In a nutshell... Super sensitive dog and overly affectionate cat, annoyed dog got in trouble, dog who is now upset and basically throwing himself at my feet.

I never know what to do at this stage.

Do I ignore the overtures, or give him a little love to know everything is fine?

Something else?

Long story:
Loki rarely gets any kind of correction, he just doesn't do much that requires them.
However, while tolerant of the cats, he is not a fan of them and does not wish to sleep with them or play with them. They to have a hard time caring about his feelings and sometimes overstep his tolerance zone.

Usually I see this coming and intercept kitty to avoid problems. But this afternoon I was distracted helping my son with homework and he decided to slut all over Loki instead of Nico.

The outcome was a high pitched yodeling sound and a cat's head in his mouth. He didn't bite down, but it is still totally unnacceptable.

So he got yelled at while I flew across the room and I popped his collar while saying BAD DOG. The minute I let go he let go and showed me his belly. He KNOWS better!


For the last half an hour he has been trying to make nice or apologize or something. Flopping at my feet, trying to lick my hands, staring at my face etc.



Edited by Jennifer Lee (09/08/2010 04:06 PM)
Edit reason: better description

Let it go, take a breath and take his apology

He stopped as soon as you said something, and is now submitting to you, so I think he got the point. Don't hold a grudge and move on, just like another dog would do. If he is throwing himself at your feet no need to baby him, just say "hey, it's over, get up." Then ask him to go laydown or another common command that you would usually ask of him. It's just another lesson for next time you can't watch him to put him away....or you can wrap him with "invisible" fencing wire and put one of the collars on the cat....Hey! It could work

LOL, I wish I could do the invisible fencing thing, it really isn't his fault and he obviously didn't want to actually hurt the cat or he would have.

I have considered a squirt gun for the cat whenever he tries to bother him, but I am worried it will get him too and cause bad association with the cat and more problems.

I usually give a quick pat on the chest (my dog's favorite calming spot) if he seems to be especially "OMG you hate meeeeee *intensive sad puppy eyes*" for more than a few minutes....I'll have him to a simple command (like sit pretty) and praise him a little bit over excitedly to sort of snap him out of it....

 Quote: Niomi Smith

Let it go, take a breath and take his apology

Awwww, poor Loki!!!
I have a cat like that too- she LOVVVVEEEEESSSSSSS the dogs, and they don't always agree. In some instances it's nice, because my DS can rarely push/prod/nose her into running, but the cat is totally obnoxious while the dogs are trying to sleep.

Poor Loki... He could have crushed the cat's skull but he did what he would have done with an annoying puppy... BAD KITTY! I shudder to think what would happen to my cats if they got that close to Falcon, although we are making great progress.

Forgive the big fuzz butt. He got the message.

All is well, I fed them right after posting and all was forgotten!
Usually I correct then move on and they do too, but I wasn't sure what to do with him while he was being such a mess about it. He knew he was in trouble as soon as he did it though which might be why he was such a mess.

If there wasn't such potential for damage I would have just let it go. But even though he was right to be annoyed I can't have him putting his mouth on the cats. He also has been testing the waters a bit and since he wouldn't dare try to pull rank on Nico or people he seems to try it with the cats, this isn't the first incident.

I have worked since they were pups to keep the cats as either higher ranking pack members..or maybe as some sort of fragile exotic thing they must be careful with. I'm not sure which LOL.

Maybe the cat will learn?

A cat learn??? Ha!!!! Yeah right!!!!! :P lol

 Quote: Ross Rapoport

Maybe the cat will learn?

That is part of the problem, for the most part the cat is going to do what the cat darn well pleases!
The other issue is that Nico likes them, doesn't mind them sleeping next to or even on top of her.

She really doesn't mind much of anything other than fireworks and thunderstorms, anything else is fine with her LOL.