were bottle raising him. Graphic picture warning...
> http://www.grammieshouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/Auznanny.JPG.w300h225.jpg
> Auz and his kittens
> http://www.grammieshouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/bigbadauz.jpg.w180h178.jpg


I believe I could probably raise a cat in my house with Hope, though she might eat it I think her pack instincts would win out.

But she certainly isn't safe with any cat I have seen. She goes way over the top with excitement, lunges at the end of the leash literally howling and yelping with desire to get loose and go after it.

Dunno if I can ever train that out of her.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

Train the DOWN first. This is anywhere and no matter what. Non negotiable. Work at it all over. Insist on it. Be 100% consistent. EVERYWHERE YOU GO. Randomly ask for it and if it is not immediately complied with, go and enforce it so it is complied with. Let her know this is Non Negotiable. IF you ask for down, be sure you CAN enforce it. 

As you do this, add more and more exciting stuff. Tell her down and throw her ball. She is to remain down. Do not release her to get the ball.. you go get it. Put a rope bone on a short piece of rope and drag it past her.. and have her Down. As you are walking anywhere and she is walking, ask for Down. Eventually throw her ball and cue her down (on a long line first time) as she is chasing the ball. 

The point is to train her to Down no matter what when you ask.. even if there is another dog, a squirrel, a cat...... (and yeah.. it can be a lot of work!).


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