hi, i just have some questions, hopefully i'm posting this in the right place. i posted a hello in the member bio section, but briefly - i got luc, 3.5 yo GSD 7 weeks ago. he's my first dog and he was in a shelter for 2.5-3 years, so he's got some adjusting to do.

only in the past few days has he started to show serious signs of wanting to play. apparently not getting playing is normal for shelter dogs. mostly after our walks (i take him out for 2-3 hours/day of walks/runs), when we get inside. he's usually really pleased/happy after we come back, and that's started to change to 'let's play!'.

initially, i would just lower down my arms then hop towards him and eventually get him and tickle him. he'll hop away, tail wagging, and then we do it again.

i do also have four cats though - luc was taken out of the shelter by a rescue and fostered in a home w/small animals, which i made sure of b/c i wanted to know how he'd be around them.

some of the cats are vulnerable - my oldest is 16 yo, is a tripod and has no teeth. that said, he's alpha cat and luc NEVER bothers him. i have another cat with IBD and hyperthyroid, though she's pretty aggressive, but luc is at least 10X her size, so i don't want to rely on that. the cat i've been most concerned about is actually a cat i took from my friend - her esophagus was punctured by my friend's dog, and it just wasn't safe. that dog doesn't limit itself to cats.

esme, the cat with the punctured esophagus, has come around from terror to be the most comfortable with luc. initially, luc was nervous around all the cats, and they - especially esme - figured this out. she would stand at the top of the stairs if he was on the landing and he'd be stuck there, b/c he wouldn't go past her. not anymore! luc has decided he likes esme, and esme seems to like him - she spent a lot of time flirting with him, anyways (she seemed to think that was more fun than trapping him on the landing).

my concern is that luc won't understand polite playing. he started with whining and wagging his tail when esme would come by, and they now sniff noses and he smells her bum. he also will jump down with his front feet forward (i want to play!) and spring up towards her, though never on her and there's always decent space between them. she's pretty good at ignoring him, or leaving if he annoys her, but i'm not sure if i need to watch for signs that he's getting too rough or seeing her as prey rather than as a fellow member of the household, and if those signs would all be as obvious as i think they would be.

i have been inviting luc up onto my bed, though i did not at first. he will not come up with an invite, but i am planning to stop allowing him and instead will put a dog bed at the foot of my bed. the cats spend a lot of time on the bed, though luc will not get up if they're in his way and will sit elsewhere when they are in 'his' spot.

i also feed luc last, to try and stress that the cats (and other small animals) are higher up in the pack than he is.

it's only this weekend that i've gotten luc to play with any of his toys, including his tug rope (i was so excited, he pulled at it, chewed it, he was so normal!)

another post i saw got me wondering if the way i'm playing with him (jumping on him and tickling him) might be setting him up to play roughly or have poor indoors manners.

or am i being overly anal? i know i'm inexperienced, and i want to do things right, and really help luc come out of his shell while developing him into a well-mannered, well-behaved dog. i think his basic personality is that of a very nice dog, but i know if i don't control him that isn't what he'll necessarily be.

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i got luc, 3.5 yo GSD 7 weeks ago. he's my first dog and he was in a shelter for 2.5-3 years, so he's got some adjusting to do.

He's spent nearly his whole life in a shelter? That makes me want to cry. You are an angel, Jennifer, and congrats on your new family member! From your post it sounds as if you have a nice dog.

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my concern is that luc won't understand polite playing. he started with whining and wagging his tail when esme would come by, and they now sniff noses and he smells her bum. he also will jump down with his front feet forward (i want to play!) and spring up towards her, though never on her and there's always decent space between them. she's pretty good at ignoring him, or leaving if he annoys her, but i'm not sure if i need to watch for signs that he's getting too rough or seeing her as prey rather than as a fellow member of the household, and if those signs would all be as obvious as i think they would be.

Since you and Luc are new to each other I would supervise all interaction between cats and dog until you know him better. "Playful" can turn into "aggressive" in the blink of an eye and, given his size, it would only take that second before you have an injured (or worse) cat. A drag leash on Luc would allow you to have more control over him and the situation if it suddenly turned ugly.

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i also feed luc last, to try and stress that the cats (and other small animals) are higher up in the pack than he is.

I've always done this with my 3 cats and 1 dog, and for the very reason you've stated. I believe it's helpful.

thanks sarah. he's a nice, handsome, smart guy if i do say so myself, so i don't understand how it happened that he was there for so long.

i actually think i'm so lucky, i'm really proud of all the progress he's made gaining confidence and i enjoy having him with me so much. he's a great companion.

mostly he wants to play with her when i'm with him and esme comes down to check out what's happening - she is very very nosy - but it's true, i started taking his collar off indoors, as even loose it was still leaving a mark on his ruff, but if something were to happen the only thing i can do now is grab him rather than his collar or a leash. i'll change that.

from what i've seen of his personality, he wouldn't hurt her on purpose, but i could see him getting over excited, also, what's rough to a dog his size will be very different than what's rough to a cat. it's more accidents that i'm worried about right now. he only does it with esme, b/c she's the only cat that tries to socially engage him, but that could also change.

and you're right - 7 weeks with me, i haven't seen his full personality.

i would hate to have something happen to esme - i took her out of concerns she would end up dead where she was (any dog that bites and punctures an esophagus - i mean, i am not an expert in the field, but i don't think it was meant as a warning bite; that dog has also sent a few people to the hospital - while his biting is predictable it's not always controlled, obviously).

My neighbor's Aussie plays with their cat and it makes me cringe. Seriously, this dog literally jumps on the cat and does a sort of mock throat grab. It's not aggressive but it is very excited play and it is way too rough, IMO. So I think you are very wise and very responsible to anticipate a problem/accident before it occurs.

Esme sounds like a great girl...I wish my cats would warm up to my dog. True tries SO hard to make friends, even getting down on the floor to their level, but the cats will have none of it. After nearly a year of cohabitation they are still disgusted by the dog. Felines are so bitchy

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My neighbor's Aussie plays with their cat and it makes me cringe. Seriously, this dog literally jumps on the cat and does a sort of mock throat grab. It's not aggressive but it is very excited play and it is way too rough, IMO. So I think you are very wise and very responsible to anticipate a problem/accident before it occurs.

ughhh....yeah. that is scary. that's what i want to make sure luc DOESN'T play like. when esme's esophagus was punctured, it was b/c the dog she lived with was food aggressive (the dog's triggers are fairly predictable - his owner also can't, or won't, take food from him. he's also bitten 4X, 3 to the hospital, when people step over, or (apparently) on him, though stories of stepping over (b/c the dog was blocking the way and wouldn't move) have changed over time to 'i stepped on him').

she is great! she was originally a barn cat who had to come inside to use the litter box, so my friend took her, and post-attack, i took her. i'm technically fostering her on a semi-permanent basis right now, but really, she's come home with me. she's not going anywhere. i'm pretty impressed w/her as well, her fear when luc first came home with us was really sad to watch - terror beyond what i've ever seen in an animal, and i used to work w/feral cats - but she's moved past that.

Hi Jennifer,

I have raised my 2 y.o. GSD to live quite peacefully with my cats. My cats are mostly stray rescues -- they are pretty confident standing their ground and don't turn and run from very much. This is good as it makes them seem less like prey to my dog.

My advice would be to work toward peaceful co-habitation. My dog was initially introduced for some time (over months) to the cats while she was crated; after that I used the "leave it" command for any interaction more than a look and quick sniff.

The cats have a dog-free room they can access with a cat door and the cats are never allowed in the dog's crate.

Ed has a great article on the subject that I will link to.
Leerburg Article re: Cats

Katie

I agree with Katie.

My cat is dog proof. He does not run from a dog, even if it runs toward him barking.

However, I usually have large breed, young, foster dogs who try to play, and I train them that the cat is to be ignored. Even if the dog is friendly to the cat and tries to play. A dog, specially a large one, can inadvertently hurt the cat when it is only trying to play.

When your GSD play bows to the cat, tell her "NO", get her attention with the leash and redirect to a fun toy. She should learn to co-exist with the cats but not pay any attention to them. She doesn't need a harsh correction here, just let her gently know that the cat is not a playmate. I don't think she necessarily has to avoid the cat. You could allow her to sniff, just not play. And she should never be allowed near an eating cat. That is THEIR space and food.

Hope this helps.

thanks, i read the e-book, and i definitely didn't do that. he hasn't chased, and he hasn't been at all aggressive towards them, which is good. i think, at 7 weeks having had luc though, i might be lucky in that the cats and dog might be smarter than me on that they segregated themselves, and there didn't start to be any interaction between luc and esme (the only cat he does interact with, the rest aren't interested and hiss/growl at him if he comes to close, and he'll back off) until a few weeks ago. previous to that, luc stayed in the kitchen and bathroom and the cats had the rest of the apartment. he mostly seemed to defer to them - he would get out of their way, not go where they were, etc.

i think he's getting that they're part of the pack, and i think i'm sending good signals about relative positions, but i have to tighten that up, definitely by not allowing playing. i will continue to allow sniffing but limit it to that.

i feed the cats far away from where luc eats. and i think allowing (ha!) the cats on furniture but not him will also further help this.

i do also have two rabbits and 3 guinea pigs, but he doesn't interact w/them. the rabbits are free-range w/in an enclosed area in my place, but they never come out unsupervised and while he's seen them (he was a bit nervous of my male rabbit, who is astonishingly aggressive) i don't let him near them. no-one is allowed to play with the guinea pigs (during a g.p. grooming session once esme came by and tried to see if one of their heads would fit in her mouth)

My dogs have always played with my cats, sometimes you think they were going to swallow them. I think most cats will tell a dog when they've had enough and in my cats case if they didn't like it they wouldn't be hanging off the table swatting the dogs for attention. Usually all the playing ends with one of the cats grooming the dogs face. My dogs will go to one of my cats and lay their head down next to them to be groomed. Of course all of my cats were bottle raised orphans and raised by my dogs.