Dealing with cats??? Help!

[Sophiesmama]

I need some advice. We have 2 cats. They used to be in the house a lot, but Sophie thinks she needs to chase them. Last night my son had one of the cats in his arms, and Sophie lunged at them. The cat freaked, scratched my son trying to get away, and hid. Tonight my son's dog was here and the two of them cornered my other cat. The cat was scared. It seems worse if we have a bunch of people here, or if my son's dog is here. Do you think its a pack thing? It is like she doesn't hear a word we are saying when she sees the cat! Our last dog chased all the neighborhood cats, but left our cats alone. What is the proper way to train her to stop this behavior?

[Samson]

I have three cats and fortunately have not experienced it ! Having said that, if one of my cats are at the door to be let out and Dylan is there too, he will still chase the cat up the garden.

I always made sure that the cat has an escape route be it furniture or the like when there were puppies involved and once that the cats have got used to the puppy being there, I have found that the puppy shows then some respect.

Perhaps you have kept Sophie away from the cats when she was younger and she hasn't learned that respect ?

Whether I'm right or not, all of the cats sleep with the dogs now so it worked for me ?

[Alphie]

We have 2 cats in the house. The last 2 puppies we bought were Australian Shepherds and I wish I could tell you how to break them of chasing cats. We just rescued a lab and she could care less about the cats and the cats don't run when she's around. I don't know what her first owners did to keep her from chasing them. She goes nuts when she sees a squirrel, but cats aren't an issue. I'll be watching this thread with you to see what others know. We've been through obedience with the Aussie and he did awesome, just can't seem to restrain from "herding" the cats. We do keep the cats and dogs separate from each other most of the time as ours are only indoor cats. I just figured labs and cats get along as this is my first lab, so I have no other lab experiences to go by.

[elle.burns]

Josie is the first lab ive owned that absolutely HATES cats.. The other two didnt care less about cats,I guess it's a territory thing with Josie I don't think she'd kill it if she got to it, but our neighbor just got a cat and Josie can sense it a mile away and will grumble and growl when it's around. Maybe it's a personality thing lol

[SharonaZamboni]

Bean sometimes chases our cat, but it has been happening less. Once in a while the cat seems to like it, and I think Bean only wants to play with her. I tell Bean to leave it.

[deidra]

Does she know the word leave it? I know what you mean when not listening when they are in that mood(tank and the bunny). Could you leave a leash on her till she learns not to chase the cats. Also do a little training(with the leash on) You,your husband someone hold Sophies leash and the other hold the cat. Sit far away from each other but where they can see each other. The person holding Sophies leash have a high value treat or a toy. When she looks at the cat tell her leave it and when she looks at you praise.


I've done it before and it worked for me.

[Sophiesmama]

She doesn't growl or anything, she just gets all hyper and lunges at the person holding the cat, or tries to chase him down. She won't listen, and just about knocked my husband down to get to the cat. She know's leave it, but won't listen! She is way to wound up to pay attention. It is worse when my son's dog is here.

[Luvmydog2much]

Leash the dog and hold the cat, don't let her lunge.

I've never had a problem with any dog I've had in my house with the cats. The dogs know in no uncertain terms that the cats are FAMILY, not PREY. We have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy and not one single dog coming in my house has ever tried to chase or hurt the cats.

[MidwestGirl]

Cat scratches are the worst!

[marmstr]

Leash the dog. I'd recommend against holding the cat, that's more frightening to the cat (and harmful to the people!). But give the cat a safe place to hop up on whenever she's in a room with the puppy. You have to be able to enforce the "leave it" command 100% of the time that the cat is present or she won't learn. NEVER let the dog chase the cat.

Our 14 year old cat (indoor--declawed in the front) can hop up on top of the couch or a chair if she feels threatened. She can also hop over the low gates we use to keep the dog in the family room or hide under furniture. She's sorted out at least 5 previous labs (ours, my parent's and my brother's) so she has it down to an "art". Each of our previous two dogs were her best buddies and we're pretty sure she's not convinced she's a cat! She'd sleep with them on their beds. She really, really mourned Penny after Penny died but was seriously ticked off when we got a puppy!

For the first few months (April-Sept) she mostly hid from the puppy. The puppy was just too wild. Sometime in the fall we realized she'd started putting herself where the dog could see her but maybe not quite reach her. She also has been known to saunter in front of the crate when the dog is in the crate....'nah, nah, nah you can't get me'. By late fall she was beginning to let the dog approach her, but only on her terms and she'd growl and swat at the dog if the dog got too close. By November she'd moved down to a lower chair and was actually playing with the dog. is a video of her with the dog. They went on like this for 4-5 minutes until the dog got bored with the game. The cat never ran off or acted in the least scared.

The dog now mostly ignores the cat, occasionally hopping up to check out the cat when she's on the back of the couch or chair, but a quick "Artemis leave it" or "off" or just 'ah, ah' is enough to get her to back off if the cat seems unhappy. Just now the dog was checking out the cat and the cat was licking the dog's face!