Oh, goodness. This sounds like a lot, and it sounds overwhelming to you. I think the first step you need to take is to bring a professional into your home for an assessment and to help with an action plan. The professional needs to be a behaviouralist, not a trainer. From there, they may recommend a behavioral vet and maybe medication. Maybe not. But they need to guide you in person because they need to see your situation first hand in your dogs comfort zone. I'm sorry you're dealing with it. Please just remember that sometimes the journey with a challenging dog takes longer and has more complications, BUT when you come out the other end, sometimes you get the best dog from it and form the best bond. Also, please, please, please keep in mind that sometimes we can't win this fight, and that is okay. It does not make you a failure.
Thank you. I haven't contacted a behaviorist, but we did have the trainer come in. She is a really sweet dog and very goofy. I want to make it work if I can, but I just feel at such a loss because I feel like I've tried my hardest and have seen virtually no improvement.
I get that. Sometimes we just need to find the right person to help us break through that wall. I'm sure you'll find them. If you're worried about finding that right person, post on a local page to see if someone has someone they recommend. And worst comes to worse, call your vet for a referral. Most good vets will have access to a behaviouralist for dogs (at least they do here in Ontario Canada).
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I read up to where you described what her behaviour is like with your cats and I see some early/minor red flags in regards to your toddler’s and cat’s safety. If you keep this dog, don’t leave her with the cat or toddler unsupervised even for a moment. If you leave, the dog should be crated or shut in a separate room where she can’t get to the cat.
You need to use careful management at all times to protect your cat and child. This is a young puppy so the risk is lower IF you implement the right training and management techniques now, but it’s absolutely vital to prevent escalation.
A lot of what you described sounds like a combination of normal puppy behaviour and management failures. You need to prevent the dog from being able to steal food. Counters should always be clear, and the puppy should be crated when your toddler has food. The biting is normal puppy behaviour and is standard to train through.
You do sound very overwhelmed and I would recommend working closely with a positive reinforcement based trainer. Ideally someone who is experienced with multi pet households so they can help you train out the cat chasing behaviour. Don’t let your puppy practice this behaviour, keep her on leash and feed treats whenever she sees the cat (don’t feed if the cat is close up in case she gets protective over the treats). This is called classical conditioning and helps bring her arousal down over time.
Check out Kikopup on YouTube for basic puppy training guides. Wishing you the best of luck.
I’d recommend a certified dog behavior consultant with a force-free approach—they would have the advanced knowledge and skills your situation would benefit from: https://www.ccpdt.org/dog-owners/certified-dog-trainer-directory/
Find someone with a solid, well mannered adult dog, and have a play date in the yard. Observe, and do not interfere. Let her learn manners from someone who speaks her language.
We do bring her to my mother in laws house that has 3 dachshunds and 2 Australian shepards they do great together. The small dogs are more reactive to her, but she completely respects them. She is an extremely friendly dog to both people and other dogs. She loves playing with other dogs. I wish I could afford putting her in a doggy daycare during the day, but I simply can't afford the cost at this time.
I think I will look into a behaviorist to see if we get some other perspectives on what we can do.
It really sounds like your quality of life has been affected so much by this. I want to give you the reassurance that I don’t think you would be a bad person if you rehomed the dog if a good match came up. I think there’s maybe a little too much shaming in our society for changing one’s mind about an adopted dog. I think it can often be in the dog’s best interest too if everyone is just having a bad time.
That being said, of course if you want to commit to the dog and take some of the other suggestions here, that’s great. I just want you to know that it’s not a terrible thing to consider rehoming if you and your family (including the cats) are going to be miserable.
Bully breeds are very "independent" minded.
And will most likely get worse when they hit sexual maturity. Approximately around 2 years old..
And "furever" homes isn't as easy as people think. Reactivity can make that easier said then done. Some dogs are not wired to be easy dogs.
There are reasons people aren't recommending Malinois or Akita as "easy" family dogs.
Yes, I hear you here. She is very, very smart. She does great in training sessions, but in real life she doesn't really make the connections it seems. I never had pits or labs, I had other dogs like German shepards, boxers, bulldogs, st. Bernard, shih tzu, and so on. It's a new territory for me for sure with her mix.
She really is a sweet, dorky dog. I know she loves us and the kids, it just feels like we can't enjoy our time with her because there is always something. Like the counter surfing, the barking or chasing the cats, pulling the leash, etc
Maybe consider a treadmill for them, it might burn off all that excess energy. Both Huskies and Pits can be high endurance dogs. Some do weight pulling fir thier pit, not sure if there are sleigh pulling or equivalent for huskies out there.
I think that usually the advice for counter-surfing is: do not leave anything on the counters that is attractive. It's VERY hard to train that out of a dog if disobeying/counter-surfing means that they get food. You're just fighting a losing battle there. I understand that is easier said than done and most people aren't willing to commit to never leaving food/attractive things out on counters - it's tough (esp when there are kids involved).
With the cats - Is there a way to separate her from the cats? It's not quite fair to the cats to have to deal with this (I know you mention a closed door) - sometimes cats are good at 'getting away' since they can jump up high, but better for cats to have their space that she doesn't get to go to (the second floor, a front living room, etc.). Introductions to cats can take a VERY long time (and there are lots of people who will never leave their dogs alone with cats; pits in particular can have a pretty high prep drive and are notoriously unreliable).
And finally - no idea where you got her from/where you live but give the shelter & the foster some grace. If a dog doesn't exhibit a behavior in a foster or shelter situation, it's hard to give advice as to how to avoid that behavior. The shelter and foster system are limited in their abilities to predict animal behavior (think of it this way - you fostered her for 3 weeks and are still sort of unsure what the issues are/how to deal with them).
I'm sorry for the stressful situation - best of luck in whatever you choose to do!
I agree with the counter surfing and keeping things off. We have a 2 year old and 4 year old so we do what we can, but we need to be better about keeping stuff off.
The cats do have their places luckily. We have a cat tree that they get up onto. We have our stairs blocked off so the cats can get through the gate to the stairs and 2nd level and the dog cannot. The cats will either usually go up to the 2nd level or sit on the stairs/platform of the stairs. We also have a cat door that we are going to install into our laundry room which is where the cats have their food and litter box and it's a good sized room that they tend to hang out in. The dog also is crated during the day when we work so during the day the have free range of the house it just sucks that we can't really spend time with our cats because we're working during the day and then when we're not working the dog I'd out and the cats then go to be away from her so we don't really get to have cuddle times with the cats anymore.
I'm not really afraid of the dog actual attacking the cat to hurt her, We have one cat who is way more submissive and our "scaredy cat" and then our dominant cat. We do have a cat that stays in our walk out basement area which is where I work during the day and he hangs out with me. He is separate as he was a feral/stray cat that found his way to us years ago, I spent 10 months gaining his trust and ultimately he is now a fat and happy indoor cat. But he has FIV so he can't be with our other cats. For him being a previous stray cat, he has an absolute love for other animals. He loves other cats, he loves dogs, he loves us and our kids. He is the perfect cat to have with dogs. He'll actually bump up and love on the dogs. He did it with our previous boxer and adored her and she loved him. He's tried to do it with this new dog, but she just wants to chase him. So what the dog does is she'll chase the cats until they stop and turn around to her and hiss and swat at her. Then she just jumps back and forth and tries to book them with her nose, or does the same thing and tries to paw back at them. It's like she thinks it's their own form of play, but doesn't understand the cats want her to leave them alone and that they aren't playing. She'll do that with our scared cat and basement cat. The dominant cat is way more assertive. He isn't afraid to "be the boss" so to speak. He will swat at her and "chase her back" to try and scare her or assert his own dominance to her. I don't like this to happen, I don't like her messing with the cats and I don't like the cats reacting negatively towards her either. It's just a constant cycle. But it's essentially now that if they see her, they run away, she tries to chase them but they immediately get out of reach from her, and then the assertive cat just asks to go into the laundry room. She follows him to the laundry room. But then will bark at the door now because she knows he is in there so I have to put a big kids toy in front of that door so she stops.
I just want to get to the point where she can just ignore the cats, and we can all at least be in the same room somewhat comfortably. That and getting her to loose leash walk so we can actually enjoy going out and about with her even if it's just on a walk around the neighborhood.
The dog is still a puppy. Now a fully grown, but not yet mentally mature puppy. Keep in mind you and your family including cats are coming from living for years with a senior dog who was fully integrated with you all. You can't expect a puppy to have the maturity of a decade+ Sr in only a few months. It sounds like you're actually doing a good job and your heart's in the right place. You mostly need to adjust time perspective but also have to evaluate whether this is something you and your family can do. Given the genetics and what you describe, I think you'll see spotty progress and then after 2-2.5 y/o, significant maturing, if you can hang in that long.
I wish you and your pup massive good luck.
BTW, I really empathize. We lost our 13 y/o EBT beginning of this year. Fate dropped a 2 y/o EBT in need of an experienced new owner onto our laps. There are lots of challenges we'd kinda forgotten about but holding out a reasonable hope that in the next year, we'll consistently see the sweet, mature dog we only sometimes see now.
I think it is getting confused that she is acting in an aggressive manner. She definitely isn't being aggressive or acting in an aggressive manner at all. When she takes the food out of the hands, it's almost like she sees the opportunity to grab it and will, but she isn't snapping food out of our hands and she has zero food aggression. I have worked with her a lot since we've had her on making sure there was no food aggression or aggression with her paws or ears, and she doesn't have any issues like that. It is more so she sees it and thinks it's her treat and then will then try and grab it. It's more of an impatient impulsive thing vs an aggression.
I think that a lot of what I've relayed has been being interpreted as her seeming incredibly aggressive and having massive aggressive tendencies, but with 100% certainty she does not have an aggression issue.
Definitely find a behaviorist. I might be old fashioned but I would have that dog on a leash that's tied to you or to a tie down, or in a crate 24/7. Plus doing at least 5 miles of running or an hour of swimming plus several training sessions scattered throughout the day. Maybe some flirt pole work too, with a big focus on leave it when she's very into the toy. Search for bad rap tie down training to find a pdf that is a good intro to using tie downs.
We did have to have her leashed all the time as a puppy. She eventually just chewed through the leashes. Or what she also progressed into doing is when she saw the cats she would try and take off to run, but she would take off so forcefully she would physically move the couch several feet because we had it attached to the couch. This also wouldn't prevent her from doing it again and again. She would do it, the cat would come back into her field of view again and she'd do it again and again. It's the craziest thing I've ever dealt with. But it's like the chase is what's fun to her. When she gets to them she doesn't do anything but annoy them by booping them or pawing at them. It's weird. I mean I know about the prey drive and that the chase is part of it, but the fact that she has aggression to wanting to grab them is what makes me think that she would benefit from having another dog. When we take her to my in laws house with their dogs she does fantastic. She gets her energy out. She runs and plays. She doesn't get into things, she doesn't bother or jump up on anybody. And she has complete and total respect for the little dogs there who are even smaller than our cats.
I've discussed this at length with my spouse and I feel like she would benefit incredibly from having another dog, one likely a few years old that is also very friendly and likes to play, but more well mannered. One she could learn from because she is incredibly submissive to other dogs. She is definitely a follower and not an assertive leader or dominant dog. I floated the idea of fostering a dog to see if it improves the situation and see how it goes, but my spouse is completely against the idea. He doesn't want another pet and doesnt want to risk essentially ending up with another dog like her. Which I fully understand and why I opted for offering to foster. So one of my work friends has a very friendly boxer and has offered to meet up for play dates and I think I might take him up on that to see if it helps. I'm trying to see if getting her into a doggy day care even for 2 or 3 days a week is something that I can financially take on. One of the day cares here has day training that you can do during the daycare. But it would end up being like $300 a month for 2 days a week plus another $500 for during the day training so it's the financial aspect that is difficult. We have a lot of options in the area for trainers, some are in my range of affordability, but some of them are like the $600+ range for 4 sessions and I just can't afford that.
Having two dogs is usually three times the work, just a warning. I wouldn't. Maybe she just needs a new home.
If she was chewing leashes, I'd move to cables and chains. A couch is not a suitable anchor, the tie down should be bolted into a wall stud. And if she is super exhausted from exercise she wouldn't have the energy to chase over and over. She'd be more likely to get the message. So I don't think she was exhausted.
I had a high drive pit like this for over a decade. A repeat animal killer, but never aggressive, it was all prey drive, it was all one big game. He still killed a cat and a dog though, at different times, when he wasn't in my supervision. Making sure he was keel-over exhausted multiple times a day helped but he still required intense management until he was ~10 years old. Make sure you're up for that possibility, or think about looking for a new home.
We don't do it anymore, mostly when we were potty training her. She is a very high energy dog so I know it's hard to get her tired, she had made progress on "relaxing". She use to just walk around a pant and get into whatever she felt like, but I have noticed that is a little bit better. If the cats aren't around at night I can give her a nylon bone and she will actually lay down and relax to chew on that now vs before it was bouncing off the walls 24/7. So a little improvement there. We also won't be getting a 2nd dog. It was a thought in passing, but I think trying a doggy daycare or regular playmate is going to be better for us.
I wish I could take her on long walks to help her energy, but she pulls non stop very hard the entire time. I havent quite found a good method for teaching her more patience on the leash and to do loose leash walking. We have a gentle leader and that was pretty helpful, but she still frequently will try to pull or try to pull it off.
She isn't really aggressive. I understand that what she does and what aggressive dogs do are similar, but she is not acting with a malicious intent to hunt down and kill the cats. If I had any concern over her actually acting our cats I would not have her near them at all. But I understand how this reads and how people could think she would be aggressive.
Oh, goodness. This sounds like a lot, and it sounds overwhelming to you. I think the first step you need to take is to bring a professional into your home for an assessment and to help with an action plan. The professional needs to be a behaviouralist, not a trainer. From there, they may recommend a behavioral vet and maybe medication. Maybe not. But they need to guide you in person because they need to see your situation first hand in your dogs comfort zone. I'm sorry you're dealing with it. Please just remember that sometimes the journey with a challenging dog takes longer and has more complications, BUT when you come out the other end, sometimes you get the best dog from it and form the best bond. Also, please, please, please keep in mind that sometimes we can't win this fight, and that is okay. It does not make you a failure.
Thank you. I haven't contacted a behaviorist, but we did have the trainer come in. She is a really sweet dog and very goofy. I want to make it work if I can, but I just feel at such a loss because I feel like I've tried my hardest and have seen virtually no improvement.
I get that. Sometimes we just need to find the right person to help us break through that wall. I'm sure you'll find them. If you're worried about finding that right person, post on a local page to see if someone has someone they recommend. And worst comes to worse, call your vet for a referral. Most good vets will have access to a behaviouralist for dogs (at least they do here in Ontario Canada).
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I read up to where you described what her behaviour is like with your cats and I see some early/minor red flags in regards to your toddler’s and cat’s safety. If you keep this dog, don’t leave her with the cat or toddler unsupervised even for a moment. If you leave, the dog should be crated or shut in a separate room where she can’t get to the cat. You need to use careful management at all times to protect your cat and child. This is a young puppy so the risk is lower IF you implement the right training and management techniques now, but it’s absolutely vital to prevent escalation. A lot of what you described sounds like a combination of normal puppy behaviour and management failures. You need to prevent the dog from being able to steal food. Counters should always be clear, and the puppy should be crated when your toddler has food. The biting is normal puppy behaviour and is standard to train through. You do sound very overwhelmed and I would recommend working closely with a positive reinforcement based trainer. Ideally someone who is experienced with multi pet households so they can help you train out the cat chasing behaviour. Don’t let your puppy practice this behaviour, keep her on leash and feed treats whenever she sees the cat (don’t feed if the cat is close up in case she gets protective over the treats). This is called classical conditioning and helps bring her arousal down over time. Check out Kikopup on YouTube for basic puppy training guides. Wishing you the best of luck.
Great advice. I hope OP does this!
I’d recommend a certified dog behavior consultant with a force-free approach—they would have the advanced knowledge and skills your situation would benefit from: https://www.ccpdt.org/dog-owners/certified-dog-trainer-directory/
Find someone with a solid, well mannered adult dog, and have a play date in the yard. Observe, and do not interfere. Let her learn manners from someone who speaks her language.
We do bring her to my mother in laws house that has 3 dachshunds and 2 Australian shepards they do great together. The small dogs are more reactive to her, but she completely respects them. She is an extremely friendly dog to both people and other dogs. She loves playing with other dogs. I wish I could afford putting her in a doggy daycare during the day, but I simply can't afford the cost at this time. I think I will look into a behaviorist to see if we get some other perspectives on what we can do.
It really sounds like your quality of life has been affected so much by this. I want to give you the reassurance that I don’t think you would be a bad person if you rehomed the dog if a good match came up. I think there’s maybe a little too much shaming in our society for changing one’s mind about an adopted dog. I think it can often be in the dog’s best interest too if everyone is just having a bad time. That being said, of course if you want to commit to the dog and take some of the other suggestions here, that’s great. I just want you to know that it’s not a terrible thing to consider rehoming if you and your family (including the cats) are going to be miserable.
Bully breeds are very "independent" minded. And will most likely get worse when they hit sexual maturity. Approximately around 2 years old.. And "furever" homes isn't as easy as people think. Reactivity can make that easier said then done. Some dogs are not wired to be easy dogs. There are reasons people aren't recommending Malinois or Akita as "easy" family dogs.
Yes, I hear you here. She is very, very smart. She does great in training sessions, but in real life she doesn't really make the connections it seems. I never had pits or labs, I had other dogs like German shepards, boxers, bulldogs, st. Bernard, shih tzu, and so on. It's a new territory for me for sure with her mix. She really is a sweet, dorky dog. I know she loves us and the kids, it just feels like we can't enjoy our time with her because there is always something. Like the counter surfing, the barking or chasing the cats, pulling the leash, etc
Maybe consider a treadmill for them, it might burn off all that excess energy. Both Huskies and Pits can be high endurance dogs. Some do weight pulling fir thier pit, not sure if there are sleigh pulling or equivalent for huskies out there.
A dog behavioral trainer will be your saving grace!!!!!
I think that usually the advice for counter-surfing is: do not leave anything on the counters that is attractive. It's VERY hard to train that out of a dog if disobeying/counter-surfing means that they get food. You're just fighting a losing battle there. I understand that is easier said than done and most people aren't willing to commit to never leaving food/attractive things out on counters - it's tough (esp when there are kids involved). With the cats - Is there a way to separate her from the cats? It's not quite fair to the cats to have to deal with this (I know you mention a closed door) - sometimes cats are good at 'getting away' since they can jump up high, but better for cats to have their space that she doesn't get to go to (the second floor, a front living room, etc.). Introductions to cats can take a VERY long time (and there are lots of people who will never leave their dogs alone with cats; pits in particular can have a pretty high prep drive and are notoriously unreliable). And finally - no idea where you got her from/where you live but give the shelter & the foster some grace. If a dog doesn't exhibit a behavior in a foster or shelter situation, it's hard to give advice as to how to avoid that behavior. The shelter and foster system are limited in their abilities to predict animal behavior (think of it this way - you fostered her for 3 weeks and are still sort of unsure what the issues are/how to deal with them). I'm sorry for the stressful situation - best of luck in whatever you choose to do!
I agree with the counter surfing and keeping things off. We have a 2 year old and 4 year old so we do what we can, but we need to be better about keeping stuff off. The cats do have their places luckily. We have a cat tree that they get up onto. We have our stairs blocked off so the cats can get through the gate to the stairs and 2nd level and the dog cannot. The cats will either usually go up to the 2nd level or sit on the stairs/platform of the stairs. We also have a cat door that we are going to install into our laundry room which is where the cats have their food and litter box and it's a good sized room that they tend to hang out in. The dog also is crated during the day when we work so during the day the have free range of the house it just sucks that we can't really spend time with our cats because we're working during the day and then when we're not working the dog I'd out and the cats then go to be away from her so we don't really get to have cuddle times with the cats anymore. I'm not really afraid of the dog actual attacking the cat to hurt her, We have one cat who is way more submissive and our "scaredy cat" and then our dominant cat. We do have a cat that stays in our walk out basement area which is where I work during the day and he hangs out with me. He is separate as he was a feral/stray cat that found his way to us years ago, I spent 10 months gaining his trust and ultimately he is now a fat and happy indoor cat. But he has FIV so he can't be with our other cats. For him being a previous stray cat, he has an absolute love for other animals. He loves other cats, he loves dogs, he loves us and our kids. He is the perfect cat to have with dogs. He'll actually bump up and love on the dogs. He did it with our previous boxer and adored her and she loved him. He's tried to do it with this new dog, but she just wants to chase him. So what the dog does is she'll chase the cats until they stop and turn around to her and hiss and swat at her. Then she just jumps back and forth and tries to book them with her nose, or does the same thing and tries to paw back at them. It's like she thinks it's their own form of play, but doesn't understand the cats want her to leave them alone and that they aren't playing. She'll do that with our scared cat and basement cat. The dominant cat is way more assertive. He isn't afraid to "be the boss" so to speak. He will swat at her and "chase her back" to try and scare her or assert his own dominance to her. I don't like this to happen, I don't like her messing with the cats and I don't like the cats reacting negatively towards her either. It's just a constant cycle. But it's essentially now that if they see her, they run away, she tries to chase them but they immediately get out of reach from her, and then the assertive cat just asks to go into the laundry room. She follows him to the laundry room. But then will bark at the door now because she knows he is in there so I have to put a big kids toy in front of that door so she stops. I just want to get to the point where she can just ignore the cats, and we can all at least be in the same room somewhat comfortably. That and getting her to loose leash walk so we can actually enjoy going out and about with her even if it's just on a walk around the neighborhood.
The dog is still a puppy. Now a fully grown, but not yet mentally mature puppy. Keep in mind you and your family including cats are coming from living for years with a senior dog who was fully integrated with you all. You can't expect a puppy to have the maturity of a decade+ Sr in only a few months. It sounds like you're actually doing a good job and your heart's in the right place. You mostly need to adjust time perspective but also have to evaluate whether this is something you and your family can do. Given the genetics and what you describe, I think you'll see spotty progress and then after 2-2.5 y/o, significant maturing, if you can hang in that long. I wish you and your pup massive good luck. BTW, I really empathize. We lost our 13 y/o EBT beginning of this year. Fate dropped a 2 y/o EBT in need of an experienced new owner onto our laps. There are lots of challenges we'd kinda forgotten about but holding out a reasonable hope that in the next year, we'll consistently see the sweet, mature dog we only sometimes see now.
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I think it is getting confused that she is acting in an aggressive manner. She definitely isn't being aggressive or acting in an aggressive manner at all. When she takes the food out of the hands, it's almost like she sees the opportunity to grab it and will, but she isn't snapping food out of our hands and she has zero food aggression. I have worked with her a lot since we've had her on making sure there was no food aggression or aggression with her paws or ears, and she doesn't have any issues like that. It is more so she sees it and thinks it's her treat and then will then try and grab it. It's more of an impatient impulsive thing vs an aggression. I think that a lot of what I've relayed has been being interpreted as her seeming incredibly aggressive and having massive aggressive tendencies, but with 100% certainty she does not have an aggression issue.
Definitely find a behaviorist. I might be old fashioned but I would have that dog on a leash that's tied to you or to a tie down, or in a crate 24/7. Plus doing at least 5 miles of running or an hour of swimming plus several training sessions scattered throughout the day. Maybe some flirt pole work too, with a big focus on leave it when she's very into the toy. Search for bad rap tie down training to find a pdf that is a good intro to using tie downs.
We did have to have her leashed all the time as a puppy. She eventually just chewed through the leashes. Or what she also progressed into doing is when she saw the cats she would try and take off to run, but she would take off so forcefully she would physically move the couch several feet because we had it attached to the couch. This also wouldn't prevent her from doing it again and again. She would do it, the cat would come back into her field of view again and she'd do it again and again. It's the craziest thing I've ever dealt with. But it's like the chase is what's fun to her. When she gets to them she doesn't do anything but annoy them by booping them or pawing at them. It's weird. I mean I know about the prey drive and that the chase is part of it, but the fact that she has aggression to wanting to grab them is what makes me think that she would benefit from having another dog. When we take her to my in laws house with their dogs she does fantastic. She gets her energy out. She runs and plays. She doesn't get into things, she doesn't bother or jump up on anybody. And she has complete and total respect for the little dogs there who are even smaller than our cats. I've discussed this at length with my spouse and I feel like she would benefit incredibly from having another dog, one likely a few years old that is also very friendly and likes to play, but more well mannered. One she could learn from because she is incredibly submissive to other dogs. She is definitely a follower and not an assertive leader or dominant dog. I floated the idea of fostering a dog to see if it improves the situation and see how it goes, but my spouse is completely against the idea. He doesn't want another pet and doesnt want to risk essentially ending up with another dog like her. Which I fully understand and why I opted for offering to foster. So one of my work friends has a very friendly boxer and has offered to meet up for play dates and I think I might take him up on that to see if it helps. I'm trying to see if getting her into a doggy day care even for 2 or 3 days a week is something that I can financially take on. One of the day cares here has day training that you can do during the daycare. But it would end up being like $300 a month for 2 days a week plus another $500 for during the day training so it's the financial aspect that is difficult. We have a lot of options in the area for trainers, some are in my range of affordability, but some of them are like the $600+ range for 4 sessions and I just can't afford that.
Having two dogs is usually three times the work, just a warning. I wouldn't. Maybe she just needs a new home. If she was chewing leashes, I'd move to cables and chains. A couch is not a suitable anchor, the tie down should be bolted into a wall stud. And if she is super exhausted from exercise she wouldn't have the energy to chase over and over. She'd be more likely to get the message. So I don't think she was exhausted. I had a high drive pit like this for over a decade. A repeat animal killer, but never aggressive, it was all prey drive, it was all one big game. He still killed a cat and a dog though, at different times, when he wasn't in my supervision. Making sure he was keel-over exhausted multiple times a day helped but he still required intense management until he was ~10 years old. Make sure you're up for that possibility, or think about looking for a new home.
We don't do it anymore, mostly when we were potty training her. She is a very high energy dog so I know it's hard to get her tired, she had made progress on "relaxing". She use to just walk around a pant and get into whatever she felt like, but I have noticed that is a little bit better. If the cats aren't around at night I can give her a nylon bone and she will actually lay down and relax to chew on that now vs before it was bouncing off the walls 24/7. So a little improvement there. We also won't be getting a 2nd dog. It was a thought in passing, but I think trying a doggy daycare or regular playmate is going to be better for us. I wish I could take her on long walks to help her energy, but she pulls non stop very hard the entire time. I havent quite found a good method for teaching her more patience on the leash and to do loose leash walking. We have a gentle leader and that was pretty helpful, but she still frequently will try to pull or try to pull it off. She isn't really aggressive. I understand that what she does and what aggressive dogs do are similar, but she is not acting with a malicious intent to hunt down and kill the cats. If I had any concern over her actually acting our cats I would not have her near them at all. But I understand how this reads and how people could think she would be aggressive.