I don't understand putting a dog down for preydrive.^I just have to say to what's said above... Sadly, I know someone who euthanized three of their own dogs for killing their own cats. All on the property, out in the country where they let their (at the time) six dogs run around freely. So sad... Since this person continues to own both cats and dogs, when it clearly wasn't the dogs fault and none of them had human aggression(apparently one of them was 'questionable' but that's besides the point. and it's not like the dog did any serious damage to anyone). I'm also RELATED to someone who had their black lab escape from his outdoor kennel and kill their cat in the garage. They euthanized the dog for that, too. I hate stories like this. They make me sick.
Yeah, like I said: I don't think i could bring myself to KILL THE DOG for being a dog. I also don't see keeping dogs and cats without some precautions in place (like, oh, supervision, a baby gate, and dog crates). I just occasionally run into people foaming at the mouth for someone rehoming a dog for killing or mauling a cat, and as much as I'd like to think I wouldn't knee-jerk to rehoming... I likely would. I don't think it would be fair to THE DOG, if I couldn't get over myself.The problem is, is that they weren't doing appropriate things to avoid this. The dogs were free-ranging outside and killed their indoor-outdoor cats. And I, also, would have a hard time keeping my dog if he killed my cat. But I would just send him to a home where there were no cats, not end his life. All the dogs I was talking about, had no idea what they did was wrong.
There was, seriously, a pomeranian that killed an infant. Link to article. Dogs are animals with teeth. Any animal with teeth can bite, and can do damage. Granted, in this case it's 'adult supervising' fail but - how many children bitten by dogs ISN"T because of parenting fail? People decide their dogs are entirely safe and could never hurt anyone, and crap happens - like walking away for 'just a minute'. Funnily enough, people with dogs like pits and rotts are less likely to have that kind of mindset than people with poms and labs.LOL! Sorry Johnny!
That just creates a weird Monty Python image in my head!
It isn't a case of needing to prove a point, it's that sometimes strangers? Do unpredictable things. SOmetimes? Outside influences come into play. 100% faith your dog will never, ever, bite to the point of not taking precautions is foolish, and dangerous. You can have faith in your DOG all you want, but don't forget about things like redirected aggression, fear, pain, another dog being aggressive or someone being an idiot. You can't control all those outside influences or other people, but you CAN control your DOG and keep him from becoming another dog-bite statistic. As a responsible owner you should WANT to do that.I truly can guarantee my dog wouldn't bite a person under conditions that the person WASN'T doing any harm to him. My dog does exceptionally well with strangers, and the only thing that needs to be watched with him, is that he tends to jump and THAT can scare people, but it's not aggressive and it probably wouldn't seriously injure anyone. Although it might really upset a young child, but even then they still probably wouldn't be left majorly scarred or anything. I truly believe my dog would never, ever bite someone (like I said, as long as that someone wasn't attacking him or obviously hurting him in some way) and I'll stand by that. If I need to post a youtube video of "Sharky and a million strangers" to prove my point, I will.
And that's the rest of the 'thing', here. If you know you have a high-prey drive dog (and come on, terriers? This isn't news) you do what's necessary to contain them and keep them from hurting someone else's pets.Watching three of your pet cats being mauled to death and then being pinned against a car by dogs would certainly qualify, in my opinion, for a person to be rightfully scared. There is never an excuse or reason for someone's dog(s) to kill another person's animals especially when the animals are in their own yard. It doesn't matter the breed of dog.
I also have PTSD. Your Doctor should not be telling you that you are behaving irrationally, but his goal -and yours- should be able to go out, see these dogs, and be okay. That's what the help is for: to disarm the triggers so your every day life is not negatively impacted, and so that you are not *behaving* irrationally in situations that do not call for it. Do you have reason for trauma? Yes. But PTSD, by its nature, is a reaction that does not fit the situation. So, yeah, ultimately you can't -and should not want to- make the things that trigger you to go away. The goal is to disarm them so they're not triggers, anymore. PTSD is rough. You have my sympathy.I previously stated that I am getting help. But from my doctor's point of view? I'm not behaving irrationally. In a short span of time I had three very violent experiences. To not avoid bully breeds would be foolish on my part. I talked to several vets and trainers who have admitted there is a real problem with aggressive dogs being adopted out to inexperienced owners that have no business owning them. A vet at one of the best animal clinics in Chicago said that there's nothing wrong with exhibiting extra caution with unknown dogs of a specific breed. I've already been threaten three times and an animal professional told me to be cautious. That's a threat.
