[Nawni]

At the humane society, I was disappointed to discover that their "cat compatibility" test consisted of a cat in a cage. The dog-friendly cat was in a very tiny wire cage, the dog was allowed to sniff it, and that was it.

In the last few days, I've noticed a growing tendancy for Fred to chase things. She likes to jump at birds in the snow, she'll lunge at leaves blowing on the ground, and she tried to chase a squirrel that was crossing the street.

The two cats in our household are not dog-friendly. My cat, Nemo, is 13 years old, and is very nervous around new animals. I've given her a room away from the dogs, and she's been allowed to come out on her own terms. She's come out three times, stopped moving at the sight of Fred, and slowly backed away.

Fred's reaction scares me. I have her on a leash, so there's no danger to my cat, but Fred will become fixated on Nemo. Her ears will go up, her tail will go up, and she'll run to the end of the leash. Our old dog, Porky, did this with squirrels, and when she caught one, the squirrel wound up dead.

My cat won't stop walking/running away. Putting her in a crate and forcing her to get close to Fred isn't an option. How can I train Fred not to chase things... specifically, cats?

[RBark]

Originally Posted by Nawni

At the humane society, I was disappointed to discover that their "cat compatibility" test consisted of a cat in a cage. The dog-friendly cat was in a very tiny wire cage, the dog was allowed to sniff it, and that was it.

In the last few days, I've noticed a growing tendancy for Fred to chase things. She likes to jump at birds in the snow, she'll lunge at leaves blowing on the ground, and she tried to chase a squirrel that was crossing the street.

The two cats in our household are not dog-friendly. My cat, Nemo, is 13 years old, and is very nervous around new animals. I've given her a room away from the dogs, and she's been allowed to come out on her own terms. She's come out three times, stopped moving at the sight of Fred, and slowly backed away.

Fred's reaction scares me. I have her on a leash, so there's no danger to my cat, but Fred will become fixated on Nemo. Her ears will go up, her tail will go up, and she'll run to the end of the leash. Our old dog, Porky, did this with squirrels, and when she caught one, the squirrel wound up dead.

My cat won't stop walking/running away. Putting her in a crate and forcing her to get close to Fred isn't an option. How can I train Fred not to chase things... specifically, cats?

It took many months for both my cat and dog to not get riled up at the sight of each other. I forced him to stay in the same room as kitty, with kitty out of reach. After a month of this, they were allowed closer and closer until now they are used to each other. My kitty is in love with Ollie, but my older cat, Lucky, doesn't want anything to do with him.

[TooneyDogs]

Reminds me of the story by a world famous dog trainer....her dogs got along great with the cats..they could jump on the dogs, take their treats, sleep in their beds....the only thing the cats could not do is RUN. The second they did that, the dogs prey drive would kick into gear.
I have pretty much the same thing here with 2 dogs and 1 cat. Fortunately, mine are herding dogs and they only make a token effort. If they were a different breed it could be an entirely different story.

[Lonewolfblue]

Could try playing Look At That. It will probably take a few weeks to maybe even several months, but this is a reward-based game that you can play. Basically what you do is have the dog with you on leash, and have the dog sitting. When the cat is visible, as soon as the dog sees the cat, reward the dog by giving tons of treats. As long as the dog stays, keep rewarding. Then, you can move to having the dog do eye contact with you. So, when the dog sees the cat, then looks to you, praise and reward the dog. But like said above, it may be a while before you can trust the dog with the cats. But it can be done. I'm doing the same with my Betty and other dogs. We are at the point where she only gets rewarded if she looks at another dog, then makes eye contact with me like saying, Did you see me look at that other dog?. lol. And you want the rewards to be the absolute best reward for the dog, something that he/she really, really likes.

[tigress]

Originally Posted by Nawni

At the humane society, I was disappointed to discover that their "cat compatibility" test consisted of a cat in a cage. The dog-friendly cat was in a very tiny wire cage, the dog was allowed to sniff it, and that was it.

Yeah, the shelter I got a cat I had did this with their dogs. I hate it. My cat had a true phobia of dogs cause they would do this (They'd just bring hte dog into the cat room. He was on the bottom cage - cats feel safer when they are high up from the danger, and developed a true hatred of dogs). The worker there specifically even said that was what happened with him (they brought a dog there while I was there and my cat went ballisticly aggressive cause he had no where to flee to).

I have a dog now cause the cat passed away (it would have taken major work to get him ok with a dog and some one with a dog who was willing to work with me and him everyday for a month or more prolly to get him desensitized which I did not have).

And honestly, I"m going to be curious to the suggestions here cause my dog seems fine with cats that stand up to her, but my cats flee and she thinks that is fun. So far I think she just thinks they are small dogs to play with (the few times I hadn't stopped her before she cornered one she play bowed them and honestly her favorite game wth other dogs is chase and be chased), but seeing as she has husky in her I'm not trusting that prey drive will kick in so I want to teach her that even "playing" with them is not an option.

I honestly am not sure how effective that method is at proving a dog is cat safe and honestly I feel it's really not fair to the cats.

[Elana55]

NEVER let the dog chase the cat. Ever. Put the dog in a crate and let the CAT do the approaching. Never let the dog out of the crate when agitated or attempting to get at the cat. Leave the friends making thing up to the cat, not to the dog.

If the dog fixates on the cat, get up and lead her in the other direction IMMEDIATELY. NEVER reward her for fixating on the cat.

Teach your dog "leave it" and always redirect the dog's attention away from anything he wants to chase that you don't want chased. Keep the dog leashed.

Thats a Primer.

[tigress]

Originally Posted by Elana55

NEVER let the dog chase the cat. Ever. Put the dog in a crate and let the CAT do the approaching. Never let the dog out of the crate when agitated or attempting to get at the cat. Leave the friends making thing up to the cat, not to the dog.

If the dog fixates on the cat, get up and lead her in the other direction IMMEDIATELY. NEVER reward her for fixating on the cat.

Teach your dog "leave it" and always redirect the dog's attention away from anything he wants to chase that you don't want chased. Keep the dog leashed.

Thats a Primer.

Heh, I'm trying not to. My current angle of attack is to uh uh her every time she shows interest in the cat and when she looks at me to reward her (to teach her to look at me instead when she sees the cat).

Usually when I have the dog free in the house I gate up the upper floors (where the cats are) but one cat slips through half the time and is curious about the dog (she'll go up to the dog when the dog's in the crate or on the leash and lately even sometimes when the dog is free and she is starting to learn not to run, but the other cat will not come downstairs unlesst he dog is crated... but the other cat took me 3 months when I got her to even let me pet her so not so surprised she's being slower to adjust).

There's been a efw times I didn't notice the dog had found the cat til she had the cat cornered (that's how I know she play bows the cat). Today the dog actually sniffed the cat nose to nose (cat was a bit puffed up) and then went back to seeing what I was doing (but if hte cat doesn't run this is usually her response to the cat. Cat seems to be learning not to run).

[pamperedpups]

I wanted to work with our dogs' prey drive, not against it. It's natural for dogs to chase. They love it, or quickly learn to given the opportunity. Our dogs used to love to chase our neighbors cats. There was little I could do to get their attention back on me until the cat disappeared from sight. I wanted to give them something they COULD chase that I could control.

I started playing with our dogs using a flirt pole, first in our home, then in our front yard and now we're working on playing at the park. At first the dogs didn't care much about it. Now the intensity of focus and drive they have for this game is amazing.

I've incorporated basic obedience into the game by asking the dog I'm working with to give the toy, leave it and back away, do doggy push ups, etc. all with focus on me and not the toy. I release with "break" and the game starts all over.

Now cats, kids, cars, bikes and other dogs can go by and at most the dogs might glance at them. If we aren't playing I can call their attention to me much easier. It seems they just aren't interested in chasing anything but the toy now because they know its highly rewarding and through it they are fulfilled.

[mike_monroe]

Hi Nawni,
Do you mind telling me the age and breed of Fred?

[poodleholic]

The cat was there first, and is 13 yrs. old. Put the dog in a crate, and let the cat explore on her own terms. Otherwise, supervise and contain the dog in a room with baby gates, so your cat can at least get out of the one room. It could take days, weeks, or months.

I have a 25 yr. old cat, and a 3 yr. old feral cat (who's been w/us now for 2 yrs.). The feral had the spare room to roam, with baby gates up (my dogs are both cat friendly, but the cat was unpredictable) when I was able to supervise, otherwise the door was closed. I placed a large dog crate in the living room, with a blanket on either end, an opening in the middle, so the feral had privacy sleeping at one end, and using the litter box on the other. His choice to peek out at the dogs and other cat, or not. By the end of the first week the hissing stopped when the dogs sniffed, the middle of the 2nd week the feral was touching his nose against the dogs' noses, and by the 3rd week, the crate door was left open so he could come out if he chose to. He did. and acted as if he'd lived there his entire life, and no hissing or spitting. He just stood there and got licked, and he licked right back.

My 25 yr. old cat adjusted when I brought Maddy home 6 yrs. ago. Maddy has a strong prey drive. I tethered her to me, and, with the cat in the room gave her lots of yummy treats, so she would associate good things happening when that cat was around. It didn't take long at all. Babe (cat) often curls up and sleeps with the dogs (and she hated their guts at first! LOL) Maddy has caught and killed many a citrus rat (they hang out in the fruit trees), and is very birdy, but she's as gentle as can be with cats, babies, puppies, and everyone she comes in contact with . . .as long as it's not a squirrel, rat, racoon, or 'possum! LOL

Give it time, and do some training with your dog.