Help! My labradoodle is not good with cats. What to do......

[JodiNoga]

Cooper is a beautiful bouncy black labradoodle who is awesome around all people, kids and adults alike. He is also great with other dogs. He has never shown any aggression towards anything other than his chew toys, which he loves to chew up. This weekend, he spotted a neighbor's cat and at first tried to engage the cat in playing with that "puppy stance...down on front legs pose." When the cat hissed and pawed him (he was declawed so it did not hurt my dog) Cooper just grabbed the cat with his mouth. Long story short...the cat was injured pretty bad, and so was I because when I tried to interevene, the cat bit me, which sent me off the the ER immediately. Now that we have had a few days to process this, our gut feeling is that we need to find a new home for Cooper so this does not happen again. My neighbor, the cat owner, has been very gracious and kind about it, but still..... it was a horrible thing and I am just sick that my sweet loveable goofy labradoodle did this. I am at a loss of what to do and how to find a good home for our precious dog. Any ideas?

[Natasha]

I'm sorry for this very stressful situation; however, I can't imagine why you feel that rehoming your doodle is necessary.

There are many things that you can do to desensitize your doodle to cats (and, of course, keeping him away from cats). Please contact a trainer. The most extreme thing that I would pursue would be utilizing a shock collar - not rehoming. I'm not a proponent of shock collars, but it is something that even we will be doing to keep Rouser away from rattlesnakes (we live in preserve and see rattlesnakes even next to the sidewalks) so that he can be safe and healthy.

[JodiNoga]

I appreciate, again, all of the advice. I am not looking for an excuse to get rid of our beloved dog, as somebody said. That is the last thing I want, but it is just something we are considering in order to prevent this. I have been very upset and sad about this, but I just feel so awful and I am afraid people will be looking at us differently from now on, or at least at our dog. And to clarify, this happened in the neighbor's yard, not mine. We do have a fenced in side and back yard. He never roams the neighborhood unleashed. What happened is that I pulled into our garage, where he was because we have a doggy access door from our fenced in yard into the garage. He was watching me unload my car and then saw the cat across the street walk by and he was gone like lightning. Before the real fence, we had an underground electrical fence which WORKED and he had not yet tried to cross the front perimeter even though it was deactivated a few months ago due to construction of a pool in our backyard...hence the real fence need. Anyway, it was a fluke. Everyone in our neighborhood knows, and comments, about what a sweet dog he is, though he was hyper as a pup and still tends to pull my leash at the beginning of a walk because he wants to sniff, sniff, sniff.... It sounds like he is not alone with this type of behavior, which makes me feel better. I keep beating myself up wondering what I could have done. The scary part is that he ignored "No" and "Drop it" and even my attempts to hold his collar. He was that desperate to get the cat. It scared me. I have made amends with my neighbor. She understands it was more of an animal instinct and a fluke and does not think he is a "bad dog." Still....I am just concerned he got a taste of what fun it was to do this, as awful as that sounds, and he may try again given the chance. With two small kids in the house, it could happen that he escapes. Ahhhhh......it's a hard situation but ultimately we would love to keep him. I am making a donation to the humane society in my neighbor's honor rather than paying her vet bills, at her request. I have already brought her a gift and flowers and am thinking I will bake her something. :) I really appreciate the time all of you took to respond to my dilemma.
Thanks,
Jodi

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Jodi, it sounds like you are doing and have done the best you can. Some things are just simply accidents. My Springer who is 6 (and the one who brought me the dead kitten), and who is trained to listen to me and stop etc. recently raced out the door after a cat and ran across the street. My luck was that a car was not passing by and the cat sprinted up a fence. This isn't his usual behavior but it was his behavior that day. Most likely if Cooper goes for a cat again the cat will have claws and he will learn to respect cats. Better yet, as some suggested, there are ways to teach dogs to tolerate cats and I would contact the humane society for ideas on that when you make your donation. I am sorry if many of us sounded harsh, especially to a new member. As you become more experienced on this site you will learn about doodle rescue (which is now on another site) and be shocked at the horrible ways some dogs have been treated and that some pet owners go into dog ownership so frivolously and "uncommittedly." Nancy and Ned

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Jodi, your dog will DEFINITELY want to try this again! It's in his blood... so you MUST prevent him from escaping. If he has access to your garage via a dog door, you could - for example - build an enclosed area around the door so he cannot get out. We did that in our garage when the dogs were younger, and it worked very well. Put carpet on the floor and raised beds so they were comfortable. The additional benefit was that they could not get into chemicals, paints, tools and other dangerous items in the garage. It takes a bit of work, but well worth the effort to keep the dog(s) safe. Just a practical idea!

[JodiNoga]

I'm sorry I have offended so many of you. That was not my intent, and I am not a dog owner who thinks you just "dump" a dog. If all of you only knew how much time I spend with him, how well he is treated by us, and how loved he is. It has been a very emotional few days. I prefer not to rehome him, but the cat owner as well as a few neighbors who witnessed, hopes that we do. It is a tense position to be in, to say the least. I was looking for ideas on what to do, which is why I posted on this site. The animal control officer was one who suggested we look into finding a new home for him, with more space. I will not post again. Sorry to bother all of you.

Jodi