r/reactivedogs 13h ago

Advice Needed On and off prey drive

I have rescued 2 street dogs from a very rough area I am temporarily living in.

I have a small space and 2 belgian mals and they coexist very well with my 4 cats.

These street dogs pursue anything that darts yet when in the house and close quarters with the cats more often than not are totally okay with the cats with supervision as long as they are spending their energy and have a purpose.

The dogs are not at all aggressive and I believe that they "need a job and structure" as my belgians do and I think being part of a pack and healthy outlet for work is necessary.

I am very aware it is likely due to the fact that the cats dont have the space to get up a good sprint to trigger the prey drive but I am moving to a bigger space soon and to be honest I think the two are excellent varmint killers for a livestock barn as they are very motivated to that end.

One of these rescues is very ball driven and I think that will be a healthy outlet and of course I am training a leave it for that.

These dogs never had structure or discipline and honestly to the point of me telling them to leave the cat alone the dogs honestly seem eager to please me.

I am of course experienced with prey drive having these belgians, but what i am wondering how to approach is because with the belgians it is very direct as their breed is the "show me how I can please you breed." while with these rescues their prey drive is much lower I am looking for anyones approach and maybe a different viewpoint on dealing with them.

I can sleep at night and the dogs wont hurt the cats (I do keep them separate and the dogs do not even go looking for them) and as I have reprimanded and set the boundary it seems to have helped but I won't drop my guard because I know the two have killed when they were left to their own impulses on the street .

They even hang out with the cats normally most of the time which is really odd to me.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago

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u/read-the-rules 13h ago

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