Tobey and the cat

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Joined the site today and have already found some useful ideas - hope someone can help with this one..............

Have a 10 month old Patterdale Terrier who is very bright , lively and affectionate. When he first came home he got on very well with the cat (who is only one month older) - so well that they used to cuddle up together to sleep...now it is a different story! Tobey will not stop chasing the cat - he only seems to want to play but is very rough and we want to teach him that she has as much right to walk around the lounge as he does! He is quick to learn - sits on command, at kerbs etc - but appears to be totally immune to "leave". Does anyone have any tips that might help - we are putting a lot of time into this aspect of training but don't seem to be getting very far

[ginagt]

I have 3 cats, when brought home my 13 week old Golden Retriever it was intresting how she interacted with each cat. My calico (who is 4 yrs old) would just stand in front of Mandy (puppy) and look at her so Mandy would just look back. Sammy (5 yr old Maine Coon) would always run from Mandy so Mandy used to chase Sammy. Buttons ( 4 yr old tortie) hiss and growls at Mandy so Mandy steers clear of her.

You can keep working the "leave it" command and eventually it should work, but keep in mind the cat is a fun moving thing to chase so it will be hard to convince the puppy to stop chasing the kitty. My suggestion would be keep practicing the "leave it" command with other things practice so much that "leave it" is a reaction and he almost automatically leaves it before even thinking about it. In the meantime, try not to make a huge deal about when he chases the kitty ( so it doesn't become a form of getting attention). Does your cat have claws? If so the cat will let the dog know if he is going to far in the playing. Hope this helps, good luck.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

thanks for that - good idea about practising "leave it" on other things, hadn't thought of that