6 month old puppy OBSESSED with our cat. I’m feeling defeated

[eerffy]

@curtis697 How are you and! he dog with commands when training or when functioning daily otherwise? "leave it, sit, stay, quiet, heel, come, place" etc? IMO, if you are consistent elsewhere, with other stimuli, transferring that same knowledge to household matters is important.

Dog training is not a reactive exercise , but rather proactive endeavor.

 

[curtis697]

@eerffy She is very good with sit, stay, come, and crate. We are working on other commands every day.

 

[jcmal]

@curtis697 Baby gates

 

[curtis697]

@jcmal We have tons installed already, thanks!

 

[istvan]

@curtis697 It looks like there’s been lots of advice for training, so I won’t repeat that, but it’s worth noting that your puppy is still a puppy! At 6 months old, they don’t have the best impulse control, and a cat running away is super fun and exciting!! At this point the best thing to do might be to make sure there’s space the cat can get to that’s totally separate from the puppy (like another room that’s blocked off with a baby gate) and work on showing the puppy that the cat is actually super boring. We got our newest cattle dog when he was 6months old and he was super obsessed with our cat until he was around a year and a half old.

 

[verdad]

@curtis697 I just gave up. We put up baby gates. The cats get one end of the house, the dogs get the other. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best we can do atm.

 

[blessart]

@curtis697 I would also suggestion relaxation training since pup is high energy. There is something called The Relaxation Protocol that is great. They have a specific model to follow, but basically the idea is to reward the dog for sitting/laying down quietly.

Also “Look at That” was super helpful for me. It’s great for alert dogs who realistically may be unable to ignore stimuli. The idea is that it’s fine for the dog to notice and pay attention to stimuli, but the dog should learn to always look back at you for guidance. Herding dogs really like this one too because they like to work with their owners.

 

[riabb]

@curtis697 You’ve gotten some good advice and stories on how to hopefully fix this issue, so I’m offering a perspective from someone who’s lived with the chasing behavior being unresolvable:

I’ve got a sighthound and a cat. Some sighthounds do great with cats indoors, especially if they’ve been raised with one. Unfortunately ours isn’t one of those sighthounds. We have never been able to train away his behavior of trying to chase the cat, his prey drive is just way too strong. The cat is also small and has always been naturally timid, so she doesn’t swipe at him she just runs which makes him want to chase even more. No matter how hard we trained he just won’t stop chasing, he does this with any small furry animal he sees inside or outside.

So the permanent solution we settled on that keeps everyone safe and happy is to keep the two completely separate. The dog gets the downstairs, and basement and is kept from going upstairs by a tall baby gate at the base of the stairs. The cat gets the upstairs of the house to herself and has some cat shelves in the living room that are accessible from the stairs so she can safely hang with us downstairs. The dog doesn’t try to get upstairs and the cat doesn’t try to venture downstairs, they’ve both grown accustomed to what is their “territory” in the house.

When we are not at home we keep the dog in his own room downstairs with the door closed as a precaution. The room has a comfy couch for naps, a window for watching the backyard, and he’ll get a chewy or a puzzle feeder to keep him occupied until we get back.

Is it ideal? No, but it works and keeps them both safe. All of us have been living stress free for years with this setup.

Hopefully you can address this behavior through training, but if not keeping them separate is a doable solution too.