Introducing drive-y BC to barn cats - yes or no?

[painted_ponies]

My BC bitch and my BC/pyr cross are desperate to exterminate the cat family with which the universe gifted me on Friday the 13th. (Heck, even my screwy little Brittany foundling would like to snap their little necks.)

 

So far, the twain have not met, because the cat family lives on my back porch and in my barns, and my dogs live in my fenced front yard and in my house. But oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth that goes on when the cats, as cats will, lounge about on the other side of the dog fence.

 

I should say that this same pack of ravenous would-be cat exterminators lives with two house cats. But it was a battle getting my Faith BC to leave them alone. Lots of time outs for chasing the kitty. And Scot - the BC/pyr cross - brings me dead moles and birds whenever he can obtain them. This is why I've never let my house cats outside - partly because I think if they were outdoors and ran from the dogs that prey drive would kick in and they'd be lunch in short order.

 

Anyway, I just took Celie - the mama cat - for her little kitty hysterectomy. So she and the three nine-week-old kittens are living in my home office until her incision heals.

 

Here's my question: while they're inside, should I introduce them to the dogs?

 

I'm thinking maybe yes, so the dogs would understand they belong here and are not prey.

 

But I'm also thinking maybe no, because I don't want to get the cats habituated to the dogs inside, and then have them enter the dogs' fence outside (it's a big old half-acre enclosure) and possibly get chased and eaten. Because I think the dogs' perception of them would probably change between encountering them inside vs. outside, and I don't know if little kitty brains understand this.

 

What would y'all advise?

 

And if anyone wants to say

"I think outdoor cats are environmentally destructive so I wouldn't even go there"; or

"Don't you think your coyotes/foxes/bobcats will carry off the cats before the dogs even get a chance?"

I reply, respectively,

"Yes, I agree with you, but I am overrun with rodents in my feed room and really need some help, plus this time of year in the South if I sent them to the shelter they'd be but a memory in short order. And besides that, I hate bobwhites and the wild turkeys can take care of themselves; and

I shut the cats up on my back porch at night so the coyotes/foxes/bobcats and other nocturnal predators won't get them.

[HJTRAS]

We live on a farm and cats get dropped off we are constantly finding homes. But we have two cats in the house with 4 dogs. These cats are not social at all. They are kind of creepy to be honest. But they are in the house no less. Cat chasing is not a real issue with the dogs maybe once a week. But the cats are down with the game. The dogs seem to enjoy it as well. No blood shed but they do have a game they play and they all seem to enjoy it.

[Mark Billadeau]

Thre will always be animals you will want to teach your dogs to leave alone. It sounds like it's time to teach yours to leave outside cats (or at least these cats) alone.

[Sue R]

Thre will always be animals you will want to teach your dogs to leave alone. It sounds like it's time to teach yours to leave outside cats (or at least these cats) alone.

This is very true, and Mark always manages to say things succinctly.

 

He is right, your dogs need to have a command to "leave it" - whether you don't want them to chase cats or deer or whatever, or to leave something else alone like trash on the roadside when you walk. If you train a command like this, it will be a big help in dealing with a question like yours, as well as being helpful in other situations.

 

I have one dog with a very good "leave it" that was taught when he was a tiny pup. I have one dog with a pretty poor "leave it" because I either forgot to teach it when he was young or just was neglectful at getting the lesson learned. And I regret that often enough. Fortunately, he does have another command that can substitute in some situations.

[juliepoudrier]

Thre will always be animals you will want to teach your dogs to leave alone. It sounds like it's time to teach yours to leave outside cats (or at least these cats) alone.

^^Exactly. Even if my dogs rarely interacted with the barn cats, I would be horrified if one of the rare interactions resulted in the death or maiming of a cat. They may be barn cats, but they are still our responsibility, and that means keeping them as safe as possible. Not to mention that I don't want my dogs killing random small animals that happen into my yard. (After all, if that were my situation, poor little Sneaky Ninja would have died long before I ever got my hands on him when he was discovered under my house, where I couldn't get to him, and later wandering the yard with the chickens after he had been lured out, but still wouldn't let me catch him.)

 

FWIW, when I was in Oxford, my cats were allowed out. They mostly hung out at the barn. I even expected the guard dogs to recognize them as *our* cats. They look and smell the same whether they are inside or out. That said, I think we could all manage that because I made it clear to all of the dogs that they are not to chase/kill small animals, period. (This doesn't include moles and the like.)

 

J.

J.

[olivehill]

We have indoor/outdoor cats and dogs that -- while they know they are supposed to "leave it" -- I would never trust 100% when a human isn't around to remind them / catch them. (And they are outside without a human often because watching/guarding when humans are too busy to do so is their job.) The cats are much brighter than you might initially think. They seem to know the difference in their relationship with the dogs inside vs outside and they even seem to know that running sets off the dogs' prey drive; when they see a dog coming they will often calmly, but briskly walk to safety. Not every cat, of course, but many, I'd even say most.

 

ETA: The cats also are very savvy about which of the dogs are a threat and which aren't. We have 4; 2 are cat-safe/friendly and the other two are generally cat-safe alone but not when they're together. The cats will laze around when either or both of the cat-safe dogs comes along, but will skidaddle at the first sight of the other two.