Your back yard is secure and your dogs can’t escape. You are complying with the local rules for having dogs on your property. What happens if a cat wonders into the yard and is killed by your dog?
I know this is a sensitive topic for a lot of people that this has happened to, especially if you are the owner of the cat but where does the liability lie? Can the dogs be punished? Should they be punished?
My view is rather simplistic. The dogs were secure and didn’t go looking for the cat therefore since the cat entered the dog’s property the dog did nothing wrong. This sort of behaviour should of course be discouraged.
I really feel for the cat owner, be they adults or children. I imagine it is rather traumatic for the owner of the dog as well, either witnessing the attack or at least the result, having to take the cat away from the dog and return it to the owner explaining what happened.
There has been a recent event that I know of where some dogs ran from their own property, across a paddock into a private property where they attacked the family cats in front of children. This is totally unacceptable and this instance these dogs are acting in a manner that needs to be addressed. Yes they need to be punished, but how? And the owners of the dog should, without a doubt, be punished as well for not securing their dogs in a suitable manor. Isn’t it them that is really at fault?
Some people say this series of events is nature’s way. Birds kill worms, cats kill birds, dogs kill cats. That may be ok in the wild but in the domesticated world we live in we don’t see this as acceptable. We give a special protected place to our pet dogs, cats, rabbits etc.
I’m interested in your point of view along with the punishments that should be enforced.
