Prey drive

[Colette V]

Earlier this year I fostered an American Bulldog - she had a lot of behavior problems, not to mention multiple pelvic fractures from being hit by a car. After working with her so much I found that she was a part of the family and elected to adopt. I have two cats and my biggest concern and challenge is prey drive. The thing is, the dog seems to want to play rather than showing true aggression. However, Darla is large and her stepping on the cat would probably cause injury. We have tried treats while the cats are around, but when the kitties flick their tail or scurry to another room the dog gets very excited. Any ideas? We have tried having them eat in the same room - no problems because they are all focused on their own plate. The first thing the dog does in the morning is search/sniff to see where the kitties are. Darla is hyper excited by other dogs - however, her interactions have had to be limited because of concerns about further damage to her pelvic break (she has lots of energy- LOTS).

[Julie]

Pitbulls have an extremely high prey drive due to how they were bred (for pit fighting against other dogs). My dog stalks any smaller animal around her. It's a little unnerving but unfortunately the breed was made to be animal aggressive.