My dog has attacked my cat...please HELP!

[tasha095]

I have a problem...my 8 month old *****, Nala, who is a Chihuahua Pug cross has recently attacked my 3 year old cat.

I know what it must seem like, but I dont know what has triggered it.

My cat is very quiet and timmid...he has never scratched as an adult and if he play bites its so light you cant feel it at all. When he grabs your hand, he never lets his claws out...thats how he hasnt scratched before. He's been spayed.

My dog...as she is still young she is very playful. She knows all the basics - sit, down, lay, off, wait, stay, paw, night night, wee wee (in a tray) and poos and walks. I cant say she is a stupid dog.

Occassionally she acts a bit jealous...like when the cat is being fed, she'd stand there giving you a filthy look...or when the cat want to jump on the sofa to sit with you, she'd give him a look.

The cat and the dog do play...well it looks like a play...she'd pin him down to the floor, then the cat would try to go for her floppy ears whilst she'd try something else. This would carry on until you'd hear the cat cry out and then we (me, mum or my partner) get involved and remove her...to the room to calm down a bit.

She had suffered submissive urination few months ago. Everytime someone would see an accident they would chase her and yell at her...but this stopped (thanks to me and my strong words) and there are no more accidents and if someone raises their voice at her, she gets all coy but doesnt wee anymore.

Two days ago a pit bull (8 months too) went for her and although i managed to hold her back on the distance, she seemed perfectly fine. That night, we all went to bed.
The dog downstairs on her bed and the cat upstairs in who's ever room.

At 7 am my mum woke me up in horror... My cats lip was split to the point it was hanging off, and he had a wound on the top and bottom of his eye.
His lip was so bad that he even refused his fave food.
We took him to the hospital and they treated him...

That morning mum said that as she came downstairs, the dog was on her bed on her back looking guilty (Nala does that when she has done something wrong) and the cat was coming out of the room. She had no scratch on her.

I dont know what else to do other than clip her claws, put a muzzle on her or anything else...

I dont understand why she done it...if it was an accident or not? I dont want to wake up one morning and see my cat all over the house.

Nala when plays is quite aggressive...when someone is laughing she tries to jump up at them and bite (arms, slippers, ankles). We tried water pistols for that, distructing, treats for calm behaviour and nothing. This game thing and laughing has been going on for a long time.

She is very different outside though...very shy and wary of people.

Can you please help?

I dont want my dog to turn out like the ones you read about in the newspapers.

[StaffieMad]

as im not a trainer or full time dog owner, i cannot help you! sorry.

i just wanted to make the point that "the dogs in the newspaper" behaviour is NOT the dogs falt its the OWNER, and how it was brought up, i'm not having a go just making a point i'm not sure if you are aware of

[emmabeth]

Hiya

Ok - youve done well to stop people shouting at her for accidents etc.

She thinks playing with the cat is fun, tbh, the cat probably disagrees but hasnt retaliated as he/she knows better....

Sometimes my dogs will play like this with my cat, and i put a stop to it always, as it only takes for the cat to bite a tad too hard for one of the dogs to retaliate a little more aggressively and less playfully, and before you knwo it theres a dead cat and a half blinded dog.

Even playing, a dog can kill a cat quite easily.

Is it possible though that actually it wasnt her? That sort of injury would be easily got from a cat - cat fight, or a cat - car incident?

In any case I would advise stopping this activity! To stop this theres several things you need do.

1/ Provide cat with escape routes, ie baby gates on some doors/stairs, and teach cat to exit via ground floor windows if thats safe.

2/ Teach dog that YOU are source of fun, not cat.

3/ Teach dog that cat baiting is extremely unrewarding.

You may well find that you only really need 1 and 2, and 3 can be as mild as 'no'.

That is the ideal to aim for as using serious aversive techniques can backfire badly.

1. is fairly self explanatory.

2. Do more training. Convince your dog YOU are the centre of her universe, clicker training is great because it teaches a dog much more clearly that its HER actions in relation to you htat get rewards. She will be able to interact with you much better than the old school style 'i say, you do' type training.

Training using positive reward based methods increases the bond between you and your dog, meaning that not only does your dog become controllable, but that she looks TO you for instruction.

The command you need to train for the cat problem specifically is a really good solid 'leave'. Start off though with boring things first.

Work your way up from boring items to the ultimate in doggy joy, the cat.

Meanwhile, prevent her from accessing the cat, physically remove her, use time outs - ie she launches herself at the cat, she gets removed from the room for a minute.

No need to shout, say no or anything else, just pick up dog, eject from room. (not with your foot up her backside or anything though.....)

To teach a really good leave, allow her to play with a really rubbish toy. Offer her a really GREAT one in exchange. Say 'leave' as she lets go the boring one.

You can use food as well, again, boring food for great food, offer a swap.

As you get good, you hide the swap in your pocket, then you have the swap hidden in the room, then hidden in the next room so that eventually you neednt be waving a lump of roast chicken to get her to leave something.

Under absolutely NO circumstances though must you attempt to teach a 'leave' by giving her something and then snatching it back. This teaches a dog to defend their belongings (and in 'dog' if its in my mouth, its mine. if its by my paws, its mine. if you gave it to me, its mine. dogs dont DO 'loaned' or 'shared'. Dogs have big pointy teeth to back up this concept.), and is a sure fire way to teach a dog to get defensive or actively aggressive around prized objects.

So, give her things and offer a swap. Set her up to want the swap more than the original gift. Dont EVER give and then 'steal' back.

Other commands are not obviously so directly useful, but ANY taught behaviour can be used to replace an unwanted one, even teaching your dog to close the door, tidy up toys, etc is something positive they can do to earn rewards, and is another step to you interacting as a team with a good solid bond between you.

Filling her life full of these games and training sessions should also take her mind OFF playing 'chew kitty' as well.

Hth

Em

[tasha095]

Thanks for the swift reply.

Unfortunatly the cat accident was to do with the dog - to make things worse the vet was concerned. Dont blame him really...anyway getting back to the point.

We do not have a cat flap and the cat comes in for the night. He was at home all night and all mum said is a little before she woke up she heard them two downstairs playing - you know when they were playing as there were ruffs and tumbles.

I totally agree with you on the cat and dog fight situations, and we were told that it was a lucky escape. And since that all I have been worried about is if that was too happen again.

We do have a stair gate that has been removed from the door way and put onto the stairs - reason being...as the rooms are quite big the dog has a lot of room to do the whole "on your marks, get set, run and jump" - she has developed a lot of muscles in her legs and jumps over things. At 12 weeks we had to remove the puppy play pen as she climbed over it - it was the tallest in the shop.

The stairs she hasnt mastered yet. Thank God

The cat was brought back today and I was keeping a close eye on what was happening between them...well this is what I saw...

Dog comes up...sniffs tail wagging like she has just seen a christmas lunch with her name on it.
Cat gets on the chair...Dog sniffs...looks away or down and cat very gently taps her on the head. Cats tail waggs but in a more slower way - nervous way.

As I have already mentioned...the house is very large and they both have enough room to run, or run AWAY.

The dog gets a lot of attention: plays, cuddles, fuss and treats when rewarding her.

"Leave" or "Drop" she for some reason wont learn. May be its me not doing it properly but she isnt "leaving" it or "droping it".

As you say, the whole dog talk (if its in my mouth, its mine. if its by my paws, its mine. if you gave it to me, its mine). Once something is in her mouth she will either gallop somewhere as soon as you look at her (she would sit there look at you and wait untill you look at her, as soon as you do, she runs), or she would not, as you say, swap.
We tried from the books around there that say "from the least interesting thing to the most"...she wont. She wont drop or leave even for cheese or piece of chicken.

We have been training her since she was 9 weeks and so far she is eager to learn anything other than "drop" or "leave". Same as "Find it" and "Give me".

She isnt a stupid dog...we have attended dog training classes and done training through books too...some methods work, others dont.

I will definatly be keeping an eye out on those two and, as you suggested, remove the dog once it goes anywhere near the cat.

[tasha095]

as im not a trainer or full time dog owner, i cannot help you! sorry.

i just wanted to make the point that "the dogs in the newspaper" behaviour is NOT the dogs falt its the OWNER, and how it was brought up, i'm not having a go just making a point i'm not sure if you are aware of

Hi there,

I appreciate the point that you have made...i was simply saying that i was affraid of my dog becoming one of them.

Nala - my Chug - is brought up in an environment that isnt aggressive, doesnt use aggression or physical violence or anything of that sort.

My cat is very timid and i have had cats in the past too...and they have also all been timid - dont scratch, bite or cause problems.
All the cats parents have been seen and they were not the timid types.

I suppose what i am trying to say is...i dont understand how an accident like this could have happened when the dog is brought up in love?

She is walked, played with, trained, bathed, fed and looked after on regular basis.

I do understand that majority of the dogs behavioural problems come from owners, but is it not possible for a dog to develop things like JEALOUSY?

There were raised voices in the past but nothing physical, which caused submissive urination...which is now the thing of the past.

Is it not possible for dogs, just like cats, to develop other emotional states other than happy, sad or in pain?

She acts a bit jealous sometimes - we all go to bed, cat follows up the stairs, the dog wails and whines...

When the cat is outside during the night or has been asleep all day in his bed upstairs, the dog doesnt wail.

[Aidan]

Hi Tasha, a couple of extra resources for you:

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/727 - how to teach "give" using the game of tug, especially good for dogs who are difficult to train "give" using other methods.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/?id=251555 - Do Dogs and Puppies Know When They've Done Something Wrong?

..and a tip:

to give a cat an 'escape route' that a dog can't follow, use a 100mm Cabin Hook (cost about $1) to hold a normal door open. It should provide a gap too narrow for your dog, but wide enough for your cat.

Other alternatives are Cat Trees, which your cat can climb but your dog cannot. I have even used a step-ladder as an escape route for my cats.

By giving your cat an escape route, your cat has somewhere to go and your dog may learn that chasing (in the house at least) isn't much fun.

[tasha095]

Hi Tasha, a couple of extra resources for you:

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/727 - how to teach "give" using the game of tug, especially good for dogs who are difficult to train "give" using other methods.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/?id=251555 - Do Dogs and Puppies Know When They've Done Something Wrong?

..and a tip:

to give a cat an 'escape route' that a dog can't follow, use a 100mm Cabin Hook (cost about $1) to hold a normal door open. It should provide a gap too narrow for your dog, but wide enough for your cat.

Other alternatives are Cat Trees, which your cat can climb but your dog cannot. I have even used a step-ladder as an escape route for my cats.

By giving your cat an escape route, your cat has somewhere to go and your dog may learn that chasing (in the house at least) isn't much fun.

Thank You Aiden,

I will look at the links you have provided...

My cat isnt much of a climber...he never used scratch posts, or those tall things either.

But we will try the hooks.