westiemum Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 (edited) Hi Everyone, Meet Eddie!! As some of you probably already know Eddie is my new little foster who arrived rather unexpectedly last Friday night. He is a delightful adolescent westie who turns 2 on Christmas day next week and has been severely neglected. He is underweight with poor skin, completely untrained and a coat like straw - all of which I'm dealing with. He is responding well to some TLC, boundary setting and basic training and good tucker and has learnt to sit on command and is learning to stay already. He was desexed, chipped, wormed and vaccinated last Friday (poor boy!) before he came to me and has had his first dose of Advocate this morning. So overall its been a really successful few days - with the one exception that in the last day or two and and today in particular he has started showing far too much interest in Mark the cat, getting close to him and then barking at him. Mark has smacked him across the nose once or twice and we've had some yelping and hissing but this little fellow doesn't seem to get the message and persists in getting too close to him. What usually happens is he sits close quietly but intently to Mark, but it finally gets the better of him and he gets too close, barks and a skirmish ensues. - its almost like he wants to make friends but he doesn't quite have the manners to do it!! (Mark and the other two westies get on very well together - sitting close, brushing past each other happily and even sleeping next to each other occasionally). This afternoon we had a concentrated effort at stopping Eddie getting too close to Mark - each time Eddie got into the wardrobe where Mark was hiding (a usual spot for him so not unusual) I picked him up, put him outside, waited for him to stop barking then let him in when he was quiet, made him sit and stay and gave him a tiny treat. He then went straight back to the bedroom to look for Mark in the wardrobe again! So I repeated the procedure again 3 or 4 times. But by this point Mark was getting frightened so in the end I closed the door to the bedroom to keep them separate and give Mark a break. Apart from this I can't really think of what else to do. (I don't want to smack him - I'd rather positively and negatively reinforce rather than punish him for any psychologists out there). Apart from this Eddie is a very well behaved little man - eg he sleeps the night through on a rug beside my bed already, inconsistently comes when called, is starting to travel well in the car, sits consistently and is starting to stay - all in 5 days!! Please can I have some other advice on how to teach Eddie to respect Mark the cat??? Or is this unrealistic? : I also don't want my other westies to 'unlearn' how well they get on with Mark (after all he was here first!!). Thanks for your help. Cheers, Westiemum Edited December 19, 2007 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andoria2007 Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Hes a cutie pie Love his eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 (edited) My last foster Alfie was funny with the cats. We would get really close and stare at them then as soon as they moved he would chase and bark at them. The thing that got him out of it was time out, pretty much what you're doing. I didn't mind him sitting with the cats, but I hated the barking and chasing. Every time he chased or barked I would put him in the laundry straight away, without saying a word to him. I left him in there for about a minute, then let him out again. I never gave treats or anything after time out, just let him out and ignored him. I think sometimes if you reward them after time out, it can say to them its OK to go and do what you were doing again now. Try completely ignoring him after time out. In about 2 weeks he learnt that the cats are not to be annoyed. He left here after 8 weeks completely ignoring the cats all together This was the little cat culprit Edited December 20, 2007 by BC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Thanks tons BC - that's really helpful. And what a cutie Alfie is!! Will give it a go. Cheers, Westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Hes a cutie pie Love his eyes ;) Thanks so much Andoria - yes he is a real cutie - and he becomes more and more delightful each day - and no he's not going to be a FF... no... absolutely not... no FFs here... not at all... Cheers, Westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Hes a cutie pie Love his eyes :D Thanks so much Andoria - yes he is a real cutie - and he becomes more and more delightful each day - and no he's not going to be a FF... no... absolutely not... no FFs here... not at all... Cheers, Westiemum Yeah right :D hint hint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 BC has the right idea I think. My young Dally wants to play with the cats ....he's even started dropping toys at their feet which is rather sweet but the girls are not impressed! Lilly belts him over the nose and he just wags his silly tail and tries to bop her back. I've taught Zig a 'leave' command and have a water spray for emergencies. By far the best solution is to very quietly place Zig in his soft crate if he does not respond when I ask him to 'leave' the cats alone. Removing Ziggy from his social world is the worst punishment possible And I must say, the cats stir the sh!t out of him but he needs to learn restrain and self-control. It's always worse coming up to dinner time too.....everyone gets a little restless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 21, 2007 Author Share Posted December 21, 2007 Thanks tons TSD, Yes its getting better - despite the exuberance of the naughty adolescent!! (All of us oldies around here are definitely not used to such OTT energy... all the time!!). Cheers, Westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leema Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Have a look at this page. I haven't tried it myself, but having a cat-obsesed Border Terrier, I have respect for the method and do hope to give it a go one day when I have time for a cat. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1403 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 21, 2007 Author Share Posted December 21, 2007 (edited) Thanks Leema, Yes I've seen people use clickers very successfully at basic obedience - will definitely have a look. Cheers, Westiemum Edited December 21, 2007 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 Thanks tons TSD,Yes its getting better - despite the exuberance of the naughty adolescent!! (All of us oldies around here are definitely not used to such OTT energy... all the time!!). Cheers, Westiemum ;) But he looks so sweet and innocent ;) Swap you for a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 22, 2007 Author Share Posted December 22, 2007 Swap you for a week biggrin.gif I think I'd die of exhaustion!! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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