Puppy VS Cat

[freckles86]

So our 12 week old pup just see's our cat as his own, walking, talking play thing.

Luckily, our cat is used to dogs (he used to live with 3 very snappy yorkies) so is quite placid, will sit around and if the Pup gets too in his face, will give him a bop...he's even chased pup when it's gotten too much.

I was hoping that they would sort their differences, a few bops from the cat would put pup in his place and he'd settle down, but he just seems to get more and more excited by the cat.

What do I do? Do I leave them to sort things out seeing as the cat is very chilled over the whole thing, or spend some time trying to get him to sit calmly around the cat with treats etc. Only problem is, when he gets excited by something, treats are the last thing on his mind and it's very difficult for me to get his attention!!!

I'd stop the puppy playing with the cat altogether. Even if the cat isn't bothered at this point it's not something you want your puppy to get into the habit of doing as it could easily become a bit more serious than just play as they get older and bigger.

Using treats to teach the puppy an alternative way to behave around the cat is a very good idea. If he's too excited to take the treats when the cat is around then I'd look for higher value treats for him and also work with the cat far enough away that your puppy will pay attention to the treats.

This article has a good section on teaching an alternative behaviour to playing with/pestering the cat.

Lovely thank you! I do try him with high value treats, for example chicken, and his current fav, cheese but it's no use. I'll just try my best to keep them separate from here on out for a while and work on supervised meetings.

I really hoped that he would settle once he realised that the cat would hold his own but that doesn't appear to be the case!

And that article is fantastic! Thanks!!

Gosh there is sooo much to "train" in the early days isn't there. The list of my day to day teachings keep growing and growing!! It's practically a full time job!!

Just to add that if the puppy pushes the cat too far you might find the puppy getting a nasty injury, claws can do a lot of damage to a puppy's eyes.

Yes, supervised contact is the way to go. It's not fair to allow the puppy to come into the house and behave in a way that upsets the cat. I had two elderly cats when I got my dog as a puppy and the male cat and puppy became the best of friends, which was lovely to see.

My dog loved Thrive chicken liver treats, can highly recommend them as a potential high value treat, although they can't have too many of them as liver is a bit rich.

Yes, training can seem relentless at times, but well worth it when it all results in a lovely well trained dog.

I have a 9 month old puppy and 14 year old cat.
The cat very antisocial and the puppy just thinks that everyone and everything is her best friend.
It took a while but over the last couple of months the cats started to accept the dog more. She use to stay upstairs all the time which suited her as shes always been an indoor cat anyway and likes to sleep on my bed. But shes started to come down at night now. Of course the dog thinks this is great fun, and bounces around trying to start play. Thankfully the dog is respectful and always stays a couple of feet away. If the dog gets too close the cat will hiss but she doesn't fluff herself up, and once the cat settles on the back of the sofa the dog tends to calm down. And will even let the dog have an occasional snuffle of her once shes calmed down. I trust the dog completely with the cat, what im more worried about is the cat hurting the dog.
I know this doesnt help you with your issue just wanted to share my experience.

Thanks SpiderCid! The behaviour sounds very similar except our cat is very much an outdoor cat, we very rarely see him! All Pup wants to do is play and the Cat is very chilled out and tolerant until pup tries to pounce ON him! It's a shame in a way that the Cat isn't around more as I suspect Pup would lose interest a lot quicker. Hopefully things will calm down but might need some assistance from us!