Hi, I wonder if someone can give me some advice please. I have a six month old chocolate Lab called Charlie. He is a lovely dog, responds well to training, and being honest is coming along really well. But there is a problem, just the one problem. I have two adult, extremely laid back cats who are both gentle and polite with Charlie, until he decides to chase and bark at them. My previous Labrador was 13 when he passed away and the cats had grown up only knowing a quiet Lab. I am not sure how to train Charlie to stop this bad behaviour around my cats. I would like to get to a position when they could all just get on. The cats are very tolerate of Charlie's bad manners but sometimes it becomes too much and he has received a few cat slaps with claws on his nose. Would be very grateful for any feedback. Thank you.
Hi @Marylabs Put the dog on houseline when in the house and you are there to supervise him. Reward the puppy for calm behaviour around the cats. Give him treats for any calming signals, or if the puppy focuses on you after saying looking at the cats. Use the houseline to prevent him from chasing and/or being boisterous with the cats. When he calms down, give him a treat. You will have to reward the calm behaviour over enough repetitions that he is following the pattern of being calm around the cats. Reinforce intermittently as long as they all reside together.
You will need to provide the cats with a place they can escape to, should they want to get away from the dog. This might be upstairs, for example, where the dog isn't allowed. You will need to keep the dog on a 2.5m house line any time he is in the same room as the cats and work towards just hanging out together and the cats being boring... Chasing is a self-reinforcing behaviour and the more the dog does it, the more he will learn how much fun it is and how possible it is - therefore you need to stop is ASAP with a house line.
Hi, thank you so much for your reply. I will be putting this into action as soon as I purchase a houseline. thanks
Thank you very much for answering my query. I will be purchasing a houseline as soon as possible. Thank you
