So I recently got a shepherd mix from the local shelter. He's about a year old, maybe a few months over. And he is OBSESSED with the cats. We have 3, which we had before him, and of course we're always trying to get him to leave them alone. He usually leaves our two tabbies alone, but he WILL NOT ever leave the damn siamese one. I was reading on how to prevent dog bites in babies, and was wondering if I could use the same general idea to teach King (my dog) that the cats are completely off limits. He likes to pounce on them and chew on random body parts, and I'm really afraid he's going to hurt one of the cats. It's been a short time that we've had him, and immediately he started with this behavior. So I'm guessing his previous owners allowed this, as all he's doing is playing. But he's a bigger dog, and the cats well... they're not big at all. At one point we had a crate, but it fell a part thanks to our previous dog, and King, so now we're saving up for the heavy duty ones. But it'll be a while. So is there anything I can do in the mean time?

I've started groundwork with him, and it's helping a little, but I do need a crate to really get it through his fat head (right now I have him isolated in a corner of the house with a leash tied to the couch, which works better than that pos crate we had).

And one other issue. King has an incredible food drive. He will eat, and eat, and eat, and so on. I don't give him the chance obviously, but there have been times where he's gotten into the trash Anyway, my issue is about treats. Ones with high value make him go insane, and he won't focus on anything except trying to get the treat. So I tried others and it seems nothing is of medium value to him. It's either not good enough to pay attention to or it's just too good. I even feed him a little before training. I mean it's not impossible to train him, he knows sit in german and is currently learning down, but its certainly making it a lot harder.

I know I'm probably going about things the wrong way. I'm just in need of some advice.

Hi Dannielle and welcome!
Get a trash can with a lid, if you don't already have one. If he's a hardcore dumpster diver you may need to relocate the trash can where he can't get at it.

re the cats, do you have him on a drag line (leash with no loop on the end) when he's in the house? This works wonders for redirecting a dog away from something that you don't want them to be doing. It's much better than grabbing his collar or yelling at him.

You may want to consider tethering him to you. This will help him to bond with you and give you absolute control over what he can and can't do. No more trash picking and harassing the cats!

and what sort of treats have you tried so far?

Welcome Dannielle! We'd love a pic of King when you get a chance of course!

Any kind of cat/prey drive with other animals in the house has to be very strictly managed as part of the household rules and groundwork with a new dog in my opinion. What kind of seperation/isolation system are you using? This can be as simple as a closed door of course, with the cats gaining free access only when King is confined or tethered.

I have to say this concerned me:
"...He likes to pounce on them and chew on random body parts, and I'm really afraid he's going to hurt one of the cats..."

There is no way I'd allow this. We have a cat and the dog was taught that she is my cat and as such is to be afforded respect -like the furniture, the toys, anything else in MY house. She is allowed to see the cat only on leash (this works because the cat is almost completely nocturnal. After a few weeks when the dog learned to not only not touch the cat, but not cross the threshold to my room where she sleeps, we used a pet gate.

So for us it was/is a combination of instituting respect for our authority along with a "leave it" concept, as well as management for safety above all...

This should work for the trash can.

http://www.thepetstoreonline.com/petsafe-pirf-100-indoor-fence-transmitter.html

It'll probably work for the cat as well. As long as the cat is left in a small room or crate, place the transmitter where the cat is. Much easier than a tag line and instant correction with perfect timing.

Just make sure to introduce the collar correctly or he'll get collar wise.

This gives me a not-quite-clear-but-still-strong feeling of foreboding.

Very well said Connie.


There are MANY better, safer, nicer ways of training a dog to stay out of trash, and leave cats along. Save the invisible fence for people too lazy to train the dog. I don't think Dannielle is one of those folks. I'm sure she's willing to invest the effort to do it properly. (See Lynn's post. She had great ideas. Trash can with a lid, and a long line on the dog)

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

Very well said Connie.


There are MANY better, safer, nicer ways of training a dog to stay out of trash, and leave cats along. Save the invisible fence for people too lazy to train the dog. I don't think Dannielle is one of those folks. I'm sure she's willing to invest the effort to do it properly. (See Lynn's post. She had great ideas. Trash can with a lid, and a long line on the dog)

I haven't been called lazy in a long time so I won't take too much offense.

#1....Trash can lid doesn't train the dog. What do you do when the dog figures out how to get it off or he knocks the can over to remove the lid when you're not home? I suppose you could close a door because we all know that stops dogs and is good training.

#2....I suppose you're against an ecollar then? It's one of my favorite tools to stop this type of behavor. I suggested the above because the OP is new and using an ecollar would be too complicated for her. Sounds like she needs help right now.

#3....Tag line is nice but it's the caveman version of the ecollar/efence. Sometimes newbies create new problems while trying to fix existing ones. Hopefully she wont create handler avoidance or game playing issues reaching for the tag line when it comes time to give corrections.

How is a stim less nice than a yank on a training collar? How is a physical yank safer?

Restricting a dogs' access to problem areas is not training, it is a futile effort to fix a problem. The dog needs to be trained, not blocked. Blocking can create bigger problems than what is already an issue.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

This gives me a not-quite-clear-but-still-strong feeling of foreboding.

Please explain. The message to the dog is very clear. Invisible perimeter fence finds dogs later in life not leaving the restricted area even though no collar is present. Is it less labor and time intensive? Yes. Does it work? Yes, but not 100% just like anything else.

Now, if someone wants to quip up about distraction/leave it training and recall then I'm sure the OP would find that info useful as well.

Maybe Kelly can expound on the above training instead of calling certain training tactics lazy. I'm all ears.

Seeing as this was Danielles's first post (no intro), I assume she knows nothing. Giving safe, simple to follow advice for an immediate problem that will very likely be successful can't be a bad thing. Giving vague advice like tag lines without telling her how to apply it is a disservice.

In addition...this site is full of questions exactly like the OP's. A little reading will enlighten her. Introducing a new dog to the home has been discussed ad nauseum. If the OP would have read Ed's article on this she would have seen how to introduce the dog to existing animal residents of the home. She did not. A person "willing to invest the effort to do it properly" likely would have researched a little first.