Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

[Pammie-Jayne]

Hi all,

This may seem like a silly question, but is there any way to re-train a dog ( an old dog) to not be reactive towards cats?

Jasper (aka Jubs) is a 10 year old staffy who has never been friends with cats. Jubs is part of a household where she has always been the only pet. Usual behaviour is for her to bark at the fence when she sees them. Jubs has never attacked a cat, but not sure if thats because she has just never had the opportunity too. Jasper is very much loved part of the family and is a very friendly loving little dog.

If you wanted to introduce two cats into her home, is there any way to train her to ignore them, or do you think for the sake of the cats safety they will always need to be seperated?

I know usually dogs who are reactive to cats are re-homed to houses without cats, but in this circumstance Jubs is not being re-homed, rather the owner asking his girlfriend move in and she has two cats, that must go with her.

Any ideas?

PJ :)

[Vickie]

I think the answer is yes, it is possible, but...there are so many variables.

My 2 male BCs were 11, when our cat chose to come & live with us.

They had tried to chase cats their entire lives but all 3 ended up living in harmony.

The variables that helped us were that:

The cat had no fear of dogs, never ran & was more than willing to swipe at dogs for inappropriate intent

I was home all the time, so dogs were supervised for quite a while

Cat had an easy escape to front yard

Our other dogs were not cat chasers

I don't think the dogs had any intent other than chase, they werent killer type dogs

I had good control over dogs & they were responsive to verbal correction.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Vickie

[Rebanne]

A good strong cattery attached to the house, with fencing between the dog and the cattery and good solid doors within the house.

As a cat owner there is no way I would take a chance on a 10 year old dog becoming cat tolerant. I would figure that my cats would outlive the dog, the dog will be gone sooner rather then later and would keep them apart until dog has passed. Would save a lot of stress on all 3 animals, especially if cats are unused to dogs.

We have had to keep a close eye on one of my greyhounds whenever we went to my daughter's house. Her cats lived with a greyhound, my greyhound lived with cats but one of the daughters cats gave off distinct victim vibes, which increased the interest in him by my grey. Last visit down there the cat decided he had had enough of this and started acting normally, mooching around instead of slinking etc and the greyhound lost all interest. It was a very interesting thing to see and very clear. There was no way my cat tolerant dog would have ever been left alone with this cat and we still don't let cats and dogs alone together. And these animals were used to living with the other species.

[Pammie-Jayne]

All good points thanks guys :)

The cats are used to living with dogs, they were reared with dogs (who have now passed away), but i understand what you are both saying. I think that the cattery is prob the best idea too,

Ta! Greatly appreciated :)

[Panto]

I came in here thinking yes of course they can... I was just teaching fur-panto to 'spin' over the wknd, she is nearly 10... then... I saw the word cat. I am keeping a keen eye on this thread as she is highly cat reactive and would dearly love to desensitise her to cats but can't see it happening for her.

Being in sydney, I hope the owner is in a place where a cattery can be installed or the cats can have their own rooms and vice versa. Best of luck to them, great to hear they're looking for a solution first.

[Pammie-Jayne]

Thanks Panto :)

Yes, rehoming any of these animals is not an option, Jubs is part of his family and the cats are part of hers.

A secure cattery is probably the best solution that can be found.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My brother got a 9yo SBT to tolerate a cat. Took some work on his part. But he had previously trained his dog to walk away from situations it was uncomfortable with (eg being harrassed by small children) so it was a similar process. He did not leave kitten with dog unsupervised tho. When the family was out the pets were separated in different parts of the house.

They're good now - use each other as hot water bottles.

Unfortunately his fierce killer attack cat is not so brave with my dog - who would be fine if the cat didn't run. Sigh. That cat doesn't speak to me either - whether or not I bring my dog.

[Kirislin]

I sure hope you can because this very day I am trying to teach my whippets not to want to kill my chickens. It's the first time I've brought the chickens out into the sunshine in their moveable chook tractor and I'm hoping in time they might even be able to free range the backyard.

[RiverStar-Aura]

I'm still trying to work out how to desensitise my two from our cat. Calypso (cat aged 9) got along famously with Poochie (now deceased) and were like Milo and Otis.

She hates my two current dogs Zeus (just 3) and Kirah (just 1) and has learnt that if she cowers in a corner, the dogs ignore her. Once she starts moving though, the two dogs glomp on her and Kirah yips at her. They're not aggressive towards her, they just want to play but Zeus is too big and intimidates Callie and Kirah just yips in her ear.

Is there a way to help me get my guys to ignore the poor cat? She'd really like to lounge around our backyard again but takes one look at the dogs and backs away.

Edited August 27, 2012 by RiverStar-Aura

[iggy mum]

I sure hope you can because this very day I am trying to teach my whippets not to want to kill my chickens. It's the first time I've brought the chickens out into the sunshine in their moveable chook tractor and I'm hoping in time they might even be able to free range the backyard.

Yay, chookies finally out of the chookhouse. How did the whippies react and which one was the worst behaved? :laugh:

[Staff'n'Toller]

2tollers on this forum has taught her older Toller girl to live with a kitten. I'm pretty sure the dog hunts rats/mice on their property so it took some management.

You might be best to PM her, I'm not sure how often she is on dol these days.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Staff'n'Toller

[Greytmate]

Hi all,

This may seem like a silly question, but is there any way to re-train a dog ( an old dog) to not be reactive towards cats?

Yes, there are a few different ways, but not all methods will work with all dogs. It depends on the level of prey drive the dog has to begin with, or whether the barking is just a territorial defence against the cat.

I would recommend that they get a behaviourist in who understands the different drives in dogs, before they bring the animals together. They will be able to assess the dog, and hopefully work out a management plan that will work for everyone. This type of training needs to be very controlled, as it relies on the dog staying below a psychological threshold. The wrong sort of training can make the problem worse, so they need help from somebody experienced to make sure that everything can be controlled.

[Kirislin]

I sure hope you can because this very day I am trying to teach my whippets not to want to kill my chickens. It's the first time I've brought the chickens out into the sunshine in their moveable chook tractor and I'm hoping in time they might even be able to free range the backyard.

Yay, chookies finally out of the chookhouse. How did the whippies react and which one was the worst behaved? :laugh:

Puck of course was the most interested but you never know for sure how they'll react once the chookies are loose, also for now I wouldn't trust them to be left alone with the chooks in the outdoor enclosure. Here's Penny walking innocently by.

5F6A1655dppt by kirislin, on Flickr

[Pammie-Jayne]

Thanks Greytmate, thats a really great suggestion :)

Much appreciated :)