ohhhh Franklin!...Update with another question!
Franklin my normally perfect little boy has become quite the terror. I don't know what to do about him! Ok, he is actually still wonderful 99.9% of the time, but HE IS CHASING MY CATS! I had the cats before I had him, I have 2 of them and he was raised to respect them and not chase or torment them. Since re-homing Kirby, Franklin has made it his personal mission to make the cats lives a living hell. They aren't allowed to walk down the stairs or into the living room without him chasing them back upstairs or out the dog door, in the middle of the night if a cat meows when coming into my room Franklin is after it like a shot. It really has become very annoying for both me and the cats. I tell him no, I tell him leave it, I tell him quit but usually by the time the words are out of my mouth the chase is done. If I see a cat coming I can tell him to leave it and he won't go after it but I am not watching 24/7 for a cat to walk in the room. At this point I just don't know what to do! He has NEVER behaved this way and I really would like the kitty torture to stop. Any suggestions?
UPDATE: after close observation today I think I may have found a part of the problem. One kitty is egging Franklin on while the other kitty wants nothing to do with him! The strange thing is, Franklin doesn't chase the kitty that is egging him on as much as he chases the other cat. Should I still go with the old course of action of not allowing him to chase the cat at all since one of the cats is clearly suffering? Is it reasonable to expect him not to chase cats if one cat is teasing him? Franklin is a doggie genius so I do think it may be possible for him to learn its ok to chase the crazy cat but not the nice cat, what do you guys think? I would rather have him chase nobody, but just wondering if this is possible with one cat clearly asking for trouble.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Maddie, who is usually very submissive, was tormenting Boo by stalking her. She would wait for an hour for the cat to appear and then the chase was on. When all else failed (and I tried, but didn't let it go on more than a few days)I found a blast of water in the face with a plant mister got her attention, and then I followed up with saying her name and when she'd look at me, I'd praise and reward heavily.
I also would "body block" her (you don't actually make contact, just walk into the dog's space) until she stopped backing up and staring at the cat and actually turned her head away, at which point I'd praise heavily and go get lots of treats.
Basically, I reconditioned her to look away or look at me when she saw the cat, and then faded that behavior and presto! one ignored kitty. Maddie still gets excited about the cat when my husband and I arrive home from work, but I let that go because Maddie barks at EVERYONE then (me, Jack, my husband, the cat).
It took some diligence and only allowing the cat and the dog in the same room when I had time to work with them; one unstopped chase will set you back before square one. But I only had to squirt her twice for her to learn.
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By the way, the timing is critical: if you don't release pressure and switch to praise the second the dog turns away from the cat, it will take much longer to train. And keeping them separated is also critical; during the reconditioning period you don't want one single chase.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Thanks. For some reason I didn't even think of the squirt bottle. Franklin HATES the squirt bottle and generally if I just pick it up he knows I mean business. I'll try that with treats for looking and/or ignoring me. I'm not sure why all of a sudden he has decided he needs to chase them anytime they move, and I'm also not sure why all of a sudden the cats have decided to run. They had been pretty conditioned to him and would just stop and look at him or my one cat would smack him if he tried to chase but now they bolt. I need to start working a lot harder to restore order.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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I used to try relentlessly to get them to stop. Then I gave up when I found out the cats were starting it....they enjoyed tormenting them and then watching me yell at them to stop. I don't worry about it now--they don't try to eat them or anything if they get them cornered- and all my cats have claws, so I guess if it got too serious, the corgis would get a fistful.
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Permalink Reply by Marcie on
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Becca and Mokey have just started to play chase. The cat starts it most of the time. When Becca tries to start it, the cat will just look at her. I have been watching carefully though. I have gates up to create cat only areas and have kept access to high points in each room. It drives Becca crazy when Mokey gets on top of her crate. It is an extra large and Becca is too short to reach the top. Do they have safe areas vertically? If they can go up the game stops.
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The cats have areas to get away. This is absolutely not a game and the cats are in no way enjoying this new game of Franklin's. Its more of a jealousy issue with Franklin I think. One of my cats now won't even come downstairs because everytime his foot hits the last step Franklin tries to chase him back up again. I try to keep Frank from chasing him but times (like the middle of the night) I am not awake so can't stop it. He chases one cat more than the other, the other cat will stand up for herself a bit more so he's learned he'll get a fistfull of claws if he pushes her too much. It is just so weird that he has never done this in 3 1/2 years and now all of a sudden he can't seem to get enough of this "game".
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That is one of the reasons I still crate Becca at night. The cat spends most of the night with me, but by crating Becca then Mokey has peace and full reign. Does Franklin sleep with you? Could you crate him at night or use an xpen?
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Franklin sleeps with me and so does one cat. Honestly though I'd rather kick the cat out and keep Franklin lol. So I will start locking the cats out of the room at night so they can have the house at night and then I will lock them in "their" room during the day. They already have an established safe room where hte one cat who is chased most has been spending his time the last few weeks.
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Permalink Reply by Zigward & Kimberly on
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I think that since you're attempting to curb a behavior, if I were in your shoes, instead of letting him get away with it and making it so the cats are the ones closed out of the bedroom, you oughta crate him at night for one night and then see if he gets it, repeat as necessary and keep him on a leash and connected to you for however long as a time out after each chasing the cats attempt.
I would hate to do that to Ziggy, because I hate seeming mean and unfair (I humanize my pets WAY more than I should, a huge fault on my part) but I think that since it's something that is so pressing for the sanity of you and your cats, that it's better to just deal with it in a hard way to make sure he gets it..?:)
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I could definitely leash him to me during the day, but I won't crate him. He has not been crated since he was 6 months old and I quit crating him because for some reason the crate became evil one day. I don't think he would tie the two behaviors together, although theoretically since the crate is a bad place anyway I could use it as a time out zone.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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I have leashed the offending dog in the house and let them drag the leash around. That way I can grab the dog quickly and put an end to the chase before it becomes so much fun. That ended the behavior pretty quickly. I have always had cats and dogs together and found that eventually some of the cats enjoy a good chase but I never let the dog/puppy start it.
Franklin probably enjoyed some of his interactions with Kirby and for his ammusement decided to try cat chasing! Their little brains are good and thinking up stuff like that...:)
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Yeah they didn't play much but I definitely do notice a difference in Franklin without Kirby around. What a high maintenance dog he has become! Lol. Of course, that is why I got Kirby to begin with, Franklin is a bundle of energy and even with 2 long walks a day and a short play session at lunch time he is still bothering me for more fun! Kirby helped curb some of that, even if it was by being so pesky that Franklin didn't want to play! Lol.
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