Loves to chase the cat!

[Kim S.]

Hi,
Any ideas on how to get a 7 month old male pup to stop chasing the cat? Debo just has THE best time chasing poor Timmy and when he does catch him, he doesn't hurt him, only just holds him down and sniffs! But some days (most) poor Tim can't walk out in the open without the chase being on! I've tried holding Tim and letting Debo sniff him, but that doesn't seem to work. Also, Tim is declawed, so even though he swats at Debo...no lesson is learned! Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks!
Kim

 

[dkay]

I have been working with my new girl Jazmine on the same thing. I have made rather good progress with having Jazmine sit and pay attention to me...when she is giving me attention instead of kitty...she gets a treat....it is now week 3 and when she goes after kitty...I call her...tell her no...have her to come to me...then sit and then she gets treats. I am definatly more fun with treats than kitty is hissing.

 

[Kim S.]

That sounds like a good idea...I'll give it a try immediately!
Thanks!

 

[ssleighter]

Any redirection to something more interesting than kitty will do. In Hammer's case that's food! If he sits and stays when the cats do a flyby he gets a treat. With Ginger it's almost impossible to get her to sit/stay when she sees a cat. I redirect her with a really loud squeeky toy and a game of fetch. She's going to be a little harder because her "chase" gene is stronger than Hammer's! Patience is key. Also, trying to get Timmy to stroll by instead of running will help. Mine tend to only chase when the kitties are moving fast. If they just walk by they get ignored.

Making sure Timmy has someplace to go to get away from Debo is very important. For our kitties, they have the master bedroom equipped with a kitty door. It is their domain and the dogs NEVER enter that room. Do they spend a lot of time there? Yes, but they come out more and more as time passes.

Good luck with this.

Sharon

 

[Kim S.]

More good ideas! Thanks!

 

[gljliz]

My Ginger shares the house with two cats. Milo (17 pounds of cat) made the rules early on. He scratched Ginger on the nose the first week and they get along wonderfully now! Milo will let Ginger bark at him and nibble his ears! Of course, Milo lets Ginger know when play time is over. One piece of advice I was given was to put a bell on the dog. This gives the cats a warning that the dog is coming. I did this and took the collars off of the cats so that Ginger doesn't hear them coming. Ginger is still curious about the cats, but she never hurts them. They'll get used to each other - just give it some time!

 

[DixieDiana]

My Brittany loves to chase Cuddles the cat.
I am almost positive that Cuddles even encourages at times.
I think that is because Cuddles has an escape route.
We have a baby gate in the hallway next to our master bedroom. Cuddles flys over the gate...to the safety of the bedroom. He then usually turns, and hisses at Brittany each time he wins the race for the gate...