How can I stop my dogs chasing my nervous cat?

[HouseMouseSamosa]

I got a puppy at the end of last year, and I have an adult dog (both very small breeds). To begin with the puppy was completely unphased by my two cats. Prior to getting the puppy, my older dog was also absolutely fine with the cats, she might get a bit frantic if the cats get too close to where her treats are kept (because obviously the cat really wants her dog treats 🤔), but generally no probably at all.

My two cats are very different characters. One is very brave and doesn’t give a shit about anything, and the other one is scared of his own shadow. He’s always kept his distance from the dogs, and they can pick up on the fact he’s scared of them. My braver cat muddles along quite happily with the dogs, so it’s not all cats that are a problem, just my scaredy cat.

Over time the puppy has got progressively worse with the scaredy cat, he gets really hyper and squeals/barks when he sees the cat, and chases him. Our house isn’t very big so the poor cat can’t escape easily. And now my older dog has decided to sometimes join in with this game.

I tell them off each and every time and things have maybe got a bit better, but they’re still horrible to the poor cat, who now rarely comes into the house because of them. Today they chased the cat so I told them off and put them in the garden (in the rain) for a time out, only for about a minute. I felt awful doing that but they really do need to learn to stop doing it. Not sure whether this will be effective or not, but they are clingy little fuckers so knowing that they are in my bad books and being kept away from me is probably the worst thing that could happen to them in their heads.

Rehoming any of them isn’t an option, I feel like this can be worked through but any suggestions on how would be appreciated.

Oh and to add to that, I do positive reinforcement as much as possible, when the puppy is calm around the nervous cat and not being an asshole.

A time out won’t mean anything to the dog. They won’t associate it with chasing the cat.
You MUST prevent chasing. Stairgates separate cats and dogs. Use a longline or lead in the garden or where they could encounter each other. Treat and praise if the dog looks and then looks back at you.

Please don’t rule out rehoming. It is cruel for your cats to be chased in their own home by the dogs. Either the dog behaviour changes or they have to go…or you ask someone without pets to take the cat.

Get a collar that sprays citronella (with a remote) harsh but it works

I have done this and they co-exist lovely now and no trauma! it is a very quick fix

Rehome the cat, it must be bloody frightened. If your puppy catches it then instinct WILL take over and your cat will be ripped apart. It is not worth it.

Until it can be rehomed you must constantly train your dogs to ignore the cats, all and any cats. Staircases, permanent long leads on the dogs, and somewhere the cats can go upwards to safety whether it's staggered shelving or tall cat trees etc dotted around the rooms.

Don't minimise this. Dogs are predators and cats are prey animals, and unless the predators are trained well the prey animals will always be at risk.

Train the dogs properly, not in that half arsed 'telling off' way that does nothing. Or rehome the poor cat.

They don't understand "time out" - they're dogs!

Use stair gates to give the cat a safe place. You can get ones with a little cat door.

Prevent the behaviour while you try and figure out the training issue.

You don’t need to rehome or use a device that sprays noxious stuff in the face of your dog.
Manage the space. Our cats come and go out the front door. The dogs are behind a stair gate at all times. With puppies we use a lead or longline to prevent chasing.

seperate areas for them, use stair gates, play gates if you must to create cat safe zone, same for dogs. Your poor, poor cats

What breed of dogs are they? Some breeds are genetically wired to chase/ kill and chasing 'prey' is it's own reward, especiallywhen it's a behaviour enforced by pack mentality. Now the cat is scared and runs it will be very hard to break to break the association that 'chasing cat = cat running = satisfaction' especially if your dogs have a high prey drive. The longer they get to practice this reward loop the harder it will be to break it. You are unlikely to find a reward (food/ toy/ praise) the dog values more than the enjoyment it gets from chasing.

You either have to manage it, ensure they can't terrorise the cat by keeping them seperate or dogs on lead and under control in the house or break the association of cat= chase by use of aversives/ negative reinforcement.

In all likelihood the cat will 'solve' the problem by moving out as it no longer feels safe in that environment.

We are hopefully moving soon to a bigger house but as it stands the layout of the house is a bit impossible in terms of separate areas. There’s basically a kitchen (with the back door where the cat flap is), and then a hallway with my DD’s room off it, this used to be the living room but we put up a stud wall to give DD a bigger room as she was living in a shoebox. And then the stairs and bedrooms/bathroom upstairs. If I shut the dogs downstairs that doesn’t help as the cat needs to get past them, and if I shut them upstairs then I’ll have a lot of piss on my carpets, and the cat would still need to get past them on his way to my other DD’s room, which he spends a lot of his time in wherever possible. If I spot him I pick him up quickly and take him up to DD’s room where he’s away from the dogs. But he obviously still needs to get in and out.

I’m not worried at all about the dogs hurting the cat, the cat is literally twice the size of the dogs and far more dangerous if push came to shove! They just think it’s a fun game to chase him, and it’s really not.

They are both tiny doodles, the problematic pup (fully grown) is 3.5kg and my other dog is 5kg.

I can’t picture the layout. But you need to avoid the dogs chasing the cats at all costs. Stairgates. Or pens for the dogs if you can’t be there and keep them on a lead.

You need a safe place in living room and hall cat can jump up to away from dogs. A tall cat tree would do it. If you don't stop the puppy chasing and terrorising the scared cat it will run away and look for a new home. Did you not take the puppy to training classes? That would be a good start. In the meantime I'd move the cat upstairs permanently with litter tray until puppy is trained. If older dog joined on I'd scold it so it knew I was unhappy.

I don’t have a living room, as I said above.

So a room divider etc.

Basically imagine a 2 up, 2 down (except there’s 3 bedrooms upstairs but one is really, really tiny. And downstairs there’s a stud wall in what used to be the living room, so now it’s just a passageway, with a door in the stud wall which goes into DD’s new room.

I did go to puppy classes, and generally he’s very well behaved for a youngster. I compete in a dog sport with my older dog and the puppy has been doing foundation training in the sport for the last 8 months, so he’s had more training than most dogs of his age. It’s just the cat issue.

There’s nowhere I can divide, I guess I could cut off a tiny part of the kitchen if I got rid of the kitchen table, but then we’d have nowhere to eat. We are crammed in here, the house is a tiny terraced house. We are buying soon and the cats being able to have their own space is a must have when viewing places.

Use a pen for the pup when you can’t have it on a lead?

Use a pen for the dogs

Dogs on a lead at all times until the cat gets brave enough to not run.

I have had dogs & cats in the past.I would keep the dog separated from the cat as much as possible.Its not much fun for your cat to have to endure unwanted attention everytime the dog approaches.

Remove the dog with a lead & a strong no.let him/her know your the leader of the pack.

When we had cat's,my mother's dog would try to get past the male cat,who was having none of it.Usually ended with the dog backing off.As you know cat's rarely do that.

As a precaution I usually took the male cat into the airing cupboard,where he was much happier,untill things settled.Have you a area that's high up from the dog,or a cupboard that the dog cannot access?