I have a beautiful 5 mos English lab.. He is a good pup but he thinks one of my cats is a play toy and he runs to him and wants to wrestle and mouth him like he would another puppy. I want to find a way to stop him from going after both cats. Without yelling now and pulling him off - which doesn't really do anything. Any advise would be appreciated - i don't use. Choke collar nor do I want to. I want to try to train and raise without. Thanks, Nicole and pup is Gatsby
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution I don't have a cat but I do have a toddler and the best way of stopping her and my dogs playing with each other when one of them doesn't want to is baby gates. The dogs get put behind the gate so they can still see us but no one is going to get jumped on. I think with cats it's important that they always have an escape route from the pup. Hopefully Gatsby will settle down and they'll be great friends. Best of luck
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution I had 2 cats when Juno was introduced to the family home. To say they weren't impressed with the new family member is to put it politely! We had a stair gate to stop Juno going up the stairs and allowed the cats part of the house without a puppy running around them. They also had their food put on the landing and their litter tray in the bathroom to deny Juno access to either. The first few weeks were a bit trying between the cats hollering about Juno and Juno trying to chase them to play and of course the more they darted to get away, the more Juno wanted to chase them. For me the only way to restore order was training Juno to leave and stop and of course, No, and using these every time she showed interest in the cats also the liberal spraying of Feliway to calm the cats, and of course rewarding her for leaving the cats. Over a period of a couple weeks things settled down and we now have a sharing of treats, toys etc. but they don't curl up together although Juno loves to give the cats a crafty lick as they pass her or when they are sitting on the stools in the kitchen. So for me it was a case of discouraging play or chase interest in the cats and rewarding when they were left, use distraction i.e. short play session and don't leave them alone together. If things get too much your cat will normally warn your puppy, as they would another cat, by hissing. What you want to avoid is your cat lashing out with claws towards your puppy. Good luck and know that things will improve, it just needs consistency and a bit of time
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution Can't add to the good advice - but I do want to say welcome to the forum And I think Gatsby is an excellent name
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution Gatsby is an excellent name! Welcome to the Forum and Labrador Site.i can't help with this one...Dexter is our first dog and our cat interactions happen outside the house with the neighbourhood kitties and it never goes so well to be honest :-[ .My Mum adopted my 2 older cats when she had 2 spaniels and eventually they did get used to living alongside each other,the cats just tended to seek higher ground like the back of sofas and cupboards ....and in the warmer months they got pretty good at using windows not doors as access in and out the house Best wishes Angela x
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution Hi, We had exactly the same situation as Rosemary has described - 2 cats, aged 11 and 13 at the time, they were absolutely livid when we brought Monty home as a nine week pup and lived permanently upstairs in disgust for 3 months. We mostly work it out through stair gates - stopping Monty going in the hall and hence upstairs, and also one between the sofas in the lounge - this allows the cats to enter and exit through one door, and the dog can't get to them yet we can all be in the room at the same time. 13 months on, they put up with him existing a bit more but frankly still hate him. I read once that if your dog chases a cat once, he will always try to chase them. Well we completely failed on this on day 3, 4, 5 and so on... but Monty does know now that chasing cats is wrong, and with a 'leave it' command has been trained to mostly leave them alone. He still thinks they are supremely interesting and will approach them with a wagging tail and gets a swipe on the nose for his troubles. I think the best you can do is separate them where possible, but still allow your cats to approach you safely with a get away if they need it. Keep Gatsby on a lead inside if needed and reward all his calm behaviour around them frequently. If he's too exited I'd remove him from the room for a few minutes until he's calmed down. I'm still not even at the point that Rosemary is with Juno and Monty is older than Juno so it probably depends on how quickly your cats can come to tolerate Gatsby and how quickly you can train Gatsby to leave the cat alone. Monty is so much better than he used to be but I would not 100% trust him if he got the cats cornered and they tried to flit past him - I would hope he would see it as a game but never want to put them in the position where this is tested ... at least until he is calmer. First and foremost keep them safely apart from each other, encourage any positive meetings but don't force it, it will very slowly improve over time. Good luck and make a big fuss of the cats when you can, I've been a bit guilty of paying ours less attention since we've had a dog and that's bad of me.
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution I think also the age of the cats can also be a factor as to how easy it is for them to come to t3rms with the new family member. My 2 were 5 years old. Although their life changed radically with Juno in the house there has been some bonuses for them as well. They currently have the opportunity to curl up and sleep with me as Juno is in the kitchen and that used to be their domain at night. It is quite funny to see Juno doing doggy bows at times to Oscar to try and get him to play and she does go to lay near him when he's rolling around the floor. Both Juno and Oscar have a habit of standing in doorways when the other wants to walk past but most times Oscar will walk past without raising a paw - I usually tell them both to be nice. Don't know if they understand but we don't have any chasing etc. As some encouragement that things do settle, this morning Juno was laying on her bed and Belle followed me in to the kitchen where I was sitting having breakfast. Belle decided to sit on the lower level of the cat tree by my chair. Juno wandered over to say hello to her. Belle ignored her, turned her back and behan playing with the dangling ball on the cat tree. Juno sniffed Belle's tail a few times. Belle decided to turn round and sat nose to nose with Juno for a few seconds. No hissing, no paws raised, no shouting (Belle is very vocal when she wants to be!). Juno then just wandered back to her bed.
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution Rosemary We have a lot in common with our animals - young choc labs with dodgy elbows, two cats, one of mine's called Oscar too! I think the age of the cat is a big issue - ours were too old to accept any changes I think. Jess the cat is still in a slight strop about the fact we bought Oscar home as an 8 week old kitten when she was two years old, twelve years ago! - she fully ignored him for three years so was never going to accept a dog!
Re: 5 mos lab - running after my kitties- need solution [quote author=leejane link=topic=10451.msg154782#msg154782 date=1428318069] Rosemary We have a lot in common with our animals - young choc labs with dodgy elbows, two cats, one of mine's called Oscar too! I think the age of the cat is a big issue - ours were too old to accept any changes I think. Jess the cat is still in a slight strop about the fact we bought Oscar home as an 8 week old kitten when she was two years old, twelve years ago! - she fully ignored him for three years so was never going to accept a dog! [/quote] Natalie, it never ceases to amaze me the coincidences that crop up in life. I was lucky with my cats as although they aren't litter mates they are related and were born 2 weeks apart. So I was able to bring them both home from the breeders at the same time with Oscar 13 weeks and Belle 15 weeks. In fact Oscar's mum finished rearing Belle's litter as her own mum decided she'd had enough when they were 7 weeks old and re-joined the other females, so they have always been together as far as they are concerned
