Cat/small animal prey drive, can it be changed?

Hello,
I am currently fostering a 1 year old shepherd/terrier mix (Probably some pit too). Tonka is 29lbs and came from a shelter 1 month ago. My family has been great with this dog, and he's learning how to live with a family and in a house. He's great with larger dogs and most smaller dogs and kids over 10yrs old(he's 29lbs) but he has a very strong prey drive...clearly the terrier coming out. It has been increasingly difficult to place this dog in a home. . He tolerates cats just enough, but if they move fast, he charges. I have a wonderful family that wants to adopt him (they have 2 maine coon cats), but the cat aggression is a deal breaker. My question; Is it possible to correct the cat/small animal aggression, or is it something that just is. He's a smart boy, who I believe could learn to leave cats alone, but I ask those that have more experience with this type of behavior.
Thank you for any advice you might have.

I have 2 cats and they are very capable of avoiding the dogs (Great Danes). Sometimes they are best friends and nose each other and lie together but other times they don't get along so good. It seems its the cats attacking the dogs as often as dogs attacking cats. Cats can recognize the "I'm gonna kill me a cat" mode when the dogs get into that. They did that a lot in the first couple of years but now I almost never see it. Its probably been 2 or 3 years since a dog has gone after a cat. The cats are good at getting under something or on top os something real fast. To answer your question, yes they can learn to live together but there will be some anxious moments before that happens. It cant be done overnight. But I am sure the cats can take care of themselves.

Very true Bill. Cats can take care of themselves. Our neighbor's Dobe just had to jump and bang the wood fence every time the cat was walking on it. Well they say cats always land on their feet. and it's all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked. It wasn't too serious, mostly scared each other.

Thanks! If the adoptive family is willing to work with Tonka, I think he can be desensitized to the cats quick movements over time. Patience, patience, patience! And fingers crossed that the family would be willing to invest the time to train.

Best of luck to Tonka and his new family (cats,too). It will take time and a weary eye for a while. Soon he'll be up setting them with sloppy kisses. Let us know how he does.

Anytime humans are dealing with relationships between animals, the less they intefere the better. Humans seem to manage to alway do the wrong thing. Don't fuss at the dog for charging at the cats. They will be able to avoid him and once he sees that he's not going to catch them, things will settle down pretty quickly. People jumping in and trying to stop it is futile at best and usually does more harm than good. My advice is just let them be. They will be ok and will soon learn to be buds.

I have a similar situation with my puppy Sarah and my kitten Pixel. Sarah loves to use Pixel as a chew toy. The thing that crawls under my and my wife's skin is Pixel tolerates this behavior. He just acts like nothing is going on. *Sigh*

I don't want Sarah to inadvertently hurt Pixel. I must admit I was trying to keep Sarah from getting at Pixel before. I am going to try your advice Bill. It sounds like it is the way to go in the long run. Thanks again.

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U sure? Cuz last time I did that with my dog a poor bunny almost died. Luckily a couch was near.