Max has always been fond of chasing our cat Marley around the house (I must admit Marley does provoke him into this at times) however, he has improved quite a bit with the leave it command and teaching him to settle when the cat is nearby. Many a times I am able to pat the kitty with Max lying nearby without any issues and lay on the couch with Marley petting and loving him while Max sleeps or lays across the room in his chair. We haven't had any issues as of yet besides over excitement with the kitty on the occasion but it never has escalated where I am truly worried. I have had to separate them at times. Marley has the whole back side of our one story ranch house where his litterbox and food is located, so he is able to escape when needed. He generally sleeps on our bed with us but hangs out in the rest of the house the majority of the time. He's not afraid of dogs by any means, and got a log very well with our last lab. He's not afraid to come over to Max, and even lays on the floor and rolls around on his back to try and initiate play. Last night while my other half and I were laying on the couch, Max got down from his chair and walked over, sniffed the kitty (all seemed well) then lunged forwards and snapped at him out of no where. Luckily he didn't bite him but it scared me quite a bit. Hes never done this before. He's normally fine with Marley hopping up and laying with me. I am just worried as I don't know why he did this. We have had a few issues in the past with reactivity around a couple dogs, very young children (although Max was only about 4 months at the time) and my boyfriend once when he attempted to move Max off the couch (which is why he's not allowed up anymore) and another time when he went to kiss Max while he was sleeping (yes I know, stupid. Let a sleeping dog lay. My boyfriend doesn't quite understand this though). No issues for months though. We were really starting to become hopeful. Any suggestions or input would be helpful. It really seems as though it came out of no where. Maybe he was just fed up with Marley being allowed up on the couch, but I am not entirely sure. I just hope it doesn't happen again. I plan to work with him on this by asking him to settle on the floor while the kitty and I lay on the couch, in hopes that he realizes it's okay that Marley hangs with us too. I want him to understand Marley is his equal and just as much a part of this family as he is.
I should add that Max wasn't really reactive with the young child (about 3 years at the time) he was more so nippy due to the child flapping his arms around and his high pitched voice I think. We haven't had him around little children since. He was fostered for at least a month before we got him with a 5 and 8 year old and was great with them. He was also fine with our 9 year old nephew.
