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My sister''s boyfriend moved into her home with his 140

Sent to Pet Experts March 19 2008 at 7:20 AM
   

My sister''s boyfriend moved into her home with his 140 lb. pit-mastiff mix. It''s a very sweet dog, but she doesn''t know her own strength. Our worst fears came true when the dog killed my sister''s cat while she was out of the house on errands. We assume that the dog was "playing" with the cat too roughly, but, of course, we weren''t there to see it. Now, my sister and her b/f are left with the sad choice of keeping the dog or sending it away. Now, the major problem is that my sister also has a pug (standard size). Until they make their final decision, they have decided to separate the animals into two rooms while they are away. I am concerned that this will create more harm than good. If the two animals are separated during the workday then are allowed to be in the same room in the evening, won''t this create tension between them? Should we all be worried for the safety of the pug now too? Please help, for peace of mind''s sake. Thank you.

 

Optional Information:
Female; Breed: pit-mastiff 5 y, pug 2 y

Already Tried:
Simply separating the animals into two rooms while owners are away.
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March 19 2008 at 7:30 AM (9 minutes and 43 seconds later)
         
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March 19 2008 at 7:38 AM (7 minutes and 59 seconds later)
         
For clarification:
If it perfectly safe to keep the dogs separated and it should not create tension.
Do you believe that it will ever be safe to put the dogs together again and that we shouldn't be so "on edge" about the big dog's behavior?
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March 19 2008 at 7:46 AM (7 minutes and 46 seconds later)
         
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Of course you are going to be stressed about this as its pretty terrible to have it happen.
My feeling is better safe than sorry even if the problem was the big dog banging the smaller one or stepping on it in excitement if someone came to the door or the owners came home. So keeping them apart may be the best choice.
I have both large and small dogs. Some are safe together and some I have to monitor and some I keep apart from each other.
I'd suggest an in person look by an outside observer might be a reasonable choice. Mastiffs can be very territorial, pitbulls can have a very strong prey drive, and pugs can get a bad case of stubborn determination or willfully slow movement out of the way at the wrong time.
I don't see the bigger dog as a 'bad dog' just one that acted in a manner not expected by the owners resulting in the tragedy.
Precautions and training are good choices with dogs as we can't tell them things so they understand such as if they kill the cat or hurt the little dog they could be banished from home.


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