You do not mention your dogs age, gender or breed, but you do mention cats, plural, so one assumes that this has happened more than once and the dog is an adult, probably male. If that's the case, it is probably already too late. Once a dog has focussed its prey drive on a particular species, there is little that can be done to break that focus, and it will on occassion expand to include other small animals, including other dogs. This has cost many a dog his life, euthanised because of neighbours complaints to the police. If you don't want this to happen to your dog, then the first thing to do is get him neutered. If he is already neutered, or if there is even an inkling of aggressiveness after he has been neutered, then you had best get him a muzzle for wear at all times when he is outside the house. If you have a fenced yard -- and you should -- put up a beware of the dog sign. And never let him run loose in the neighbourhood unsupervised. This is serious advice, because this is a serious problem. If you are unable to cope with this behaviour by any of the means above, than find your dog a new home, where he will have a large, fenced yard, and tell the new owners why he needs to be relocated. Best of luck to you and him.

You need to put your dog to sleep. Next time it could be a neighbors small child, so do yourself a favor. There are many other non-aggressive dogs out there waiting for a good home.

kill it

Put this in your back yard.

Superglue his paws to the garden path.

get the dog assessed , this is coming from a distraught owner of a cat just 2 days ago ripped apart and killed by a irish grey hound that was on a lead but unmuzzled although attacked before the dog owner could notrestrain and has dog took no notice of her commands

I agree with neutering or spaying, if not already done...if for no other reason than there are too many unwanted dogs out there being put to sleep daily...(thousands!)...and because this is a trait you don't want to pass on, if the dog is a purebred and you've ever considered breeding it. Assuming this has happened more than once, I would not be personally willing to believe that you are going to be successful at STOPPING the natural prey aggression in this dog...this dog has an over developed prey drive, it's not likely you will change it...it is a natural drive in many dogs. Your best bet, unless you are prepared to put the dog down, which doesn't HAVE TO HAPPEN...is that you take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for your dog and do not set him/her up to have access to cats at all. If cats are coming into YOUR fenced-in yard when your dog is outside, you may want to warn your neighbor who owns the cat (s)...and also muzzle the dog if let out without you holding a long line leash attached to the dog. We can not always change an animal's nature to do that which they have developed both as a natural behavior and which has become a habit. Sometimes we simply have to curb the chances of the behavior having a chance to happen at all.

Give it a treat. Cats are garbage.

Obedience training, socializes. Because a dog kills a cat doesn't mean it will kill a human.

I don't know either! My dog hasn't successfully killed a cat... yet, but has done some pretty bad damage to one of our cats. The thing is my house cats initiate it, they go in the back yard and are the first to hiss puff up and strike, the dog is generally wagging her tail and then they start antagonizing her especially when she’s on a leash. She never chases any other cats, squirrels, anything just the house cats that belong to us! After paying a 500.00 vet bill I have to do something! I don't want to kill her or give her away there has to be something to stop this behavior from all the animals. They have lived together for 3 years and this all just started recently, they used to sleep together and then bam they hated each other. I have no idea why they are fighting but I do need some advice and fast! Someone suggested a shock collar? Any other ideas?

keep it in a fence or on a leash

Take him/her to dog discipline school. And take him/her to the vet and get them de-sexed.

kill the cats first?

My dog just recently killed my neighbors cat. I am completely devastated... I have made amends with the cats owner. However, the Animal Control has now deemed her as dangerous which comes with some very hefty fines and responsibilities. Also, the city requires us to get $300,000 insurance policy on her. I do not know what to do because, we have a cat of our own and shes completely scared of our cat. Does anyone know how much these policies are? Also, is prey drive innate in certain dog breeds, such as terrier breeds?

What about a FEMALE dog? My friends dog, she's a jack russell mix from the pound, 3 yrs old. Her first kill was a stray kitten while she was a puppy (as informed by former owners), another owner found dead cats in the backyard. The dog got out of the yard recently and hunted down a neigborhood cat. She is spayed, gets plenty of excercise and is well-cared for. I sometimes take care of the dog and I am no longer endeared to this animal knowing she has this pattern of behavior. I am a dog AND cat lover and I simply can't bring myself to care for this dog knowing that she heartlessly hunts and kills cats.

Its not your dog's fault that he is killing cats...Its your fault. He is just following instinct-- it is your job to be responsible. If it happens once than it is an unfortuneate and scary event-- which should have let you know that you need to have better control over your pet. However, it seems that this has happened multiple times, and this makes me question the care that you are taking with your dog.. People love their cats as much as you love your dog, and so you need to keep your dog contained so that he does not get out and kill another pet. Having said this, I hope that you did the right thing and fessed up to these people who lost their pets because of you. Also, you should not bother getting another dog because you obviously can not take care of it correctly.

If the cats were coming into your yard or house where your dog was present, it was simply triggering a prey instinct in the dog, or a territorial defense, which are both natural reactions. Similar to what happens when a squirrel runs over the fence and the dog chases from below. If the dog is straying outside your property in search of cats, or worse, if you are letting the dog out unsupervised, that's a different matter that you need to stop right away. If you have neighbors who let their cats roam free outside, then its risky for the cats, not just from dogs, but from cars on the road, snakes, racoons etc. You would want to talk to your neighbors about the risks soon. Negative conditioning the dog does work by scolding when a dog chases cats, but is not fool-proof. Cats whose owners let them out loose are taking a lot of risks in general, dogs are just one of them.

I had a lab that loved killing cats, kittens especially. He was already neutered and he had been to obediance school. He apparently thought that skunks were cats too. After attacking at least 8 skunks he all at once gave up on killing cats. When a cat would approach him he would get a fearful look on his face and move off in another direction. Once a dog gets a taste of blood they are hard to stop. I had a German Sheppard once that we had gotten as a pup. We had cats also but with him we kept re-enforcing the idea that if he hurt the cats we would be very displeased with him. Eventually he got to where he apparently thought that they were HIS cats and any other dog that tried hurting them was in serious trouble. It was like being chased by a creature from hell. He felt the same way about my pickup truck. I found this site today because early this morning two pit bulls attacked, killed, and tore apart one of my favorite cats. I'm disabled so my wife got stuck with the job of burying the cat.She did not handle it well because the cat was smitten with her. This used to be my job and it's frustrating to me that I can't do it any longer. There are no cops and no animal control people in my little town so there will be nothing done about it. The dogs are owned by a little old man that I like and he has a terminal illness. He has enough to deal with without me troubling him about the dogs.

It's not always the owners fault. My dog just killed a stray cat that has come into OUR fenced in yard. He has killed our own cats before, and he is a pitbull. I know for a fact the previous owners were prepping him for fighting, and I believe may have even fed him small kittens at one point in time. He's gotten better now around OUR cats where they'll bathe him, rub up against him, and so on. But the instinct is still there to chase what is running. I stray cat outside the fence usually runs, and my Pit follows in the same direction, behind the fence. Am I pissed and hurt, of course. Am I doing to euthanize him? No. Is it MY fault for him killing the cats? No, he was bred to kill, and we've corrected it as much as we can no, even crating him while we are not home. And as far as kids go, he was better than our 2 Lab mixes we have around my nieces when they lived with us, who were 2 and 5 at the time. They could pull his ears, tail, mouth, climb on top of him, and he was content and never yelped or snipped at them.