Teaching two boxers to LEAVE the cats ALONE!

[pghboxers]

Hi there everyone! Happy holidays!!

We've had our newly adopted guy in our house for about 6 months now, and although the cat-chasing antics have diminished slightly - he still will chase if the cats run. He isn't 100% mesmerized by them as he was before (literally I'd have to drag him away until I put the cats away - he would stare the entire time) - so that is some progress. But, ideally, I want the dogs to stop following, hovering, starring, and otherwise being preoccupied with the cats.

They know "leave it", and "go to your bed" - both of which work excellent without the cats around. But I swear, it's like I have two different dogs here when the cats are nearby!

Our older girl was getting along great with the cats until we adopted the new guy, and apparently she learned how fun it was to chase them again. One cat doesn't run - they just slowly follow her around and occasionally try to lick her. The other hates the dogs, will run, and leave some pretty deep scratches when they catch up with him...if the scratches to their faces doesn't deter him...I'm not sure anything will!

We do a lot of "click to calm" with our guys dog reactivity - which works great, but nothing is more exciting than those cats!

Any suggestions from people who have been there/done that -- I'm allllll ears!!!

Thanks!! And Merry Christmas!!

 

[Bathel]

i made my little girl sit and watch our cat eat and finish his food before I would feed her. After about three of four days she seems to understand that the cat is above her in the chain of command at our house... she will still chase the cat, but will listen to the "leave it" command now...

Also, when you give her the "leave it" command when she's chasing the cat, do you get between her and the cat and make her "leave it"? If you're not consistant with the follow through of the command, she won't always listen.

 

[Gilbert]

In our case things actually fixed themselves, the cat learned that him running caused the dogs to chase him so he stopped running in the house unless its a quick jolt behind the couch or into our arms.

Good luck with your situation, might want to put up a baby gate high enough for the cat to run under and get to safety.

 

[CoraBoxer]

Gilbert, I was totally going to ask after seeing your photos. My rescue grew up with cats, and the cat is very confident... but when the two met cat ran up the wall and dog ripped his nail out on the banister trying to get after him. I was at a loss. Nice to see how your's play and cuddle together and great to know they had a similar start and things improved .

 

[AmISarge]

Rusty is dying to meet the cats!

They are outdoor (ferel) cats, but we've been feeding them for years. Two weeks ago, Rusty was out on our porch with us, and Miss Kitty came up (she didn't see Rusty). He saw her and wanted to "meet" her. She tore across the yard with Rusty chasing her, and she dove into the groundhog hole (under our neighbor's shop/outbuilding).

She doesn't "mind" dogs (as long as they're fenced or leashed), and he had 2 cats and another dog in his previous household. So, as friendly as he wants to be, the cats want nothing to do with him.

His latest "obsession" is SQUIRRELS! He will run 1/4 mile after them, in our woods.....when he comes home, he's exhausted!

 

[Kisaq]

I dont know how I'd do it with two dogs. But my guy, Kisaq had that locked in facination with the one cat in our house as soon as he came home.

Puqu (the cat) will run sometimes. But he is also fairly trusting that we will run interference. Do you have high places like a sturdy cat tree that the cats can escape to?

Kisaq didn't want to back down when he got hissed at and swiped either. Truth is, we had to keep him on a leash or crated for almost 10 days. Because of the cat. During that time, I fed the dog in the crate, and the cat within eye site - as close as I could get them.

I also ALWAYS gave the cat his food first. Or a treat first.
I played "sit for treat" with both the cat and dog, with the dog on a leash. It was tough for Kisaq to concentrate. But when he saw the cat getting a treat, he realized he wanted one too. The cat just became another dog in the family. One that was a grouchy old man who doesn't want to play.

I like the idea of making both your dogs lay down and wait while the cats eat before they get theirs. Reward with treats when they let the cat walk by without focusing on them. That kind of thing. But you have to be johny-on-the-spot with them if you really want it to work.

Consistancy and control - not allowing it to escalate - is the thing. You have to switch off the "chase" game before it becomes "tag."

It can be done. And it looks like your dog isn't prey driven - or your cat would be injured or dead by now. That will make it a little easier. It just means the dog needs to learn what a cat 'hissing' actually means. It means, Leave it alone! Back off! Ignore. But you will have to teach him that.