I agree with you. However I always quickly scanned the garden before letting Rupert out. There were no bushes or anything for a cat to hide in so it's not like I had to go tramping around to check, I could do it from the door

My door was always open unless it was freezing but several cats still came into the garden regularly. A big fluffy ginger one, one with a deformed tail and a white and grey one that actually got into the house several times.

I had a cat, that I doubt any other will ever come close to in terms of the way he was. He really was an "animal", I just couldn't help but have respect for him, that I cant describe. Some animals just "have something" you cant describe and there isnt really another way to put it.

Very very smart, confident...no fear and yet not bolshy at all, very calm. He'd know where to go when, I never had any doubt in my mind that no matter where he went a dog would never get him and in fact I remember a dog that paid the price for thinking he was fair game and a few tom cats that left without their coat after thinking they could come onto his territory.

The girls I have now on the other hand, one is probably too lazy to think about going into a garden where there's a "dog scent" and the other just wouldn't stand a chance!!

If I knew Loui would go out and kill someones pet then I would look around before letting him out for that reason. At least some effort should go in as I'm sure no one here would like to think of their pet being killed when it could be prevented. Obviously once they are out its different, cats know they are there..so not too much you can do.
Loui obviously lives with cats and so is ok with them, but even at that there are certain ones he does NOT like and completely changes and has almost scaled the fence to get one (luckily my mum was at the window..)
However he looks after his own and any cat that tried to start on mine when he was out got a dog on their tail instead of a cat lol

I go to the effort..of not owning a cat knowing my two have a strong prey-drive. That's as far as my responsibility goes IMO. The effort that should go into preventing your pet should be killed should be your effort, not your neighbours, or someone down the road. Should I go letting my dogs run around on an empty road and then tell the drivers they should have looked to check it was empty before they pulled out onto the road? If the animal cannot judge where is safe to enter, then it is my responsibility to make that judgement call and enforce it.

My garden is very long and full of bushes and trees for cats to hide in, so I wouldn't know if they were there. It's not practical for me to go and search the garden every time the dogs go outside, especially late at night. If my neighbour's cats want to play Russian Roulette with my dogs, then I'm afraid that's up to them...but I have never found a dead cat in my garden so I guess the cats round here are pretty smart.

Drivers should always check the road before they pull out but seriously,I know what you mean.

Thats not really the same as I was saying though. All I was saying was that, like others with high prey drive dogs on here have said, is that if your going to the door to let the dog out ANYWAY, then its not a problem to look out and see that there arent any cats there before you let your dog go out and kill it.Just because its your garden and your dog. After that, as I said, once the dogs go out you cant really prevent anything anyway. So thats as far as I'd take it, unless I seen one before the dog did, I'd call them in but thats about all you can do IMHO.

I'm not saying people NEED to stay out with their dogs to prevent them killing cats, I'm saying if your at the door ANYWAY, then its not going to put you out your way to check there isnt a pet to be killed in there first, as far as you can see at the time.

The reason I supervise Loui outdoors is because I care about HIM and HIS welfare and what HE learns. I wasnt making a point that Loui was supervised to prevent him killing cats just in case anyone thinks that.

I do tend to check anyway, playing devil's advocate a bit. But my garden is straight with nothing for a cat to hide in, really, other than a patch of long grass. I did see a cat hiding in the grass before we brought the dogs over but I'm not going to walk 80' down the end of my garden so check the long grass every time I want to let my dogs out - thankfully the cat seems to have had the sense to keep clear as I haven't seen it again, but if it was to be napping down the end of the garden and one of my two caught it, I wouldn't blame myself at all. I'm not saying I want them to catch a cat but it's the cat owner who has put their cat at risk, not me.

Basically what I'm saying is that if I look out the door and theres a cat standing there I wouldnt go letting the dog out to kill it when I could shoo it away or just wait 5 mins to let the dog out or whatever. Anything else would just be callous. Obviously I'm not saying scour every inch of a 2 acre garden, just that if I see an animal my dog will kill, my dog, my garden or not I will not be the one to send my dog out to kill someones pet.

As I said once they are out there if a cat comes in, it comes in not much you can do about it.

Well the reality is that if the dog is allowed to continually roam outside at will, he is going to keep killing cats. You are not going to change a dog that has killed that many times and this is ultimately a management issue.

Personally if my dog had killed that many cats, I really wouldn't be allowing it to roam in the garden unsupervised. If the dog had to be outside unsupervised I would use a tether (dog attached via a harness).

Either restrain the dog and supervise him better or accept that this is going to keep happening.

I'm a cat lover and wouldn't want my dogs to put multiple animals through a horrific death, so if that meant not letting them roam in the garden it would be tough s**t I'm afraid. I wouldn't want that on my conscience when for the most part it is entirely preventable.

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I agree with this. Even an enclosed kennel with a mesh lined run attached would give the dog an outdoor area thats cats cannot get into. And dogs can more than live with toilet breaks rather than daytime holidays I just do not agree that dogs need to be going in and out at will anyway tbh, but thats just my opinion