This evening my dog killed a neighbors pet cat. I feel really bad about the whole situation. I understand the guys frustration. I'm gonna go into detail so if it's kinda long, I'm sorry. 

I was watching a movie and my dog was outside in the backyard. I went to go check on him because usually after a certain amount of time he tends to scratch at the door. I go to check on him and notice the gate wasn't closed and he was gone. My friend was over earlier and she must have not closen the gate all the way before she left. The dog does have a bad habit of running off so this is why we always have him either on a leash during walks or in the house or backyard. Mind you, he is not an aggessive dog toward people or other dogs. Super friendly. He's never bitten a person or dog before, even small dogs. 

I'm walking down the street and I notice a bunch of police cars around. I ask a neighbor if they have seen a dog. They said, yeah and you should go talk to the police officers. One of the police officers is hold my dog down. I tell him, that is my dog and if anything happened. He tells me, the dog killed this guys cat in his lawn. I can tell the neighbor is really upset. I overheard him saying he wants the dog put down. The officer said they will give the information to the animal control so they will be in contact with me. 

I'm not sure what to really do. I want to try and make amends with the neighbor at some point. Pay any vet  bills or get him a new cat or something. Personally, I don't really think a dog killing a cat is worth putting the dog down. Or course I'm being bias. I know my dog doesn't like cats and this is why we don't have one in the house. It would be different if the dog attacked another dog or person. He would be put down immediately. All I'm saying is, every animal has their natural instincts. Cats kill small animals all the time. Imagine if his cat killed a neighbors bird. Would you think he would put the cat down? Probably not. 

Do you think my dog is at risk at being put down? Anything I should do or know about? 

Btw, the dog is a huskey/german shepard mix. 

I don't know the laws where you live so I don't know if your neighbor can get your dog put down but to be perfectly honest, it's fair if you're dog gets put down because it killed someone else's pet cat. I hope it doesn't because I don't like dogs/cats being put down in general without a really good reason but you shouldn't have let your dog get out when you know it likes to bite shit regardless if it's a cat or person.

You should try to apologize to the neighbor and offer to get him a new cat or something but for the dog's sake and the neighbor, don't say anything like "Personally, I don't really think a dog killing a cat is worth putting the dog down." and "It would be different if the dog attacked another dog or person.".

I don't know how law would work in your country in this situation... but with that combination I assume your dog is of considerable size and it would look more dangeorus than the average dog. That might increase the probabilities of it being put down.

And by the way... if the cat owner loved his pet as much as you love yours... I'm sure you'll understand that buying him a new cat or paying the vets bills will not make him feel any better.

And I hate to say this... but if anything happens to your dog it will be your fault and that friend of yours for not being careful enough with it.

I hope for you and your dog's sake he doesn't get put down. But you really need to make measures to ensure he doesn't run off. And of course, compensate your neighbor for the loss of his cat.

I do feel for you, it's a very uneasy situation to be in, for you and your neighbor.

The exact type of situation happened to my work colleague and it happened in front of her husband and kids. Dog was out in the front yard without.a leash, neighbours cat in front of next house, dog grabs it and shakes it like rag doll in its jaws and kills it. Dog is a Staffie I recall. Anyways because they had a major argument with neighbours only weeks earlier over another separate matter. They decided to say nothing. Yeh I felt bad for the cat. I have a dog and cat. they get on fine. Its also fine with other cats too. Only small dog tho.

Putting it down is extreme and imo unnecessary. And like you said it's friendly so this must be the first time this happened. If it had more incidents like this then yeah putting it down would probably be an option but I see no justification in putting it down. I honestly wouldnt know what to do in this situation. You made a mistake and wasn't irresponsible like some owners. Interacting with the neighbor would be weird but I would want to do something for them out of guilt. Sad thing is they might not even forgive you. If your dog does get put down I'm sorry.

Your friend :@

People like that annoy me.

Maybe you could use a muzzle? I know that it's probably not necessary, but your neighbour may appreciate your efforts.

I don't know the law where you live, so it really depends on it. I just don't like the eye for an eye attitude. I mean, it's a dog and it does what a dog does, but you also have to take responsibility for him and keep him away from doing harm. You've raised him and the dog will probably pay the price for it now :(

All you can do is compensate the loss of the cat and take measurements to avoid something like that in the future.

If a pet of mine got killed by someone's dog on their property I wouldn't be all that bothered as it would be in it's rights but someone's dog actually killing it on my own property is a completely different thing I would probably go crazy and things would never be fixed between us.

On whether you should put it down I would look at the "what if" scenario of what if someone was walking past with a little child and the dog instead ripped them to bits instead of another animal and is it worth the risk of something like that happening. On the other hand you gotta think should it always be on a chain in the garden to stop such things potentially happening again along with putting a muzzle on it when it's out for a walk.

I don't think I could trust the dog again as a pet after seeing it kill other animals.

A friend of mine had a Japanese Akita for 7 years and was as soft as anything and then one day it broke away from him and ripped a smaller dog to bits in front of the owner and without hesitation he decided best thing was to put it down in case any of the above "what if" had happened.