Quote: cindy easton rhodes

Use the ecollar, it doesn't matter if your dog is from working lines or not.

Prey drive is prey drive and the dog needs to understand the cats are not to be bothered. Staring is another form of prey drive, it's just the beginning of the stalking behavior.

use the collar as outlined on the video, it's merely an invisible leash. however you would use the leash and collar in this case, just substitute the remote.

I can walk my 8 month old VERY prey driven Malinois through our flock of guinea hens and around our 4 outside cats because one session with the collar made it clear that those animals were to be ignored. You do not have to use high level stimulation to accomplish this either,I used a very low level on my dog.

I have an interesting twist on this problem right now. About a month ago I took in an older (maybe 8-10 yrs old) female chow mix as a foster dog - she was pulled from one of the local rescues. She is a really nice dog and submissive with people and gets along well with my dog, but she has huge prey drive and wants to kill my cats. I am keeping them safe in one half of the house and with her in the other half of the house, but what this has done is set up the inbetween dividing door as a point of considerable interest to her. Basically she fusses at this door all the time - sniffing at it, laying by it, listening to it, occasionally scratching at it, and just being a general nuisance at this door.

So, in what way would I use the collar? Do I need to teach her "leave it" first? (she's mostly untrained, though well-behaved as long as there's no cats around) Do I need to do the 2 weeks of collar conditioning first before I train her with it? Or do I put it on her outside and figure out what a low level stim is for her, and then crank it up a bit and give her the negative repercussion the next time she focuses on the door? I should also add that she has generally figured out that I won't let her go through the door into that half of the house, so when I go through, she'll stand and watch but won't try to dart through. She also can usually be redirected away from the door with treats, but that's only for a second until she gets the treat and then she goes back to it. My current solution has just been to walk her a lot, figuring that if she's got energy to fuss at the door, she hasn't been walked enough.

Hopefully she'll find a good home w/o cats sometime soon, but in the meantime there must be a way to use the collar quickly and effectively (and humanely, since she's an older girl and really quite nice if you're not a feline, bird, rodent, etc) to make life a bit easier around here.

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PS. If I could, I'd set up a double door "no man's land" situation to take the pressure off the single door so she couldn't smell and hear them so easily. Unfortunately, my house is small and I haven't yet figured out a geometry that'll work.

The ecollar worked well for my dog in leaving both the cats and the chickens alone. He goes out of his way to stay out of their path. And that's a good thing because my cats are jerks and like to try to provoke the dog. Wish I could put the ecollar on the cats, that would fix them!

I cannot tell you how many times I've wished for a kitty e-collar.

What's funny is that the only dog in my house that has LOW drives and is a soft dog, our Saint Bernard, is the only one who really focuses and chases one of our two cats around the house. Not our Lab who goes hunting, or our GSD who has high prey drive. I try not to let her get focused on the cat, by stomping my feet, clapping my hands, or standing up and saying firmly "NO". She usually listens pretty well. But then there are times where I let her get away with it for a bit, because the cat asks for it... comes in the room knowing the saint is there and I know she's saying, "hahaha you can't catch me you big moose!" I seriously think that the cat purposely tortures the dog, knowing that the dog will get into trouble for doing it. LOL

Cats are pure evil, I'm convinced.

Now that I have a dog, and understand what an animal companion is, I will never have another cat.

We have 2 cats. My GSD pretty much ignores one, but is entranced by the other. He knows not to mess with her but only stops when the ecollar goes on. He constantly herds this cat and is always focused on her. He has become collar smart which is a bummer.

Given that issue, I bought a contact pad for my dogtra so he can have the thing on all day in comfort while he's with the cats.

 Quote: Howard Knauf

Given that issue, I bought a contact pad for my dogtra so he can have the thing on all day in comfort while he's with the cats.

What's a contact pad?

Thanks!
leih

I found this link in an old thread...

http://www.gundogsupply.com/do24copad.html

And if I shouldn't do this please let me know.

 Quote: Mariellena Simon

And if I shouldn't do this please let me know.

It's fine with me...thanks

Interesting product.

leih

re: contact pad -

Wow - that thing looks cool. How do you like it Howard? If anyone else has experience with those, please let me know what you think. It looks like a good idea

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In the meantime, I've figured out a way to make a secondary boundary around the door to where the cats are, so the foster dog is a lot more calm now. Problem solved! - though she still *hates* cats