Help with dog chasing the cat

[laurzj82]

Hi,

I am hoping for some advice please about our dog. She is a 10 yr old Lhasa Apso.

We have been cat sitting for a friend of my father's whose son has sadly died. She has taken in his dog who doesn't like cats so we have been looking after the cat. We have had him a couple of weeks and now she has asked if we would like to keep him.

We would love to but I think we are being selfish. Our Lhasa has started chasing him as soon as he comes downstairs (when we first had him he stayed upstairs for a bit). If the cat is upstairs and the dog comes up they are fine. It seems to be when the cat is moving she automatically wants to chase it.

Any tips for helping this or will we need to ask the owner to rehome the cat? I hate to think of the poor cat being stuck upstairs all the time.

Thanks in advance

I can't help much as I have a similar issue with my puppy, he keeps chasing my cats wanting to play and they just aren't interested so leave the area.

Some Feliway might help the cat feel more secure but I think only time would show your dog that the cat doesn't want to be chased. I think you've a decent set up though - cat can come down when feeling brave and escape when needed, if your dog realises everytime he chases the cat leaves it might sink in to stop doing it. And if they're having a positive interaction while upstairs that's good, praise them both for that.

Hoping someone else has some good cat/dog integration ideas....

In all honesty, poster Lostbeyondwords I don't think the dog will tire of the chase just because it cannot catch the cat. The thing about chasing is that it is a self-rewarding activity for dogs: they find the chase fun and it releases all kinds of good hormones in them so that it doesn't matter if they never catch the cat, the chasing will be the game.

Left to their own devices I could more easily imagine a scenario where the chase become habit or an obsession and so is more and more difficult to stop. You both might get lucky and the dog grows bored, but to me that seems less likely.

To stop the behaviour it needs to be MORE rewarding not to chase the cat than to chase it. Realistically that means using something lie clicker training to shape and reward an alternative behaviour. That's going to take a lot of practise and repetitions so is long-haul training. Even then, I suspect it might not work - just because chasing cats is SO much fun.

Nooooo missbattenburg! That's disappointing! I only wondered because one of my cats has taken to lightly swatting him when chased so now he doesn't chase that one, just sort of jumps around him and then leaves when he gets no attention, but if the fun of the chase IS the chase....well I guess it depends on the reaction of the cat. You don't want a cat feeling scared in the place that's meant to be home.

I have two dogs and two cats.

One dog has been trained not to chase the cats. She is a Good Girl.

The other dog has the intelligence of a house brick. He chases the cats. However, he only half heartedly chases the braver one, that will swipe him. She’s poorly at the moment so has started using unsheathed claws. In the past he’d just get a bop. Now he gets full on attack and howls.

Still has a go every now and then though. Like I say. House brick.

How receptive is the Lhasa apso to training?

My cats live happily with the menace, by the way. They go upstairs for peace and come down when they feel like tormenting him.

Thanks everyone. Lhasa is not the most trainable unfortunately, she is no Einstein and is very stubborn