Cats vs Dog

Re: Cats vs Dog

Jenny T — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:28:56 GMT

Crate training the dog might not be a bad idea. You do this slowly and encourage the dog to see the crate as a "safe place". So feed in there and put a comfie bed, preferably including some of your old clothes (not washed). Once the dog is happy to go in there and sleep, you could use it overnight to help him settle. You could also pop him in it for a short period each evening so the cats can wander around and get used to the dog being about.

one of my own cats is very frightened of dogs. It has taken about a year to get him to stay in the room with the dog. Even now if the dog gets up suddenly or starts to play- the cat will run. These things just take time.

Re: Cats vs Dog

Stuart McQueen RVN MBVNA — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:01:13 GMT

Thanks Jenny T (and everyone else), this is a huge help, the cat already "kind of" have the upstairs to themselves. To make matters a little worse - the dog does have some seperation issues - so we can't leave him down stairs at night on his own... (we have young kids in the house next to us - and he barks!)

The cats have never got on with dogs - Jo was a practice cat for a little bit but we have to chuck her out when she started to attack dogs in the waiting room. So they are already in the habit of running.

Would it be a bad idea to put the dog in his cage and let the cats into that room, or lock the cats in a basket and let the dog have a sniff around? I know that the dog doesn't want to hurt the cats - he just wants to play...

Re: Cats vs Dog

Jenny T — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:27:08 GMT

Thanks for that Caro (saw your message on Amtra council thread and so had a look here).

Stuart,

You have had really good and appropriate advice here. The important point is not to try and rush things. Cats will take as long as they need. If you set the ground rules Ie no bothering the cats, then everyone will eventually learn them. The important points are-

NEVER let the dog chase, bother, focus on the cats
Give the cats safe and secure areas. This would ideally be somewhere up high in the room, and preferably make upstairs a cat only zone (baby gate on the stairs is good for this). Put food bowls, litter trays, beds etc up there.Make sure the cats also have some TLC time even if they are living upstairs.
Let the cats come and go in their own time, don't try and force them to stay in the room with the dog. The cats have to make their own choices
Teach the dog the "cat rules". Train a "down" or preferably "go to bed" command. Use these when the cat is around. Ensure the dog is praised and rewarded for complying (nice but small food treat). Eventually the dog should get the idea and go to its bed or go into a down when it sees the cat as it knows it will then get a treat reward.
If the dog can't yet be trusted with just the verbal commands then attach a trailing long lead so that you have the physical control if you need it. Use the firm "no" if the dog focuses on the cats, but praise immediately it stops.
Be positive but firm and never allow a situation to occur where the dog can chase the cat. The dog will get a massive reward from this and it will be much harder to stop the behaviour. The cats will also then get into the very unhelpful habit of running whenever they see the dog.
Have patience, this can take months, but you should see some positive signs within a few weeks.

Good luck.

Re: Cats vs Dog

LoveCat — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:28:56 GMT

[quote user="Sally Roberts"] It took a fair amount of time as the idiot who had her encouraged her to chase cats.[/quote]

Wow - thats very encouraging to hear! I have three cats and one day (when I have more time!) would love to own a dog but am very concerned about how it would work. It sounds like you've done an amazing job there!

Re: Cats vs Dog

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:26:49 GMT

Stuart contact Jenny T She is the behaviousit on here and fantastic with her help. You need to send her all the info on all the animals (age type etc) including house layouts and as much description of whats going on as you can.

Re: Cats vs Dog

Sally Howe — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:06:41 GMT

It is a matter of patience.

I have 9 cats along with 3 dogs.

All the cats are rescue and aged between 6 weeks old and 9 years old.

We had issues with the rescue bitch, Maya, to begin with but used dog gates for a couple weeks and training and now the cats will curl up with her. It took a fair amount of time as the idiot who had her encouraged her to chase cats.

Hercules and Gaia were bought up with cats. Hercules has reared several rescued litters.

Re: Cats vs Dog

Nicola Smith — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:49:17 GMT

I've been there too. I had my whippet about a year ago now. My cat i elderly and very grumpy and to begin with kept attacking him as he was very tiny!! It took ages but they will now lie together asleep and the cat will play with him too. He can be a pain if he has too much energy and will pester her but she just tells him off, but we have also taught him the command leave - which means leave her alone.

It is quite funny when you tell him to leave so he goes and sits down, and then she starts something!!!

Re: Cats vs Dog

Mrs Dot Dot — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:39:16 GMT

Hi..I agree with Saskia about the patience and perserverence... I think you are expecting too much, too quickly..... I have 4 cats and when I got my dog, 2 and a half years ago, I got her at 7 wks because I thought the earlier the more likely she would be ok with the cats (?!)... little did I know!

She's not aggressive to them, she just loves to chase (she's a JRT X), if the opportunity arises - she has a different relationship with each cat, and it has taken a while for them all to work things out- upstairs is cats territory, downstairs is dogs.... the cats now sit on the stairs watching/ winding her up. A couple of my cats soon worked out that if they ran, she chased, so they didn't... one of them still hasn't worked this out, so still gets chased!

Things have definately calmed down alot but it definately took a long time for things to sort themselves out, and for them to sort themselves out..... If I don't get the chance to walk her properly, it is alot worse -she is a little minx with them... but they now know what to do.

Non of my cats have ever had the courage to put her in her place properly, (seriously thought about renting out a big old tom cat for a month at one point, to do this!!), so she has gained lots of confidence just to not take any notice of their tellings off, but she just wants to play with them.... she goes in bottom 1st to protect herself!

The cats have always had the freedom to move around all areas of the house ( I live in a small terrraced house) and go outside, and also jump on kitchen work surfaces ( I know this isn't to everyones taste but I had to leave them to sort themselves out, and one of the cats 'escape from her' opportunities, was to do this) but I now regularly am on the sofa with a dog and at least 2 cats.... but also my dog has also grown up alot as well, in the last few months..... No-one ever told me before that dogs don't really start to grow up properly till after they are 2!!!

Anyway, leave them to it as much as you can, and be patient. Things/ they will work themselves out.

Re: Cats vs Dog

Saskia Quinn — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:05:27 GMT

I'm not very 'in' with behaviour but I will tell you my story.

My guess is that your cats have never had much contact with a dog before?

All I can say is time, patience and perserverance! My greyhounds live quite happily with my cats and one rabbit now. That wasnt always the case - at the start, they would have chased anything that moved and even caught one of my now rip cats. The greyhound came off worse than the cat though!!

If my greyhounds can walk past the cats without licking their lips and drooling (thats what they used to do) then anything is possible!! Stick at it and good luck

Re: Cats vs Dog

Dippy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:23:54 GMT

I'm in exactly the same boat - one cat is brave and is around (although my dog is a lot smaller so just at eye level!) but he mithers her to death so we are constantly having to let her out of rooms and alternate who gets to be with us when watching telly etc. He's fin (dog) when she's sitting down sleeping in the room but as soon as she moves, has an extremely strong chase urge. Other cat is still living upstairs predominantly although in the past week has become more curious and is down a lot more but only when she knows he's shut in a room. I too have DAP, Feliway etc on the go, training lead, practising recall at every opportunity and various distraction aids around the place and have been getting him used to a puppy crate over the past few weeks so this weekend he's going into it for a couple of hours after a long walk (so he will hopefully sleep) and all the doors are staying open in the hope she comes down and investigates further. It's been 6wks but I think we have minor progress but is obviously going to take a long time. Stick with it!

The funny thing is in our case, the sc aredy cat used to be joined at the hip to my old dog and mithered him to death and the brave one this time stayed out of my old dog's way when she could.

Re: Cats vs Dog

les punton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:17:08 GMT

oooo toughie, you seem to have tried everything I was thinking maybe just time for the cats to adjust?

Not up on my cat behaviour but good luck!