Rescue Dog and Cats

[noscat]

Hello, more used to posting on teens but have recently taken on a rescue dog and desperately need some advice re her behaviour towards cats. I wanted a cat-tolerant dog as we have three ourselves, including a 6 month old kitten, and my next door neighbour also has three who often use our garden. DD fell in love with a german spitz cross, and once she had passed her "cat test" we took her home. Well, it's been just over a week, and so far her behaviour towards cats is quite frankly rather scary. She streaks towards them, barking hysterically, snaps and snarls. I've put up a stairgate to protect my three but if they so much as poke their nose through the bannisters she wants to get them. Similarly if we meet a cat out on a walk or she sees one in the garden she's off - she has the same reaction towards birds, squirrels and butterflies (yes, really!) but I'm afraid the butterflies are generally short lived :(. I don't want this to be the fate of my cats, or someone else's.

What on earth should I do? It's not linked to boredom - today she's had two good walks, one this morning for an hour which involved lots of games with other dogs, and a two hour walk this afternoon in a new park (so she was on the lead - bit dull for her) followed by ball games in our local field to tire her out a little. We got home and she was fine until she caught sight of one of the cats sitting on the skylight in the kitchen. She barked incessantly - and a hysterical unpleasant barking with lots of gnashing of teeth and huffing and puffing - nothing I could do would put her off, not even a bit of cheese (her favourite) I spent an hour taking her out of the room to the hallway, waiting till she calmed down, praising her etc but as soon we went back into the kitchen off she'd go again. Ditto if I let her outside.

What does a rescue centre's "cat test" involve? I did ask and was just told that her body language suggested that she wasn't a danger to them. I would beg to disagree, and feel absolutely rotten because I'm worried I've taken on a dog that I might have to return :(. I rang them today for advice and they said their behaviourist would call back -anyone else out there who can help?

Having read this through again it sounds a bit negative, what I really want is for someone to reassure me that with time and patience we can manage this - I do NOT want to give up, and if necessary will spend 6 months or more working on this, but have had some people tell me that her "prey instinct" is so strong that I won't be able to alter it. I'm not experienced enough to know if I can do it

Yep, hopefully. On a practical note, put your bravest cat in a cat carrier and place it on the floor. Bring dog into the room on a lead. Cat cannot run to incite the dog's prey instinct and dog cannot chase. Each time the dog tries to "go for" the cat in anything other than an inquisitive manner, pull back gently on the lead, saying NO very loudly and forcefully. Repeat each time dog attempts to get stroppy with cat over the next couple of minutes then move away. Just as importantly, praise each time your dog stops annoying the cat upon being told no and reward with a treat.

Repeat this several times a day. Eventually, after a few days, you will be able to do this using your voice alone without the need for a lead. Again, reward immediately when he responds to being told no. It took about a week for my (now sadly late) staffie cross to stop terrorising my cat when he first came home with me. It's all about patience, a loud voice, being on the ball and persisting. I didn't think it would happen and really feared that I would have to take my new pal back but perserverence paid off.

As an immediate measure I would brief ALL the family and visitors about not letting the dog near cats and vice versa and about shutting doors, blue-tacking notices to doors as appropriate. Beg, buy or borrow a crate tomorrow and pop pooch in it when the house is busy and you can't guarantee that he won't access the cats.

However, be warned - there are some dogs which simply will not EVER be safe with cats so if I were you I'd be bloody well TELLING the rescue I wanted their behaviouralist over for an assessment NOW!

When the rescue I help with cat tests we actually take them into a home with cats (on lead of course!) and see how they perform. My own cats have been dog-testers on occasion. I'd expect a feck site more than your rescue is offering in the way of a cat test and in the way of support.

My advice would be to ask the name of the behaviouralist and check them out and to tell the rescue that they are currently putting your cats at risk and so of they don't want the dog to bounce straight back to them you are going to need their IMMEDIATE support and assistance.

I don't know what I can do but if you'd like to pm me the name of the rescue (or post it on here, frankly there is no reason why you shouldn't) I'll tell you if I know anything about them or see if I can find anyone who does. Doing so might give a clearer idea of how to proceed.

IF you feel the need to return the dog please check their policy first because a place like this does not sound like one which will have a no-kill practice and he could be at risk. To me the attitude sounds far more like that of a dog pound than a rescue, which is a worrying thought.

HTH.

thanks, I will call them again today - but they are definitely NOT a pound but a reputable and famous rescue society which is why I trusted their judgement. I'll keep you posted. The cats are safe as she can't jump the stairgate and I have briefed everyone about keeping them apart. we also don't have a cat flap so we know exactly when the cats are out and about and can try to keep her inside

The rescue I got my dog from claimed they were able to cat test - but in reality it involved walking the woof through their boarding cattery and seeing if they batted an eyelid. Mine is far far too lazy to bat an eyelid at anything (for that requires effort) non-squirrel related and so passed that.

He still had the odd lunge at the cats - but more in a "wooo hooo PLAAAAYYYYMAAAATEEEE!!!!" kind of way, which a very cantankerous tripod did NOT appreciate. Had me sobbing in tears on more than one occasion thinking it would never settle down and the dog spent most of the first couple of weeks he was here on lead in the house, being removed from the room for a brief time out the second he moved for the cat, and being treated up to his eyeballs if he was in the room and the cat was and he didn't react. We'd just take him out into the kitchen, without a word and stand there for a couple of minutes before returning to the room - it did take a lot of time and really ground me down not being able to go to the loo without making sure the dog was shut away while I had a quick pee.

What helped was having an arsey cat who stands her ground - a bolter is much much worse to deal with I gather - what you want is a somewhat cantankerous mog who lands a nice wallop with a paw the first time dog nose steps out of line... our guy rapidly sussed out the hissing ball of wrath was in fact more bother than it's worth as a playmate and accepted her true status as Feline Overlord and Master of the Universe - now if she wants his spot on the bed she hisses at him and he promptly moves... or she just goes to sleep ON him in exactly the spot SHE wants - but we got our dog right at the start of January and it's taken till this point to get there - and it's still not ideal, although the problems are mainly on the cat end in our house - poor dog puts a hair wrong and she'll hiss and swipe (and he just looks so pained like "what did I do THIS time" poor guy), so now we're having to do the zero tolerance time out thing with the flipping cat! (you hiss at the dog - you're demoted to the floor furball)

Disclaimer: our cat is a right mardy primadonna - I remember her look of glee when we took the dog to get neutered and had to leave him at the vet - she looked so triumphant that she'd seen the slobbery thing off... and soooooo utterly pissed off when he returned later that day! She likes NO opposition to her undivided attention and human slavery! They'll never be best of friends but the tripod cracked the other day and cleaned the dog's ear for him - I think she was pissed off and sick of him trying to groom himself, doing one paw, getting distracted and just starting slurping where his nadgers used to be!

emptyshell that is the sort of relationship the dogs I had previously had with our old cat - she would administer a swipe if they got too up close an personal, but they were introduced to her when they were puppies and she had all the advantages. I rang the centre again, and have emailed a couple of local places that do dog training classes, which I'm hopeful will put me back in control. I suspect we are now coming out of the honeymoon period with the dog, as at first she was suspiciously well behaved! Couldn't understand why her original owners and the centre had been so critical of her, but now she is settling down she is pushing the boundaries :)

If it's just a matter of riding it out and keeping them separate for a while then I'm happy to continue doing that, I'm just worried that my current actions are making things worse. Everyone you meet has a different solution...... Valhalla reluctant to try introducing them (eg putting the cat in a basket) again until she's cut back on the frantic barking, which makes the cats terrified, even the bravest one! I have huge difficulties getting my cats into a carrier, they only ever go in one for trips to the vet so it doesn't have happy associations

I have recently observed that there is a communication difficulty between dogs and cats from watching the mobile mop and beautiful moggy girl. Mobile mop rushes up to moggy girl barks at her waves his front legs at her (please play with me) moggy girl then flattens her ears waves her front leg (fuck off). mobile mop bum in air bounces to moggy girl barking waving front legs (please please play with me) moggy girl bum in air waving both front legs (what part of fuck off did you not understand).
Again on a more serious note arsey cat is what you need posh boy has managed to knock every dog that has crossed our threshold into shape. He puffs himself up to 4 times his normal size and chases the dog into a corner growling at it and then slashes it across the nose. Even my dad's harden cat chasing terriers are terrified of him. Posh boy and the mobile mop now sleep together at night - though from how tired he is in the morning I suspect mobile mop does not truly sleep as he is constantly fearing for his safety!!

we have one arsey cat - they have met accidentally when he was in the hallway trying to negotiate the stairgate. As well as being arsey, he is a little on the large side (big boned you understand) and was having a little difficulty in jumping over from a standing start. He managed it but the dog did nip his tail - next time it happened he went on the attack and the dog retreated. But the other two are smaller and more timid, and the 6 month old one is incredibly vulnerable. We had a much better night last night, but only because the cats didn't do the "look at us we are sliding on our bottoms down the skylight just to annoy you" trick. I rang the centre again and left a msg for the behaviourist to call me back, I know she's the only one so it might take a while - it's possible that my last msg (via the vetenary nurse who rang to check we were ok) didn't get to her. finger's crossed

I was desperately worried about my cat being vulnerable - she's already missing a leg from before I was owned by her and it's suspected from either a dog or fox attack (she was semi-feral and they trapped her when they saw her limping and couldn't save it).

I really really shouldn't have worried - she's got a killer left hook on her! She might pull the "poor weak feeble crippled me adore adore adore" routine but she's a bruiser inside! She's also a tiny, dainty little thing - but now it's settled down the dog knows where he comes in the pecking order and I regularly spend most nights asleep in a fur sandwich of dog on one side, cat on the other... cat taking up most of the bed.

emptyshell - that sounds ideal. I shall hold the "fur sandwich" image as a goal in the next few months :)

the animal behaviourist from Dog's Trust rang me over the weekend - just said to continue with what I was doing, keep the cats safe and not pressurise them into coming face to face until the cats were ready. Apart from the cats, her behaviour is great, and as she is only 15 months old I have to remember that she's still a baby. She told me to call her back in a couple of weeks. I so hope they learn to live with each other.....

Breakthrough! Just thought I'd share this with everyone .. my littlest cat has decided that he's had enough of living upstairs and wants to be friends. For the last few days he has been coming into the kitchen and has a) eaten food next to the dog b) slept on the sofa right next to the dog c) chased flies right next to the dog! Yes there have been a few hisses but apart from that it's been fine! I am amazed and so happy.... we're not quite at the furry sandwhich stage but oh how lovely to have a sleepy dog at my feet and a sleepy kitten in my lap again. So, just got to start work on the two grown up cats now :). Thank you so much to everyone who gave me the confidence to realise that being patient was probably the best option.

Aww. It's good to hear you're getting somewhere. My adult cat moves upstairs for about three weeks whenever I bring anything new home, be it a new dog, dd1, DH, dd2, another new dog, a puppy, a bird etc. etc. He gets over it with a bit of tlc and a lot of feliway

I took my dog from the pound so he wasn't cat tested as such, more walked past the kennel cat to see how reacted.

I think he was that stressed from the noise and smell of the pound he was comatose. We had two weeks with perfect dog. Then he decided the cat was supper.

I did what you have been advised. No pressure on the cat. Lots of treats for the dog when he managed to behave and ignore the cat (usually only happened if I managed to hold him still long enough for him to forget about the cat and remeber I had chicken close by)

2 years on and the cat is no longer supper. They are not friends by any stretch of the imagination, but then Devil Dog is not really friendly with anyone bar me. They can share the same room as each other. Cat is currently sat next to me on the printer. Devil Dog is residing in usual place under my chair, growling at me whenever I have the audacity to move

It sounds like your dog will get on much better with your cats than mine does and we cope okay. It took about a month for us to get to the stage where I could leave the dog in the room and be confident he wouldn't eat the cat. He still chases the cat every now and again, but once he catches up to him he is not sure what it is he wants to do and is usually rewarded with a good scratch and ends up running to me for protection

Good to hear it's working out - my cat I think will always hate my dog - but she's now worked out he's a passable cat bed to sleep on (poor guy)!