So I finally got a camera that can take videos. Some of you might remember the thread I made of my fiance's male that obsesses over my female.

Well he shows the exact same obsession towards the cats and I managed to get a video of it. It was hard to explain his behavior and this captures it perfectly.

Like I said this is the very same behavior he does to her. I personally don't see anything dangerous..just play..but he just doesn't stop. He's always looking for them when he's out no matter how much training or exercise he has gotten.

Sorry about my house, it's trashed. And the screaming in the video is a chihuahua in a crate in the other room, lol.

Here's what he does when he can reach them. I usually don't let him do this. One cat is friendlier than the other towards him and initiates play occasionally. The other only tolerates him and will slap at him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3seh-Qdyos

Here's what he does when he can't reach them or even see them. This is also what he does when my girl is out with me somewhere in the house, only he will whine very softly as well. They haven't been allowed to play or interact much, as she shows no interest in him. Not aggressive..but ignores him and he will constantly try and play like in the first video, poking at her, staring...etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QExr7yDScOg
He stands there because I've made him stay in the room with me and within eyesight, away from the cats.

In between this he will turn, pace the room, then return to the doorway to watch. A toy or a bone will distract him for a short time, but it's back to this.

Exercise doesn't seem to affect it, he had been on a long walk outside and a 45 minute jog on the treadmill before this. He will lag behind on walks like he is tired and come home and sprint around the yard or do this.

He's a year and a half old. What are your opinions? Is this something that will go away if he's left out in the house? He has been mostly on lead with one of us or made to stay within the same room since we got him and hardly allowed to wander around but he is very good otherwise and not a chewer. Eventually I'd like to be able to give him free run but not when he does this so much.

Thanks for your time.

Man, that dog did good. What's the problem?

Hi Heather, you've got very nice cats, love that friendly one

I don't see anything wrong with that dog. We've got 3 dogs and 4 cats and the dogs react about the same to the cats - mild friendly curiosity. I would get worried if a dog fixated on a cat - got that intense stare and certain body language, ready to go after the target.

Here are some of our clips: Suzie and Boy and Monty and Boy

Mine acts about the same with the cats, as long as the there is no chasing and no cat heads in dog mouths I don't worry about it. They are even known to nap together and play.

I think that given time he will mellow out and realize that they aren't really that interesting.

Thanks for the replies. The only thing I'm concerned about is how he constantly looks for them. If one walks in the room he'll jump up and have to go poke at them.

To me, it looked mild and like play, but the replies in the last post I made about it had me a little scared.

He does this to my female too. Should I just let them get it out of his system and play? She acts uninterested but will eventually give in. I just don't want him totally obsessed with her...but he kind of already does it by always trying to play anyway.

I want to post an update. He's been allowed more freedom, but he's been starting to just harass them constantly. Constantly having to watch him now because he's started biting them, stepping on them and just last night started chasing.

All night he would leave the room and go after them and when told to off he'd listen..but 2 seconds later turn around and run off again.

Decided to post now because moments ago, the shy one came walking through the room and when he alerted on him and came trotting up the cat sped up which resulted in him exploding after the cat in a chase.

Seems to be getting worse and he's definitely not losing interest. It's still in play...but getting to be this way and even the freindly cat is getting annoyed. Is this to be expected?

Hi Heather,

I would never allow any of my dogs to bite or step on my cats. I am not an expert on dog training but this kind of behavior seems to indicate that the dog sees the cats as prey.

In Dominant&Aggressive DVD Ed says that aggression towards other animals or humans has to be stopped right away.

From my personal experience with this, I would stop it now and make it crystal clear you won't tolerate it. I believe it will only continue to escalate.

Falcon came into our home having never been around cats (he was 4.5 mo.) and never had that "curiosity/sniffing" attitude; it was full blown chase from the get-go. He cornered them a few times before I could stop it and never hurt them when he could have killed them, however the cats don't care and it has changed the dynamics of our home. I don't trust him around the cats yet, period. The cats won't come out of our bedroom unless they know Falcon is out in his kennel (moved from the den into the garage to give the cats a bit more freedom...) and we had to move a cat box to our bathroom which is not the best situation... I love my cats but have no desire to have their cat box in my bedroom, and my husband wants it even less so.

The ecollar has helped tremendously and if Falcon is on a down or place and a cat does sneak out, he will hold that command about 95% of the time. If he is up on all fours and one of the cats doesn't realize he is in the house and comes out, he is after them like a shot. He is getting much better at being able to "stop himself" if I realize what is happening and say place of off, but the cat is still in "chased mode" and back to the bedroom. It did take a few very hard corrections with the ecollar to get him to snap out of the "I wanna kill the kitty" chase attitude.

If you don't have an ecollar but have a prong, you might try tethering him to you so that you can quickly correct him if he goes after the cat. If not teathered, a long drag line. In my opinion you are going to see this continue to escalate because it is a "self-fullfilling" pleasure - the more he chases them the more fun he has, the better he gets at it, etc...

 Quote: Barbara Schuler

From my personal experience with this, I would stop it now and make it crystal clear you won't tolerate it.

This is one of the very few things that elicit a high-level immediate correction from me. There is no doubt, no question; this is not ever going to be accepted. Period.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I do have an e-collar. I'll stop him from doing anything but gently playing and ESPECIALLY stop the chasing.

Will it really tone him down in the long run though? We used to not allow him ANY access to the cats because he was so intent on playing with them but it never stopped him from continuously trying all day. I can see him trying to chase and mouth again despite being corrected for it.