We rescued an American BullDog who was to be euthanized.

Knowing he could be aggressive, my first concern was with my children, with which he has been awesome, but I dare not let my guard down. I am sure he could take me down if I am not careful. Let's say I am well aware of the potential for him to be aggressive. But he has been great with them.

He was raised with another dog, but is still aggressive unless controlled.

Knowing he had not lived with cats, as soon as I brought him home, I placed him a room alone while I ensure my cats were secure in there rooms. He was not allowed, never is, to enter the house freely. He is always on a leash and enters after I do (or whomever is controlling the leash).

Things went well for a while. As I learned about this site I read the article on Introducing Dogs into homes with cats, as well as reading one from other sites. I continued with the separation in an effort to protect my cats.
The cage we had was too small, so until we could begin that form of transition, I continued to keep the cats closed in other rooms when we were home or gone. The dog was permitted to roam the house (may of been a mistake) and things were fine.
At night I would place my eldest cat in the bathroom and allow the dog to enter my room where he could smell her scent. My intent was to introduce him to her first, then our younger cat. While on a prong collar, I allowed him to see her on 3 different occaission and as soon as he started to pull towards her, I gave my marker for correction. A sound of "uhuh" and "no" command. He seemed to relax a little, but could of been because the prong collar.

As I said, things went well until the other day. We had just gotten the new cage, but had not put him in it on this day, as we were to be gone only a few hours. As we all know, it only takes a minute.
I thought I had secured all doors as I did on every other day and left.

Upon returning home and caring for the dog, we decided it was time to start the introduction of one of my cats using the cage.

Howver, my son went to the room and found the door ajar. He walked in and came right back out informing me he thought the cat was dead.
Much to my dismay, blood was on the wall, my jewlery box which she often hid under busted and she lay lifeless.

I immedialty brought the dog in, wrong I know but my emotional reaction took over, sat him in front of her and gave my standard verbal reprimand. Before I even did so I could feel him backing away from the scene, as if he knew he was wrong.
I then place him in a room with no human contact for a while.

At this point I fear for the life of my other cat and am unsure I should even try to introduce her. This was the family cat of 12+ years. She was removed from her mother too soon, the runt of the litter and afraid of everything. She was a normal part of the family life. Not seeing her has left a void and is tough. This is making it hard for me to accept this dog, let alone getting him to accept the other cat.

Back to the point, I am sorry.

I guess what I wonder is if he has killed a cat once, is there any chance in the world (I expect it could take 2-4 months) to get him to accept our other cat?
Again, I would continue to follow the methods outlined in Ed Frawley's article, the crate, the muzzle, the prong collar, the distractions and all. I am willing to try, but I wonder if it will be in vain since he has killed once?

On a note, this site is awesome. Some 5 months a dog,my cat's bud, got out of our fence, as she kept doing and was struck by a car as she was tracking something. Darn dog, she too, though obnoxious with her jumping and barking, was a part of the family. If I knew how to train her better then just , sit, stay, down and come, maybe we would still have her.
I have had several dogs in my life and wish I knew the techniques I am now learning.
As for our family cat, I hope her and her bud are now tormenting each other on the other side.

Is this post for real?

Yes.

First off, let me say how sorry I am you had to lose your cat this way. You can probably find a hundred things you could've/should've done differently, but none of it does anything to ease the pain of losing a pet in such a senseless way. I would not be able to keep this dog. Just because it is not good with cats does not mean it can't make a great pet for a catless person. My coworker adopted a dog from a shelter that she was told was "great with cats" She had 2 cats; now she has none. She found the first one, but was unsure of cause of death. By #2, it was too late. I would never trust a bulldog or a terrier with cats/small dogs EVER. I used to foster pit bulls, and they were always crated when I couldn't watch them, because they have a much better chance of getting INTO a bedroom than out of a crate. I had one who was constantly letting himself out the front door...or letting other dogs out of their crates. They were fine when I was watching, but really could not be trusted otherwise. Not their faults-just the way they're programmed. No point in rehashing mistakes, but I absolutely would not introduce this dog to another cat. He needs to be rehomed as an only pet.

I accidentally submitted when I was previewing...

I think it was nice of you to try with this dog, but I have to say that it seems like maybe you need to work on control a bit more before you try something like this again. Rescues are rarely easy, and not trying to be rude, but the part about the dog who was just killed makes me think you need to be a little more careful about animals in the future, or less naiive. Good luck with whatever you decide.

High prey drive dogs that have not been raised with cats are probably not ever going to be trustworthy around them unsupervised. I would keep the animals completely separate.

As I re-read my post, I want to clear up the term aggressive. I may be using it incorrectly.

He is not agressive with humans. At least not from what I see. With dogs, he will lung if not controlled, but if kept controlled, he may simply pull.
He is a strong dog, so I can not let my guard down, even in play.
The only 'aggressive' behavior I have seen is with the cat situation.
He listens to voice commands very well at this point.
He is over 3 years old.

I guess I use the term agressive out of ignorance for training terminology. I guess I should use that he has a stron 'prey drive', obviously. Hence my concern about trying to introduce my other cat.

Aggressive is fine-you didn't say he was this way toward people, and I think your first post was pretty clear. Cat- aggressive and people-aggressive are two different things, and I think this board gets that pretty well. I still think he needs to be an only pet, especially now that he's killed one. Until they're introduced, you don't really know for sure what he'll do...now you do. No room for mistakes on this one.

"I think it was nice of you to try with this dog, but I have to say that it seems like maybe you need to work on control a bit more before you try something like this again. Rescues are rarely easy, and not trying to be rude, but the part about the dog who was just killed makes me think you need to be a little more careful about animals in the future, or less naiive. Good luck with whatever you decide."


Thanks for your advise and luck.
I have had Irish Setter,German Shephards, Laborador Retrievers and Husky's in my choice of dogs, with no problems. All living full lives or going on to live with relatives. One issue with a persistant Beagle does not make for carelessness or naivity.
As for this Bull Dog, I was definatley not naive going into this. I knew the potential as far as he demeanor goes. Unfortunatley it is not looking good and I must make a decision.
With the feedback here, I can share with my family what others with experience have learned.
This is the first dog I have dealt with that has proven to have a prey drive like this.

Again, thanks

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Cat Lover

I didn't mean naiive to sound like such a criticism. I just meant that I'm sure it never occurred to you that he would open a bedroom door to get to the cat...just like I never expected one to dig up all the carpeting and the transition strip, screws and all, to dig into the bathroom, where my cat was drying from her bath. Naiive, meaning, not thinking of things that seem far-fetched, but can actually happen.