Lucy and cat reactivity

[lucyandbella]

This is a long post but i really need help with Lucy's cat reactivity. I spent months and months trying to desensitize her to cats and she did get a bit better, but part of that is the cats are not seen as much in winter. Now there are cats everywhere and her reaction is worse than ever before. Part of the problem is that people in my college town all seem to have multiple outdoor cats, with food right on the front porch drawing in stray cats. So there is at least 1 cat at every house so crossing the street doesn't help. And they cross streets constantly too. Not to mention they hide under cars (which Lucy dives under to get at them....she is also ruining people's gardens by diving into bushes and I actually fell into a bush because of this! ) There is sometimes a stray cat that will walk right up to us meowing loudly! I can't get away from these cats and have not had an enjoyable walk in a long time! (Lucy is having a great time though ).

And when Lucy reacts its horrible. She barks really loudly (not good when I rent and sometimes this is right out the front door), she spins and lunges making it hard for me to hold the leash as it twists around in my hand, she attacks me and Bella in frustration, she tries to back out of her harness if she sees one run, and she then tugs at her leash so hard ruining it (I already have to get her a special leash with a special clamp because she can let herself off of 2 different types I tried and its really expensive and I just had to replace it because she had started to fray the leash! ) And now Bella is starting to react too making it even more hard to hold onto both leashes, and Bella will immediately stop if I cue "leave it" or "off" but those have become trigger words for Lucy . And now people are stopping to watch us! I don't want people thinking my dogs are dangerous...sometimes people are in the same front yard as a cat and they think she is trying to get at them! And a big worry is if she ever does get of my hold or escapes and kills the cat I'm pretty sure its automatic euthanasia for any dog that kills a cat here.

I can't live like this anymore I need away to get her reactivity under control. Does anyone have any ideas? Do you think buying one if these Furreal friend cats would work to desensitize ? This wouldn't run away and maybe I could work from a great distance at first up to passing by the fake cat. Here is what it is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj-nGOa62e4. I'm getting to the point where I wish there were no consequences and I could just let her free to dispose if the cats and all our problems ...obviously this is not sane thinking (not to mention unfair to the poor cats) so I think I'm a little over the edge and need some training help...

[emmabeth]

We had a similar problem here, when I moved, because there are just SO many cats.

There were a couple who would actually run AT dogs adn swipe and hiss.. sadly (for the cats!) a pair of local dogs got loose one day, a Malamute and a GSD.. and they got hold of these cats and they are no more!

What I did was to walk my dogs separately, and take some SERIOUSLY high value food out - think, fillet steak, still warm... and I made sure the dogs were hungry too (didn't starve them, we just did some of these walks before a meal time) - and we went out and just mooched around my cul-de-sac, making a MASSIVE fuss every time there was a cat spotted, reward reward reward, cats = REWARD.

Now we can walk dogs in a group, though we pick our groups wisely so as not to wind each other up, and we might get a bit of interest in a cat, bit of pulling and a woof or two, but not the full on screaming banshee routine.

So, high value rewards. Walk dogs separately - lots and lots of work at home on self control too and yes you could use a toy cat like that - you don't tend to need to go quite that high tech actually - if you can get some that are a good cat 'shape' and eyes that are shiny, that will usually do as a stooge.

You may find if you only have the one stuffie as a stooge that they get to learn preeeeeeetty quickly the difference between stooge and real, so if you can.. get a few stooges (in different colour markings too!).

It should go without saying... dogs NEVER actually get to play with these stooge stuffie cats... sniff, yes, but chew on, nooooo.

[Ari_RR]

And perhaps a better harness too? What kind do you use - front clip or back clip?

[lucyandbella]

She is on a back clip, the front clips all say you can't go on runs with that type of harness. We did try it once and it rubbed their fur off and made Bella fall on her face when she ran (though it could have been the brand). After that i switched back to back clip. I like my harness a lot, I just need to work on cat reactivity...I also worry a front clip would make Lucy attack her leash more. I do think I still have one somewhere though.

I think my rewards are not high value enough for her. I also think the timing if my rewards were not right. I'm going to get some stuffed fake cats and start training. I'm assuming you continuously reward as long as the cats in sight?

[minkee]

I massively massively recommend using ham flavoured primula for this (that's soft cheese in a squirty toothpaste like tube for anyone not in the UK!) I used it to teach my pup with my cats and it's really high value (can't imagine a dog not liking it!) and also lets you _keep_ their head there as long as you like. IE. You hold it out infront of them and they keep licking till you take it away again, so you can keep their head pointed away from the cats if you want to. You don't have to squeeze much cheese out, just a taste and they'll keep trying to get at it more.

Also licking is a soothing action, it made my pup go super puppy-like!

[minkee]

(Clare, I can hardly believe he used to fit in that harness!!)

[ClareMarsh]

(Clare, I can hardly believe he used to fit in that harness!!)

I do enjoy seeing it on him and Scout in your photos