German Wire Hair Pointer V Cats

[Dickyboy]

I do agree and as a keeper the bain of this job is unruly dogs and disrespectful owners.

I trained my dog a GSPx not to touch cats, we had an incident where he was going out to retreive a fox when a cat(out killing at night) jumped out in front of him and instinct made him grab it. I now cannot trust him with cats. If he is out with me he is steady to everything stock, deer and cats and 99% of the time I can stop him if he chases anything. If he is mooching about he will try to catch most things(never stock though) Therefore if a neighbours cat comes into my garden and he is out there, he will try to catch it. For this I do not begrudge him, I want him to keep the foxes away and so he extends this. If they don't come in the garden they won't get caught! I have no interest in breaking my new GWP pup to cats but he will be taught to stop on the whistle.

 

[Harry mac]

My old GSP sucked on a friends cat until its leg fell off, humane dispatch time for me followed by some inventive disposal, it was in norway and was -20c, ground frozen 1m down!!

Chuck the corpse on the E6 and let a few sets of studded tyres pass over it

 

[trouble]

as a keeper im not a cat fan but i will not keep a cat killing dog or a dog showing dog aggression , you turn up at a farm and your dog shakes smoke out of the wives cat , not very funny . If i can stop terriers chasing cat surely you can stop pointers

 

[longhair]

its a dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stalkinginengland]

Chuck the corpse on the E6 and let a few sets of studded tyres pass over it

the best cats are 1/2 an inch thick and about 3 feet across with dunlop written across it

 

[trouble]

They are , your right . But i think theres a time and place for everthing , i had a pointer who wouldnt chase cats , i also have a bull cross lurcher who wont chaes cats but will kill foxes and fetch them back , if you cant teach a dog not to chase youve failed simple as that

 

[British Shooting Services]

I've got three GWP's at the moment with some pups due end of next month. I would strongly advise anyone who is considering getting any breed of dog that they haven't had before to read up on the breed beforehand. All of the traits that have been mentioned in this thread are well documented. There's plenty of stuff written about them and they definately do "What it says on the tin"

Ade

 

[michie65.55]

For all you GWP owners out there.

My GWP has recently taken a serious dislike to all things pussy.
The neighbour has a couple of house cats which of late must have lost a few of their nine lifes.

All of a sudden Heidi girl wants cat blood, up to now {she is 7 months} she has been very laid back when confronted by cats and didn't seem very interested at all.

Is this a trait that the GWP as a breed is know for?

Anyone else had similar issues...............?

It has its plus sides mind you as none of my plants are being dug up now but I dont much fancy a neighbour at the door with a few scraps of cat fur left.

CADEX

yes had 5 wirehairs and all have had a dislike for cats , i have a 7 months old dog pup just now and he is showing the some , , think its just in the breed and what they have been breed for , just won of the things we have to live with , regards willie .

 

[Hurf]

They are bred to hunt and kill but they can be trained not to hunt anything and everything including cats as some people have already pointed out

 

[8x57]

I think its in their nature to kill cats, something that has been bred into them many many years ago. It's a bit like a husky not making a good tracking dog.

I've certainly never encouraged my dog with cats in fact quite the opposite but I can tell you that even the old blue pipe doesn't work. I even thought about an electric collar at one time.
It's one of the reasons I don't recommend GWP's as family pets as much as I love them. They are brilliant working dogs but you need a lot of work for these dogs. The trouble is that they see cats as part of their work.

 

[stalkinginengland]

They are , your right . But i think theres a time and place for everthing , i had a pointer who wouldnt chase cats , i also have a bull cross lurcher who wont chaes cats but will kill foxes and fetch them back , if you cant teach a dog not to chase youve failed simple as that

+1 there troubleBut I still hate the sight of them

 

[Cut+Squirt]

I suppose different dogs even within the same litter may have differing prey drives. Up until this point my particular bitch has been very keen to please......I do consider that it may be a little rough patch whist going through adolescence. Time will tell. Never the less she is shaping up to be a bloody good mutt.

 

[derek.snr]

i have 2 terriers ,funny enough i never get cats in my garden ,but did once find full bellys on the dogs ,a cat head and fur on the lawn.

 

[bobt]

My next doors alsations had a reputation as cat killers until they met the wifes siamese tom, big bloody brute sorted both of them, took an eye out of one,

dont even joke about dogs versus cats, moggies may be easy prey but some are not.

 

[Dawnraider]

Perhaps i've failed training my munster but he is steady to everything else,i stalk with him on the lead he'll point a deer,i put my sticks out he sits,see a cat no pointing just trys to remove my arm from its socket,he's had countless dressing downs never changes,seen lots of badgers about in the evenings lately never bothers with them,i do think the cat thing is a very deep rooted trait maybe one day he'll give it up but i'm doubting it.

 

[trouble]

A mate used to have a pitbull , it wouldnt chase cats , sheep and used to let pups pull him about , he never had any dog aggression and was once grabbed by a jack russel at a country show . BUT you wouldnt get in the garden if he was home alone without being eaten , point being he was train plain and simple , if you cant trust your pointers with cats you cant trust them with anything "oh its only in his nature" wrong ! A poorly trained dog reflects on a poor owner , if you cant stop them bring them round i will

 

[Thar]

Strong words there Trouble…………..cat owner?

My own GWP will not chase cats if I am with her, she knows that is a no no, however once while I wasn’t at home she caught a cat in her kennel eating her dinner, well the insult must have been too much, according to my wife who luckily intervened with the help of my son, the cat did the big hiss hiss and fur went up on its hackles the GWP just dived straight in and grab it then started to shake it, the wife and my son stopped her and the cat got away, whether it survived or not I don’t know but we have never seen a cat in the garden since.

I fully appreciate there is learned behaviour and instinct, the instinct to hunt is very deeply in breed in GWPs, that why I love them I like to think they are like me, natural born hunters. The training to stop them chasing cats or anything else is learned behaviour how deep this goes depends I guess on the owner/trainer.

As to the family issue, mine have never ever shown and signs of bad behaviour with children if fact she loves the attention they give her including trying to ride her like a pony, mine I am sure sees them as part of the pack and are to be protected as such.

ATB

Tahr

 

[Dickyboy]

Thar - I agree with you entirely and if you see my previous posts I stand on the side that if a dog catches a cat in my garden then the owner shuld have kept it in theirs. BUT you can stock break any dog to anything......My GSPxGreyhound(I would hazard they have the strongest prey drive) was broken to cats untill one comited suicide at night(see previous) yes I could easily re break him but to be honest I don't care enough and I like him to retrieve ferals that have been shot. But He was ro cats and is to sheep and chickens. Cows he will not bother unless I tell him to see em off in which case he gives them some ****(come about from shooting foxes in cow fields and me needing protection once or twice0

 

[375 mag]

Just one more good reason to own a GWP they can catch as many cats as they like for me !

 

[jamross65]

Do not all or at least most breed of dogs theoretically have a hunting desire in them, and its not unique in the case of a GWP? A spaniel or lab following a runner is hunting, a spaniel working cover to flush is hunting. What they do at the point of finding is what makes the difference.

I have seen a few gun-dogs on shoots that on finding un-shot game or runners will give it a shake or a bite to finish it off because of the way they have been introduced to game during training (or lack of).

I have a 7 year old GWP and other gun-dogs. I would admit there is a certain aloofness with her compared to the others, and she will certainly kill things (as per earlier post) whereas my labs and spaniels will ignore. But, I trained them to do what they do as gun-dogs. Whereas with the GWP, she was simply trained to find deer that had been shot, walk to heel when stalking, sit at the tiniest command and stay still so I can crawl or stalk in on a beast.

I am not taking a stance on what is happening to the cats but I do agree with the comments that if trained in a different manner then this behaviour may not be being displayed.