Puppy with cats, more information

[CherylRash]

 We have an 11 month old white German Shepherd, Jax, who we adopted at 10 weeks. We have 3 cats, who have lashed out at him in the past, swiping at his nose, etc. when he wouldn’t leave them alone. Jax’s behavior towards the cats has changed in the last 2 months. He will bark, growl, and show his teeth, and run after them when they walk by at night or when he sees them in the kitchen or when they walk near him when he is in his crate. Now he is tethered to us but he still tries to go after the cats. We correct him when he is focusing on the cats but sometimes he sees them from a distance and reacts instantly and forcefully. It is difficult for us to remain calm when  he lunges and jumps up and growls at a cat we can’t even see. We’ve started correcting the cats and they have not made contact with him in awhile but Jax’s behavior is escalating and becoming more frequent. Please provide guidance for help with these issues.

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

I have a couple of questions in regards to your dogs' and cats behaviors to better understand the situation.

How old are the cats? Were they raised with him as kittens?

Did  the lashing out and swiping at his nose behaviors from the cats stop at some point as your puppy grew and learned to respect more their need for space? Or was there always some sort of ongoing conflict?

Have there been any recent changes in the last 2 months? Like the cats seeing the vet for some problem? Moving? 

In what ways have you corrected your dog and the cats?

It sounds like the cats are trying to keep distance lately and avoiding your dog, is that correct?

Do your cats have a place to go that is dog-free? Like a all cat tree a room where the dog is not allowed?

 

 

[CherylRash]

One of our cats is 5 and the other 2 (sisters) are about to turn 3 so they were adults when we got Jax.  We had a different dog (who passed in the fall of 2019) at the time the cats were adopted, an older greyhound who ignored the cats.  In between our greyhound and Jax, we tried to rescue a 1.5 year old white GSD who had previously been attacked by other dogs in her house (multiple times).  We thought it would be OK since the GSD had been raised with a  cat, but, because of her attacks, she was fearful and lashed out at all small moving things, including children, so we could not keep her. I think this situation traumatized our cats.

There has always been some conflict.  Jax has never learned to respect their space.  He does not seem to recognize their cues that they do not want to play or that they want to be left alone.

The only change (other than Jax maturing) I can think of in the last 2 months was that Jax was neutered.  2 of our cats and Jax are now on medications to try to keep things calm but we are continuing to have issues.

The cats have been corrected with a water bottle if they are attacking him for no reason.  (One of the cats used to stalk him and attack when he wasn't looking.)  With the medication and water, he has not been attacked for several months.  We have been working with a trainer since Jax was 6 months.  As a result, we use a prong collar.  So his corrections are a "Ah"  with a snap of the fingers and a quick snap of the prong collar, with us standing over him and waiting until he lays down and is calm.

The 2 sister cats have been avoiding Jax lately but the sight of them, even walking slowly in a different room, sets him off.  It seems to be mostly at night.  The cats have a large cat tree, a cat shelf high on a wall, and the bonus room upstairs with a devise that allows only the cats to enter.  The other cat has no fear and will walk up to Jax and sit inches from his face.

Jax is walked twice a day ( 2 miles each time) and either played with outside or taken to the dog park (weather-permitting).

 

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the extra details, they are very helpful.

So this is a rather complex issues, we are dealing with multiple pets sharing the household, with two possibly traumatized cats, and a dog with a history of not respecting the cat's requests for space and being left alone. When we have a history of rehearsing problematic behaviors in presence of cats, it becomes more difficult to work on the behavior because rehearsal allows the behaviors to put roots and become more difficult to eradicate. More than training, behavior modification is primarily needed to rehabilitate several pets. This is something that should be done under the guidance of a dog professional (preferably a veterinary behaviorist. 

I will provide some general guidelines along with examples of what behavior modification in such a case may entail, although each dog and cat is an individual and therefore a more individualized plan will be needed. These are therefore just some general guidelines:

Rule out Medical Conditions

Primarily, I feel that this is important considering that it would be difficult implementing behavior modification on pets who may be undergoing behavior changes due to some underlying medical conditions. So a vet visit to rule out anything medically going on would be a good starting point. The advantage of using a veterinary behaviorist is the fact that he or she is qualified to assess the pet's health before proceeding to behavior modification. 

For instance, when a dog attacks or becomes more reactive mostly at night can sometimes be due to an eyesight problem. Sometimes, the cats may too have a medical condition that may cause dogs to lash out. One of my clients once had a dog who started attacking a cat, and turns out, only months later the owner discovered that this cat was suffering from seizures. Dogs do not understand seizures, so they may attack the cat as an instinctive response.

If the behavior happened after he was neutered, it could be that he felt pain when the cats were around and he associated the cats with pain, or maybe he wasn't feeling well and started attacking to ask for space and soon this behavior established and became his default way of interacting with the cats. Many possibilities. 

Maturing can also trigger behavior changes. Social maturity in dogs occurs around 12 to 36 months. We tend to see altered dog-to-dog interactions around this age, and this can also occur with other animals sharing the household. It can simply be that as Jax is maturing, he no longer tolerates certain behaviors from the cats. As puppies, dogs may be accepting of many things, but part of growing up and maturing may entail putting a stop to certain behaviors.

Make Your Cat's Safety Top Priority

If your dog has suddenly started attacking your cats' it's imperative to keep your cats as safe as possible. I don;t want to scare you, but there are stories of dogs killing cats they have known for many years and never had a problem.

It doesn't make things easier the fact that cats seem to not realize that a dog they have known for many years can harm them. Dogs can injure or kill a cat very quickly. On top of this, a dog can also be injured by cats. Cats may aim for the eyes and cause corneal injuries and even loss of vision.

Following are several ways you can keep your cat safe:

-Install a baby gate that keeps your cats and dog separated

-Keep your dog muzzled when around the cats. Here is a guide on how to muzzle train dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/

-Provide window ledges, high perches and cat trees where your cats can climb up to and feel safe

-Place shelves to the walls so your cats can travel around the house without having to get on the floor. There are many plans for vertical spaces purposely made for cats nowadays including walkways and bookshelves with top cat walks.

-Crate you dog when you are not home or secure the cat in another room.

Prevent Rehearsal of the Attacking Behavior

Dogs are very habitual creatures, and therefore, as mentioned, the more they rehearse a problem behavior, the more this behavior puts roots and becomes established overtime, making it more and more difficult to extinguish.

It's therefore very important to prevent your dog from getting into the habit of chasing and attacking your cats. This falls under management strategies.

If your dog attacks your cats for no reason, you are better off preventing your dog from being around your cats as a safety precaution. If your dog attacks only in specific circumstances, you will have to prevent those circumstances from happening, although, there are always some risks that things may change and your dog may still attack, so caution is needed. Following are management options.

-Keep your dog away from your cats by using a sturdy baby gate that he cannot climb over, knock down or squeeze under

-Keep your cats indoors and your dog in the yard

-Keep your dog in an outdoor kennel

-Keep your dog crated or in an exercise pen

-If your dog attacks cats around food, feed him in a separated area

-If your dog attacks cats around toys, don't keep toys around

-If your dog attacks cats out of jealousy, don't give the cats any attention when around him/her

-If your dog attacks the cats at night, prevent access to the them at night by separating him

Implement Behavior Modification

Management prevents dogs from rehearsing troublesome behaviors, which is important, but to get to the root of the problem, behavior modification would be needed. Not all cases qualify for behavior modification. Prognosis is based on several factors such as a careful assessment, age of dog, age of cats, breed, history of rehearsing the problem behavior, history of causing harm (does the dog use ritualized aggression or is there a history of biting?), owner commitment, level of dog training and responsiveness to cues, ability to manage and supervise etc).

The goal of behavior modification in such a case would be to create positive associations with your cats. This can be done using a mix of desensitization and counterconditioning.

Desensitization requires systematic exposures using baby steps, always ensuring the dog is under threshold. You can read more about desensitization here;

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

and here you can read about dog threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Counterconditioning, on the other hand, entails creating positive associations with the sight of cats. You can read more about counterconditioning here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

The goal is to obtain what's known as a positive conditioned emotional response. You can read about this here;

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/

For safety, the dog should be kept initially on a short leash, then on a longer leash and then off leash while wearing a muzzle and then off leash without a muzzle, but the cats must have escape routes always handy and a plan should be in place should the dog in try to attack or grab the cat (calling the dog, telling him to leave it, telling him to drop it if he manages to grab the cat, keeping tools handy to stop a fight (bucket of water, air horn).

Work should always start with cats at a distance that don't evoke the dog's attacking behavior, gradually decreasing the distance as both species allow. If the dog shows signs of trouble, this is a sign that one has progressed too fast. Some steps back in such instance should be taken, increasing distance and working at the animals' pace and comfort levels before progressing more.

Since your cats appear to have a history of being traumatized, they too would benefit from behavior modification, so if you would have a helper he or she could also feed the cat tasty treats upon watching your dog. 

*Please note how the core of behavior modification here is creating positive associations. The use of prong collars and water bottles does the total opposite: it causes negative associations among the pets and corrections may lead to more stress which may exacerbate the problem. 

*Medications for calming pets down can be effective in lowering thresholds, but they should be used along with behavior modification.  

Train Your Dog to be Responsive

It goes without saying, the importance of responsiveness. If your dog is predisposed to attacking your cats, you need a reliable response to your verbal cues.

Train your dog to respond immediately to a smacking sound with your mouth: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

Train him the leave it and drop it command: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/

Train your dog a strong, reliable recall (see obedience 101 for basics)

Train your dog to lie on his mat: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

This training needs to start in low distractions areas, and then distractions need to be gradually added before trying to use them in the presence of cats. We are looking for a very reliable response here since the cats' lives may be at stake. 

Never Let Your Guard Down

As much as your dog is highly trained and despite having formed strong positive associations with your cats, never let your guard down. In other words, think that if the attack happened once or more than once, it can likely happen again.

Supervise always closely. Manage as much as you can. Prevent situations from escalating. Provide your cats with escape routes. Hold refresher sessions on your dog's training. Consider that, even if your dog is trained, there is no such thing as a dog that will respond 100 percent of the time. Even the best trained dogs have their oops moments (ask any trainer of champion competition dogs) and in this case a precious life is at risk. So it's important to evaluate things carefully as the risks at stake are very high.

There can never be guarantees on the outcome of training and cats are animals and dogs are animals, and therefore we can't always control or predict their behaviors.  It is therefore ultimately a pet owner's responsibility ensuring the safety of their pets-and some times, the best thing to do is, to just err on the side of caution and play it safe by keeping certain pets separated and out of harm.

When Things don't Work Out

Sometimes, despite all our effort, things may not work out. Management attempts may fail and when lives are at stake, important decision-making may entail considering rehoming if the pet is not a good fit. 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others

[CherylRash]

Thank you for your detailed reply!

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome,

Keep me posted on how things go.

Best,

Adrienne