We have a situation that, while controlled right now, can quickly deteriorate this fall. Last week, we adopted from a shelter a beautiful female 13-month-old 55-lb. smooth collie/australian shepherd mix. This dog is a fawn/tan/white merled color with the smooth collie coat texture. She is gorgeous and has striking blue eyes - it almost makes me want to start a new breed - called Australian Smooth Collie or some such. Just kidding about that - but this dog, with the combination of her great looks and personality, so far, make us very motivated to make what could be an impossible situation work. So, please, when you read this -- if your answer truly is to just give up, let us know that, but please help us, if its at all possible, to make this work.

We currently have a 13-yr. old 33-lb.male purebred Beagle, an 8-yr. old 10-lb. female purebred Miniature Dachshund and two domestic short hair kitties - male and female - the male is 7 yrs old and the female is almost 2. Everybody is altered, of course. They all get along superbly, we have a very happy home with no inter-animal-people struggles or issues. The cats never go outside.

The dogs have had no obedience training whatsoever, and so far this has not been any kind of an issue due mainly to their small size and the lucky accident of their easy-going temperaments (our doxie is not a snappish one). The female cat and our doxie play together, play what looks like hide and seek, sleep together, etc. Our beagle simply ignores the cats and has never gone after either of them. If they don't realize he is on the couch and they accidentally jump on him, he makes a quick annoyed growl and they jump off and that's the end of it. They drink out of the same water bowl together, often at the same time. So, these cats do not fear dogs. I don't think it has occurred to the dogs to chase the cats or view them as snacks.
As you can see, we allow our dogs on the furniture. The doxie accepted her crate very easily and sleeps there - the beagle has severe separation anxiety and we were never able to get him to accept a crate and so he sleeps beside our bed on a dog cushion.

Enter Blue (the Aussie Collie) who we got as a companion/protection dog for our daughter who will be in an apartment for the first time at college. (She's in a dorm now.) We wanted a large-ish dog who would be easy to train and yet look intimidating to strangers while she is jogging, walking around campus, etc. We got Blue now, rather than right before she moves into the apartment in August, so that Blue would be well-bonded to her and hopefully trained. We got Blue knowing that obedience training would be mandatory due to her large size and what we need her to do for our daughter. Also, our daughter, exactly five feet tall, must be able to control her dog, who may even get a little bigger, our vet tells us. Our daughter used to do pet therapy at a local hospital with a friend's dog and specifically wanted either of these breeds and to train this dog to be as well trained as her pet therapy dog was. But this truly makes Blue a one-of-a-kind perfect dog for us.

At the shelter, our first question was, "Does she get along with cats?" Supposedly, the original owners were called and we were told Blue had cats in her original home and that she got along with them. (The shelter had written down on her info sheet that Blue had been surrendered because her family was selling its house and buying a recreational vehicle and touring the country and that she was too big for the RV.) We did not actually hear the phone call, however. But I can't imagine why the shelter personnel would misrepresent this - it's not as if Blue was going to be a difficult dog to adopt. She spent less than two days in the shelter and by the time she had been spayed and we picked her up there was a list of three other families who had said they would adopt her immediately.

We got her home and I did allow Blue to be loose in the house, jump on couches, etc. just to see what would happen, I suppose, since keeping our dogs leashed or crated had not been necessary. Quickly it became obvious that Blue must be crated or on the leash while in the house until we get her to training and so that is now the case. She accepted the crate very easily - it think she must have had a crate before. She has had only one accident in four days, so she is fairly housetrained. All in all, it was going very well. Our doxie is at times terrified and literally shivering and then at times running with Blue out in the yard (we are watching them constantly out in the yard) and the Beagle seems to barely be aware Blue is there. We do not yet (and possibly will never) leave the doxie alone with Blue - but so far - no fights at all. Only one growl over food (that I dropped in the kitchen while fixing dinner - Blue was of course attached to me and our beagle and she went after the same piece of dropped food) but that encounter ended within two seconds.

The cats have been closed off in a separate room since right before we brought Blue home. Last night, since all was going so well, we let the cats out. Blue was leashed to me (I now realize she should have been in the crate). We had high hopes since supposedly Blue is used to living with cats. Our female cat refused to come out of the room, but the male came downstairs. Blue caught sight of him and in a flash was across the living room as far as the leash would let her go, she almost knocked me over and our cat was up on top of the kitchen cabinets, dishes flying everywhere as he scrambled up. This happened quicker than I have ever seen our cat move. Had Blue not been on the leash, I truly think we would not have our male cat with us today. Then, Blue continued to be agitated and look up at the cat and back at me and lick her chops! It is very, very obvious to me that this dog absolutely views our cat as prey and we are so sad. We would never have brought her home, our first question was with regard to her ability to live with cats.

Obviously, the cats are back in their room (it took our male cat three hours to come down from the cabinets once we put Blue outside). Blue today continues in the crate or on the leash. I have placed a call to the shelter to inquire about why/how we were told Blue was used to living with cats. I am investigating electronic collars as I feel this is probably our only chance of getting this wonderful dog to accept our cats.

Here are our questions: Is there any point to doing any training with collars, etc., to get Blue to accept our cats if, come August, she will be living in another town in an apartment with no cats and only coming to visit us every two or three weeks or so? Will the electronic collar training be strong enough to help her remember? And will she teach our dogs to view the cats as food? Will they see her chase them (even though the collar will hopefully stop this quickly) - but will they somehow be influenced to start viewing the cats as prey?

I apologize for the long length of this, but didn't know what parts of our pets' size/personality/environment would be most relevant so included as much info as I could. Thanks so much to anyone who can advise us --

First of all, I have no experience in the dog/cat problem. But I thought it was worth saying that I think if the dog is out of the house in a few months, it may just be easier to keep them separated until the dog moves out.

That being said, I'm sure plenty of good advice will come your way from the members on this board, and you can give it a try. I've had dogs/cats that didn't get along, and they just had to be separated. We never tried to train the dogs out of it, I was only 7 and my parents are...well...lazy pet owners.

Yes, thanks very much for answering -- our goal is, if at all possible, to have all animals happily and safely getting along so that when our daughter visits Blue will just come in with her and the cats can be out, etc. The cats often sleep with our daughter and it will make her very sad if this has to end when she comes home. We realize it just may not be possible with Blue, but we are trying to discover any way to accomplish it, through the electronic collar, etc. But we may have to always have the cats in a separate room and Blue in a crate if they are out when our daughter comes to visit, but we are really trying not to have this happen. Any ideas welcome and thanks to all --

In my experience of taking in fosters, a dog that acts like yours isn't cat safe and I have never heard of a way to make them safe. You either need to keep the cats strictly contained until your daughter takes her or return the dog. If there is any question of your daughter taking her, I would recommend you return her quickly so she can be adopted to another non-cat family. Be aware that dogs like this will kill the cats given the opportunity and will continue to look for a way to get them. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Sorry.

The shelter only went part of the way when you asked if the dog was cat safe by asking the previous owner about it. They should have actually tested the dog to see first hand if she was or not. Next time ask them to do this and then bring all your animals in to meet the new dog to make sure they will all get along before you bring her home so you are never put in the position of having a dog you love and then having to return it.

Hello - thanks for answering. In your fostering work, have you ever heard of the electronic collars working with regard to aggression toward cats? Is it more that no-one has really tried it or more that it has been tried and has not worked. Thanks very much --

I have never tried an e-collar for this, but have tried pinch collars. I personally doubt you would ever get you dog to be able to safely live with cats even with e-collar training. This is such a basic instinct in some dogs and I have never heard of them being able to totally change it. You might be able to contol the behavior while you are right there, but you can't stop the urge.

For example, one of my dogs is a greyhound and is not small dog safe. When I first got him he would turn into Cujo at the sight of them. I worked hard on this and set him up many times for a correction to try and fix him. He is now at the point where he knows this is not acceptable. I can take him to dog shows and out in public and be around small dogs and he will behave, but I can see that he would still love to kill them and the only reason he doesn't is because I'm standing there. He is well behaved on leash in controlled circumstances, but would kill a small dog in a heart beat if he was left alone with one.

With Blue in her crate we let the cats out again last night. Littlecat (our female) again refused to come out and Tomcat (our male) (I know these are strange names but they exactly fit our cats - Littlecat is tiny daintiness and Tomcat is 13-lb ball of fierceness) (at least until he met Blue which is why he and Blue will never meet again -- we don't want anything teaching Tomcat he is not the king of all he surveys)(cuz he's so proud and cute)and Blue and Tomcat locked eyes with each other, with Tomcat's eyes dilating hugely. Blue was at full alert inside her crate, licking her chops again and then being very, very still and locking eyes with Tomcat. After 30 minutes of this we put the cats back in their room. It was exactly what we had been told should not happen.

We had a Canine Counselor over to the house yesterday and we let the cats out again and she assessed Blue both in the crate and on the leash with the cats. She told us this eye-lock thing is very, very indicative of a dog who is stalking prey and that combined with the lunge Blue makes towards the cats while on the leash there is very little hope of eliminating this prey drive within Blue even with an ecollar.

She echoed what you said re your greyhound and small dogs (I showed her your post) and said in her opinion the most we could hope for is that while I was actually in the room with Blue and actively watching (not cooking dinner or cleaning, etc.) and while Blue had her collar on maybe the cats would be safe. But that even this could not be achieved for months and months.

All it would take is one time of forgetting or even one time of me being in the laundry room, etc.

So, am today looking at rescue groups in my daughter's college town -- possibly we can pay to have Blue stay, sort of in a foster home situation where we would pay the foster family to keep and pay for them to maybe even show our daughter how to train Blue and then our daughter could visit Blue and take her for runs, etc., until August when she moves into her apartment. Hopefully, this family could then board Blue during Christmas vacations, etc., we would pay (alot, is my understanding!) but then our daughter could have this great dog - who is perfect in every way except this.

Thanks so much for your help. You provided a very accurate assessment which has helped us not make a stupid mistake and possibly lose our cats -- thanks again -- Virginia

Good luck on finding an alternative situation for your dog.

I agree that retraining her to be around cats is going to be long and difficult. It would be better to keep her crated when around the cats since she probably would hurt them if unsupervised around them.
The e-collar is one option for dealing with it, but probably not for your situation since you are not familiar with the use of e-collars for training. Some dogs get more frustrated or aggressive unless a experienced remote collar trainer with advanced preciseness is using it. It should also be paired with other methods and not be the only solution to the problem.

Here's Ed's ebook with in depth solution: http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/introducingdogs-cats.pdf

Alison Voore

I have a 2 y/o Border Collie who was very nippy with cats when I got him. He wanted to run at them and snap at them and as soon as he saw them he'd lock his eyes on them. I used a prong collar to correct him and redirect his attention. It took a pretty hard correction, but I needed to get to get the point across. We would walk past the cats, I'd call him, he'd ignore, I'd correct. I didn't say anything when I corrected, but I praised/treated when he would came (which was after he was corrected) It only took a few times for him to get the picture.

He is still quite interested in cats, but responds right away to a "leave it" command.

Remember, you now have a high energy, intelligent dog. There is nothing wrong with crating her when you can't supervise/work with her. Just give her lots of exercise/training/supervision when you have her out of the crate. I think I'd go nuts if I didn't have crates for my dogs!