Hi all,

For those who don't know I have four dogs. I used to have a cat. The three oldest have all at one time lived with my cat. He passed away (from renal failure) when my youngest was 8 weeks old. I had hoped to have another cat someday, and am waiting for my two fosters to get adopted (if that ever happens, lol).

Anyway, my youngest (not a foster) is now 19 months and starting to become an adolescent. There are a lot of cats in my neghbourhood and both my next door neighbours have 3 or 4 outside cats between them, plus there are others, that occasionally will come in my backyard when the dogs aren't out. When I let the dogs out the 3 oldest (I let them out all 3 or sometimes 2 of them then one), they run around sniffing where the cats were then go on with their lives.

My youngest, saw a cat sitting on the fence one time and went nuts. (The cat did not run). This was about 2-3 weeks ago. Up until that point he had always pretty much ignored cats, they were never an issue, not even face to face at the vet's. Now, he is absolutely obsessed with them.

He will pace around the house whining to be let out and when I let him out he will charge along the fence lines looking for cats. If he sees or smells one, he will charge at the fence. I have tried ignoring this behaviour, redirecting with toys and treats and finally chasing him off the fence, or physically bringing him back inside. When back in he just paces and whines unless crated. He used to be such a calm and relaxed dog in the house.

When outside we have to insist he goes to the bathroom, because he forgets what he has to do, since he is looking for cats. He spends all his outside time alertly patrolling the fence. It has become such a problem that he can no longer be outside for anything other than a quick potty, but even his in-house behaviour (pacing, whining, asking to go out) is becoming pretty hard to live with.

Keeping him on a leash doesn't help, other than give me an avenue to correct and pull him around with. He pays no attention to much other than cat smell. He will pay brief attention to treats, but not much interested in his toys anymore. He is already crated most of the time, so I'm not sure what else to try.

Any suggestions? I want to nip this in the bud ASAP.

Angela,

I have found judicious use of an e-collar to be effective at stopping cat-chasing and other crittering. But I also wonder how much exercise is this young dog getting? I'm thinking that increasing the amount of vigorous physical and mental activity he gets might improve his behavior overall.

For what it's worth - my current project is a high-energy 18 month old Airedale x GSD mix, who is a nice dog but his behavior becomes quite obnoxious if he doesn't get at least one really good workout each day. He had some of the obsessive tendencies you describe, including a strong desire to hunt the cat when I adopted him four months ago. It only took two e-collar corrections to convince him that the cat actually has magical powers, and now he eyes her warily and leaves her alone.

Thanks Sarah, yesterday he had a well-over-an-hour long walk, a car ride (during which he was restless) and a 20-minute training session. After all of which I typed my OP; all the while, the dog was standing on the stairs (near the door) whining, alternating with pacing around the house.

It does sound like not enough exercise but I assure you it's not the case. It's like a light switch went on and he suddenly has this huge cat drive, which is completely new.

I noticed in the car yesterday he was VERY alert on the squirrels we saw. This is also new.

LOL - cat has magical powers.

I'm not sure if I can help, but I had a few comments and questions.

 Quote: angela burrell

He will pace around the house whining to be let out and when I let him out

I wouldn't let him out in this state of mind.

Is there anywhere at all that you can take him to use the bathroom that he doesn't act crazy?

 Quote: angela burrell

He is already crated most of the time,

 Quote: angela burrell

It does sound like not enough exercise but I assure you it's not the case.

Elaborate on how you are using the crate. Not punishment right?

Is he EITHER exercising or crated?

How long is "crated most of the time"?

I would usually say to get farther away from the distraction, but this is kinda hard since it is in your backyard. On top of that, simply smelling the cats is setting him off. Hard to control cat scent right outside the door. I do sympathize.

One more thing.:smile:

Is there ever a time when he is calm inside or out?

Hi Michael, thanks for your replIES LOL.

By crated a lot, I meant that he is in his crate overnight and then all day when I am at work. Other than that I try and give him as much "house time" as possible, rotating with the other dogs. I have a friend come over during the day whenever possible, who also rotates them and he walks the pup. I train the dog and play ball and tug with him.

quote: Is there anywhere at all that you can take him to use the bathroom that he doesn't act crazy?

Nope.

Although today I had a brainstorm. I let him out this afternoon to pee, then I let one of the other dogs out to play and run around. It was an excellent distraction and he forgot all about the cat smell. It is warm out, summer-like, and after they played they laid in the shade of the garage and chilled out. I praised the pup and brought him in, he's laying nicely now in the kitchen.

I think the problem when I correct him for getting TOO interested in the space under the gate (where the cats probably go through) or jumping on the fence, is that he has no idea what I'm correcting him for. He gets submissive but then goes right back to doing it.

And yes, he is generally calm right after his meals (no room for cats, I guess... lol). They know they are not going to do anything for at least 2 hours after their food so I suppose it is a habit for them to relax after eating.

I gotcha.:wink:

Obviously, pay attention to those calm times. Its so easy to forget about a good, calm dog and only remember them when they are stupid.

Plug up the space in the gate. Even if the cats learn to come in elsewhere, maybe you won't have "kitty concentrate" in that one spot.

Turbo's crate is a calm, relaxing spot to him. If he ever gets too wired or even obsessive over something like you have now, I see no problem crating. I'm not using the crate as punishiment, IMO. I'm not mad or frustrated about the situation. I just know that Turbo's view of his crate is relaxing, and he will do just that when put in. Then I'll get him back out when he is calm, or I'm done with what I was doing.