dog chasing cats
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dog chasing cats
6 year ols Bichon Frise has started to chase cats more. If he hears a small noise or sometimes seems as if tehre is no trigger he chases one of the cats who is normally asleep. He seems to becoming more agressive towards them and worried he will hurt them. He has always lived with cats although 3 of teh 4 have been introduced in the last year. He laso chases my aunty cats more often now. He has progressively got worse.
Re: dog chasing cats
Not good... Others will have some advice.. Just keep in mind that in some cases dogs just want to chase and play, and if a dog actually catches the cat, like mine does some times, it's not the cat who is in danger.. It's the dog who can get hurt if the cat decides to defend herself for real and attacks the dog.. A cat can easily inflict serious damage on a dog, with her claws...
Re: dog chasing cats
Hello, what kind of exercise is he getting daily? Is he left alone at all?
Ari's correct, many dogs have lost an eye due to this behavior. Have you tried timeouts?
Ari's correct, many dogs have lost an eye due to this behavior. Have you tried timeouts?
Re: dog chasing cats
He gets about 10 minutes most days which is what I am thinking may not be enough. He visits my aunty 4 days a week to avoid being left home alone and on other days would only get left once a week for a couple of hours.
Re: dog chasing cats
10 minutes is definitely not enough. The cat chasing is mostly due to boredom and not enough of exercise. Is there anyway to up the amount of exercise? Can your aunt walk him when he's over? Can you spend longer time on walks? Preferably some form of off leash running? It's not fair to him to not receive a proper amount of exercise, bored dogs find their own means of fun: cat chasing.
When he's alone, do you leave him with anything to do? A nice box puzzle, raw bone, or fun Kong would do wonders for him. He'll still need a lot of exercise every single day. Do you free feed him? (leave a bowl of food down all day)
When he's alone, do you leave him with anything to do? A nice box puzzle, raw bone, or fun Kong would do wonders for him. He'll still need a lot of exercise every single day. Do you free feed him? (leave a bowl of food down all day)
Re: dog chasing cats
Unfortunately my aunt is elderly and it is morefor company. I will find a way to up his exercise. He gets fed once a day. The toy idea could be another posibility to give him something else to think about
Re: dog chasing cats
Ok yep 10 minutes is no where near enough - small dogs are usually energetic little powerhouses that need a LOT of exercise and mental stimulation (if you want a naturally idle dog, go for a sprinter such as a greyhound, and even then, they will still want an hour or so a day!).
So, start out with half an hours walk morning and night, so thats an hour a day.
Split his meal up into two or three portions, use one portion as training rewards, and the other two you will stuff into Kong style food dispensing toys (get a couple of different ones to keep things interesting for him).
You may need to mix in a small amount of grated cheese and then microwave the kongs and leave them to cool, to make them harder to do - first couple of days just let him have them with only his normal food in so its easy, and as he gets the hang of it, make it harder and harder to do.
This should increase his daily mental and physical stimulation from 10 minutes to easily over an hour and a half depending on how long he takes to do his food toys.
Then add in training - that third of his food you saved, mix in a few pieces of thinly sliced hot dog, shreds of grated cheese, anything really high value to him - use this mix of kibble and hotdog/cheese as rewards for working with you.
It doesn't matter what you train, particularly if you use clicker training - the point is you are working with him, he is using his brain to earn rewards from you (and you are compelled to do the training necessary because if you don't he misses out on a third of his food!!).
As for the cats - prevention at this stage is your best plan, so leave a trailing line on him attached to a harness as a fail-safe - don't give him access to cats, just shut them away when you are not supervising him 100%. It is crucial that you do this because chasing them is a self rewarding behaviour, and the more he does it, the better he gets at it, the more he will do it.
After a few weeks or so of the increased exercise (and you may need to increase it more than that, an hour a day is still not very much, but right now he will not be fit enough to do more), mental activity and training you should find he can ignore cats much more. Then you can start to specifically train him to leave cats alone, to respond to you when they move, to obey you even though they are interesting. I wouldn't recommend you try this just yet though because you would be setting him up to fail, he has too much energy and cats are right now, far too tempting.
So, start out with half an hours walk morning and night, so thats an hour a day.
Split his meal up into two or three portions, use one portion as training rewards, and the other two you will stuff into Kong style food dispensing toys (get a couple of different ones to keep things interesting for him).
You may need to mix in a small amount of grated cheese and then microwave the kongs and leave them to cool, to make them harder to do - first couple of days just let him have them with only his normal food in so its easy, and as he gets the hang of it, make it harder and harder to do.
This should increase his daily mental and physical stimulation from 10 minutes to easily over an hour and a half depending on how long he takes to do his food toys.
Then add in training - that third of his food you saved, mix in a few pieces of thinly sliced hot dog, shreds of grated cheese, anything really high value to him - use this mix of kibble and hotdog/cheese as rewards for working with you.
It doesn't matter what you train, particularly if you use clicker training - the point is you are working with him, he is using his brain to earn rewards from you (and you are compelled to do the training necessary because if you don't he misses out on a third of his food!!).
As for the cats - prevention at this stage is your best plan, so leave a trailing line on him attached to a harness as a fail-safe - don't give him access to cats, just shut them away when you are not supervising him 100%. It is crucial that you do this because chasing them is a self rewarding behaviour, and the more he does it, the better he gets at it, the more he will do it.
After a few weeks or so of the increased exercise (and you may need to increase it more than that, an hour a day is still not very much, but right now he will not be fit enough to do more), mental activity and training you should find he can ignore cats much more. Then you can start to specifically train him to leave cats alone, to respond to you when they move, to obey you even though they are interesting. I wouldn't recommend you try this just yet though because you would be setting him up to fail, he has too much energy and cats are right now, far too tempting.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: dog chasing cats
I would actually suggest trying what Emma says and teaching alternate behaviors before I would suggest timeouts. if after giving Emma's advice a real serious go (as in more than just a few days or couple of weeks) because until his basic needs are first meet, timeouts will be fighting and up hill battle.Have you tried timeouts?
Re: dog chasing cats
We have a dog (boy) and a cat (girl)
As far as prevention - we have doggie barriers with small cat doors. Usually barriers are closed, so he has living room and kitchen to himself. Cat doors are always open. She ventures into "his" territory from time to time, but if he chases her - all she has to do is to get to the nearest barrier and get through the cat door, and she is safe.
The good thing is that the cat is also getting better at escaping, so sometimes it's really a chess game, with her sitting under the kitchen table, planning an escape route, and him waiting for her to move, and positioning himself so he can cut her off whichever way she runs. Sometimes he catches her, and then he pokes her with his nose, and she just turns away in a rather suggestive way, or just lays down on the floor.. little floozie
With that said, it took us 12 months to get to this point, where they both seem to enjoy the game of "chase the cat". And they are supervised.
But those barriers with cat doors are terrific. You can keep cat doors closed, and this way they will be really separated. To us that was a much easier and more natural way then keeping the dog on a leash or a line inside the house.
As far as prevention - we have doggie barriers with small cat doors. Usually barriers are closed, so he has living room and kitchen to himself. Cat doors are always open. She ventures into "his" territory from time to time, but if he chases her - all she has to do is to get to the nearest barrier and get through the cat door, and she is safe.
Aint't that the truth! Seeing his brain working when planning how to intercept the cat is amazing. But perhaps this is a Ridgeback thing with him, and in his mind he is hunting a miniature lion, rather then chasing a cat..emmabeth wrote:... and the more he does it, the better he gets at it...
The good thing is that the cat is also getting better at escaping, so sometimes it's really a chess game, with her sitting under the kitchen table, planning an escape route, and him waiting for her to move, and positioning himself so he can cut her off whichever way she runs. Sometimes he catches her, and then he pokes her with his nose, and she just turns away in a rather suggestive way, or just lays down on the floor.. little floozie
With that said, it took us 12 months to get to this point, where they both seem to enjoy the game of "chase the cat". And they are supervised.
But those barriers with cat doors are terrific. You can keep cat doors closed, and this way they will be really separated. To us that was a much easier and more natural way then keeping the dog on a leash or a line inside the house.