The male pup we kept from the litter last year(chicken man) has had dramatic improvement with the hunting aspects of his life. He chases birds all around the yard from tree to tree etc... Will aggressively go after the pigeons and is not afraid of them any more.(still gunshy) Yesterday my wife said he attacked the cat. They have always chased him in the house but he went growling and had the cats head in his mouth? He was raised with the cat as all the others. Any ideas what would cause this? I don't believe it was prey drive as they came up together. I am getting him fixed soon but not sure if that will help? Any help would be appreciated.

Bill

I'm sorry to hear about your adventure, but I wouldn't discount a prey response quite yet. I've heard stories about GSPs and Weims living with a cat perfectly fine for a couple years then suddenly nailing it. He sounds like a young dog at the 'testing limits' stage so he could be unfortunately expanding his horizons beyond just cat-chasing and onto cat-catching.... you've probably been encouraging his bird chasing adventures after all, so his natural instincts have been whetted for going after stuff that moves. And if he's running around the house growling with the cat in his mouth, especially at the other (older) dogs, it could be a "hey- the prize is MINE" thing rather than overt agression.

It's a sad episode, and there could certainly be other agression issues you're dealing with, but this honestly doesn't sound abnormal for a young GSP.

My girls were both raised with two cats and get along with our cats no problem.  Outside they go after and sometimes catch the doves, opossums, and squirrels.  My youngest also catchs rats.  Needless to say the doves, opossums, squirrels and rats don't last but a second once they have them.

The other day our neighbors cat came in our backyard and I was surpirsed that both dogs got after her.  She was lucky as she was close to the fence when they saw her and she was able to escape.  I am certain that if they had caught her she would be gone.  We told our neighbors not to let her come in our yard.  Anyway, it seems with my two that they know the difference between their family (the cats, and also a cockatiel) and the rest of the critters out there. 

I also agree that if a GSP really is after a critter, that critter doesn't stand a chance.  The Germans claim that pound for pound they are the strongest dog.  I believe it too.

Texas Bell and the Pointer Sisters

During our dog play time this morning I shared with one of my friends Ace's GSP having the head of family cat in his mouth and did not kill the family cat. She told me that puppies in a litter develope and learn after 6 weeks old BITING INHIBITION!!!  That is they learn how hard to crunch down without hurting or killing the other pup. One reason to keep the litter together for at least 8 weeks.. So Ace's GSP did great at "biting inhibition" with the family cat and learned it well in his litter