Help stopping dog chasing cats?

I don't think you have been very fair on your cats but it is to late to take back what has happened so you need to put things into actions straight away.

How do you keep them separated? If you don't already can I suggest that you get a stairgate so that the cats know the dog can not get past this and they have a safe half of the house minimum and the dog is never allowed upstairs.

It was naive to think that they would jsut sort otu amongst themselves. The dog has been bred to chase small squealing creatures which cats fall into. You as its teacher need to make sure it was not appropriate to do this to the cats. He may well accidentally kill the cats if allowed to continue.

Within the house there are set rules, outside the house the dog will see the cats as free to chase.

Have you taught 'watch me'? If not you will need to teach that first and then take the dog on the lead, into the garden, You sit on a chair and ahev to dog near by. Practice watch me. Then when a cat is in the garden make sure the dog has to do watch me. You will need to do this extensively with the dog on the lead before you risk doing it off lead. Then practice it with the dog off lead. Get the dog used to seeing the cats and thinking it has to look at you and get rewarded for it. So seeing cats int he agrden means looking at you and getting rewarded. It will be exceptionally hard work as the dog has received immense amounts of rewards from chasing the cats so you will need to massively outweigh those rewards. If you are using food rewards you will have to reduce the amount of food the dog gets at normal meals because the food intake will have gone up.

If you are not willing to put the extreme time into doing this perhaps consider rehoming the cats for their safety?

Thanks for responding.

We have two stair gates, one for the stairs and one for the dining room so they have a free route to the cat flap. Hes also crated when we're not there and at night in a big crate. We've used a house line (long lead) in the garden and house to try and catch him before any chasing. Admittedly the times he has chased outside are when I've been slightly distracted (gardening) or when he's just managed to be Sooo strong I couldn't hold him. He's learnt 'leave' but I've been through every dog treat in the shop, including real sausage, and nothing, I mean nothing is high value enough. He's completely non-food orientated at the best of times and faced with treat v cat he's never ever been interested in the food even when it's shoved under his nose! He will look away but won't eat the treat, but then he just keeps looking back at the cat. This can go on for hours!

We really have, and continue, to put massively of time into training him. I was just hoping someone might have a magic trick I have not tried yet!

There's no magic trick; if they don't get on now, they never will. I actually think you've been very unfair to the dog and cats. Neither feel safe and things are extremely unlikely to improve, sadly.

I don't think you can really stop it, by now judging by the length of time you have had them together they shouldn't still be doing this. My stepdad got a collie dog and the cat didn't like him, so he fed the cat on the work tops which we believe made the cat feel higher and more superior to this massive dog so he wasn't scared anymore. Luckily after around 4 months the dog wasn't interested in the cat as the novelty had worn off. To be honest I think your cats are in a vulnerable position and you should consider rehoming the dog or the cats.

I don't agree that we've been unfair to the cats, unless no one with a cat should ever get a dog?! We've tried everything we can think of to try and resolve this quickly and rehoming any of them is simply not an option. We'll keep working on it and I've got a new trainer coming in to help me. I don't anticipate them to be best of friends but toleration would be heaven. Perhaps I was a little bit harsh with my post this morning as I was upset that the cats were lonely upstairs but I couldn't be with them as I needed to socialise and train the puppy downstairs and it felt like we weren't getting any cuddle time. OH has been working away all week and it's just been me trying to deal with everything. As I type now I have one cat asleep on the sofa next to me and a sleeping puppy at my feet, so it is getting there just not as quickly as I'd like. Thanks for reading. I think it can be difficult to understand everything from a short post but I'd hate for anyone to think my animals are uncared for or not well looked after. I really am a responsible owner and that's why I was asking for help to get a happy family instead of just insisting they live a downstairs/upstairs life like so many other households have. We will get there I'm sure

Sorry no help here we've only got a dog (and a hamster haha) but never had a cat so no experience of having them. Hope you get it sorted though, hopefully the trainer will be able to help you out...one of my relatives paid about £200 a while back for someone to come into the house and work with her dog..it had behaviour problems like biting and barking at people, think it was due to nerves from being rescued and it had a bad home previously..but he's completely fine now so i'm sure theres someone out there who'll be able to help you out, good luck x

Thank you! This is just what I needed to hear. I WILL sort this out in the end

How can you say you don't think it's unfair when you said in your original post your cats are 'terrified' and that you yourself are petrified of the dog shaking them to death?! Sorry but I would say those cats are in a vulnerable position that only you can change. I wouldn't have put up with it for a week let alone nine months. Very unfair on the cats to have to live like that.

If your cats are unhappy and so is your dog, one of them has to go. They'll start to get stressed out by it and they'll get ill. I'm sorry if that isn't what you want to hear, but tough.

You have been very unfair to the cats because you just expected two species to automatically understand each other. Including one that has been bred to chase small animals to no longer chase them and know it instinctively.

You ahev been exceptionally unfair to the cats because you ahev allowed it to go on so long.

There is no magic wand and it can't be resolved quickly. A trainer will tell you that you need to work long and hard on this and forever and if that isn't an option for you and you are unwilling to keep the animals separated and are unwilling to rehome them, then you suggestion fo what will ahppen to the cats will eventually happen.

BTW the cats aren't particularly social creatures anyway. A downstairs/upstairs life IS being a responsible owner if your cats are terrified of the dog. An unresponsible owner would hoep that they would jsut get along.

If they don't get on you can't continue to keep both the dog and the cats, can you imagine being too scared to go to certain rooms in your house or to be in constant fear of being chased and caught?

We had a similar experience when we got our dog (3 cats, a rescue dog that was about 4 months old). The cats were weary at first which was to be expected. I got a stair gate for the stairs and the dog never goes up there, the cats know that is their place if they want to go away from him. It took time but the dog gradually got used to them and barely acknowledges them now. It does help that I had a brave cat that used to go wherever he liked and if the dog got too close he gave him a swipe.

The problem you have is that your cats are terrified of the dog so they never interact. They are always going to be the novelty to the dog as he never sees them so when he does get that quick opportunity to chase them, he will. It's much easier to enforce your authority within the house than in the garden where the dog will be more distracted.

Just to add to the point of can dogs and cats live together...

We rehoused a cat that was terrified of dogs and we had a massive dog at the time. The rescue centre had particular offered us this cat because they knew we had a huge dog, they knew this cat was terrified of dogs and they knew we had the patience to make it alright for him.

It took a lot of time and patience and hard work but the cat got over his fear of dogs and eventually got to the stage were he would even walk up to the dog and touch noses with him in greeting but it ook a long time and hard work on all threes behalf... so I am not just talking about something I have lived it BUT I never allowed the dog to chase the cat whereas his previously owners had. So if you did rehome your cats there will eb someone out there that is happy to work on their phobias of dogs.