Okay… hello fellow dog lovers :)
I have a 10 month old mixed breed terrier who was found as a stray in Spain before he should even leave his mum. He had a pretty rough start and almost died, not really having any interaction with other puppies, etc. he came to a foster in the uk where he lived with 3 cats and children, etc.
I took him when he was 4 months and have done everything in my power to give him a good start. He’s a good boy and is great at commands and recalling from dogs and people (verbally) and squeaking a ball will stop him in his tracks from chasing wildlife (they have run in the time he stopped to look for the squeak). We did puppy classes until recently and he’s well mannered with food and is crate trained, good at being left for time alone, etc. he’s a great little dog that I’ve genuinely worked really hard on.
we have a 4 year old cat and he is absolutely obsessed though. When he first came he actually played with the cat, he was rather tiny and the cat would often instigate it by rolling on her back and pawing (how she plays) and I assumed it was all fine with him doing the same (now realise this was probably the first mistake) but there was no issues and they would curl up next to each other to sleep etc. he then starting humping her and she stopped playing with him and was getting annoyed, at night he would stop settling on the bed with her and be annoying so we started crating him and baby gating the bedroom and kitchen to give her an outlet. This seemed to make things worse for his desire to irritate her though, he’s leap up at any opportunity to get her (then mainly humped her) vet said to neuter so we did (a few weeks ago) and he’s just been really bad with chasing her. He can be asleep on the sofa and he hears her move and he’s running to the baby gate to bark/growl, if she passes from room to room over the baby gates, he will run and if gets her, nip at her fur (to the point it comes out).
I’ve tried verbal commands with high rewards (that he usually responds to fine) and it’s pointless, he wants the chase more. Squeaky balls do stop him in his tracks which then the cat stops and then he turns back to the cat and the chase is the exact same.
im going to try having him just off lead and in the living room only and then the cat can pass freely between everywhere else and I will have him on a lead if we are leaving the living room (I will divide half of it off with puppypen type fencing) I assume it will be a weird change for him but for the best, I’m assuming the cat will run the moment she sees him entering the other rooms even on a lead but I’m sure it will be enough for me to grab his attention (he’ll be on a lead anyway) and reward his focus on me. I’m assuming this sounds like the correct approach?
im a little worried that all I keep reading is constant comments that terriers can never have their prey drive taken and simply can’t get on with cats, is this actually true?I love them both dearly and just want them to be happy. He’s high energy so I’m constantly worried I’m not playing enough with him but then I read it’s maybe too much. Struggling a bit with knowing what’s right.
this is really important to me and my relationship and obviously both the dog and the cat
thank you