To correct or not to correct

[elsasmom]

My husband's older cat (Jonah) has never been kind to my dog Elsa and I keep his nails trimmed short to prevent injury to her. Elsa has already been treated for an abscess from an unprovoked attack by this cranky old cat :mad: and avoids him for the most part.
In March, I adopted a young stray cat (approximately 1 1/2 years old) and my dog Elsa has become great friends and attempted playmates with him(Louie). They are very gentle with each other and sometimes sleep quite close together. She's beginning to trust him after the initial fear of being scratched by a cat.
I saw her chasing him across the yard one day and corrected her. However, on observing them, I found that Louie jumps out from behind things to get her attention and runs. I watched and saw them go a distance and then Louie stops and Elsa stops and they just sit there. Apparently, my little cat wants to play with her and initiates this game of chase.
My question is this: Do I allow Elsa to play chase games with Louie? I have no fear of either of them getting hurt by the other. The exercise and companionship could be good as she's an only dog and the old cat doesn't like Louie either. My concern is that she'll think chasing ALL cats is okay and try this with friends' cats when we go visiting.
So, dog trainers out there, can I get some opinions on this, please.:confused:

[BetterDog4U]

I dont see a problem with the game as long as YOU monitor and control the players at all times. If it gets out f control it could get REAL ugly. I do the same with two or more dogs. If one starts to get to rough, I stop play until they calm down.

[clser2thehrt]

My take is this.....the dog will have to learn WHICH cats are ok to chase. I have a similar situation going with my dog and my brother's cats. The younger cat is trying to decide whether or not she wants to play with Sophie and the older cat wants NOTHING to do with her. Sophie will have to learn that consent to play with one cat does not mean both. I think that if you let nature take it's course and keep a close eye on things, the dog will be smart enough to know the difference.

[Jr_K9_Expert]

I actually see where your concern is coming from. However, because of the intial negative association with cats I believe that Elsa will be wary first and if she senses the all clear she will then play. Its good that they both just sit there after the chase and no one gets hurt, I'm thinking you can be sure that Elsa wont hurt another cat but the reverse isn't going to be true...another cat may think it's running for their life and may attack Elsa.

I would suggest, that on a leash, you see what her reaction is to strange cats. Then see what her reaction is to cats running away from her. The leash will give you plenty of control and will give you insight on possibilities outside your household.

Hehehe all in all I would think that you should be more worried about your cat...I think he has identy crisis, thinking that he is a dog.LOL.JK.

[elsasmom]

Jr_K9_expert: Thanks for the insight. Elsa has chased after running cats before and had to be recalled. The Corgi part of her wants to chase anything that will run.(squirrel, rabbit, or cat) I had to keep her at heel yesterday when walking off leash at my friend's farm. The cattle were of great interest to her and when one turned and ran, I had to really work at keeping her at heel, grabbing her by the collar at one point and getting her to look at me and not the fleeing cow.

I probably have to work more with her on controlling the chasing instinct and channeling her drive to what I want. She helps me bring the ducks and chickens in at night and we had to work on that quite a bit to curb her enthusiasm. She had to learn to listen to me and take direction when to wait and when to move forward. She's getting pretty good at that now. I think some more work on a long leash to perfect that recall when her herding instinct kicks in is in order.

Luckily, she's never tried to herd people or nip at anything she's chasing. A bunny got caught in a woven wire fence and she came crying to me to help it.:p

[Jr_K9_Expert]

Yes the recall will help you keep in control and I feel for you because Junior is a high prey drive dog too. I've been thinking about it a lot and I believe one of the best methods you can use is counterconditioning such as the command "Watch Me",but I guess you could even use the recall in the counterconditioning training :D

[JessicaR]

my siamese plays the same way with my shelties, who in return love to herd the cats :D

[ann_hawes]

I have one dog that has very high prey drive. I can see a distinct difference in her level of alertness and her body language between prey mode and play mode. When she is playing she has a long but loose stride. When she is in "red-alert" mode, her muscles are tense and she goes full bore. I've actually gotten this girl to tolerate a guinea pig, but even though I trust her not to put her teeth on the little critter, she's NOT 100% trustworthy with it. My granddaughter had it out in the yard in a clear plastic ball that it can run around in this past weekend. Libby came running up and very PLAYFULLY swatted the ball so hard that it hit the wood privacy fence and bounced several feet into the air, then bounced again when it finally landed in the grass. She's a sly girl, that one.

[elsasmom]

I'm thinking Elsa is less prey drive than herding drive. Like JessicaR said about her dogs, Elsa loves to herd and wanted all 3 of the cats to walk together when she first came here. She found my missing 2 week old duckling in the woods on her own and herded it back home to my husband. Last month, I caught her trying to bring "Bambi" home. She was gentling herding a spotted fawn toward the yard. I called her back and the fawn ran back to the woods. She was so gentle with both animals, just kept behind them and moving toward home.

I'm thinking at this point that I'll let her play chase with Louie as they seem to have the game worked out so nobody will get hurt. I think Jr_K9 is right that she'll be cautious with other cats given her bad experience with Jonah's claws early on.

When we walk with my friend in the fields with cows, I'll probably carry a long leash so we can work on her recall with a safety line. She once saved me from a herd of mama beef protecting babies, so now she wants to jump in again when it's not needed.

Thanks for all the responses and ideas. This forum is awesome and so are all of you.

[ajithantony]

As long as they play well, they should be encouraged. Because, if a dog and a cat doesn't go well with each other, they show symptoms of hatred from the very beginning. For example : I can bet that the first cat never attempted to play with Elsa. Neither did Elsa attempted to play with the first one. While Louis case was different. Elsa liked him from the start and unless there is any problem with him in the future, everything's gonna work out fine.

And regarding other cats: I told you, creatures have their own way for hooking up with each other. If a cat is potentially harmful for Elsa, she can sense it before an attack- or at least after one attack.

God bless you and Elsa!
-Ajith.

[elsasmom]

I'm glad to report that Elsa June and Louie are becoming fast friends. She gives him a big sloppy kiss when they run into each other and he rubs up against her legs. It's very sweet.
And somehow old cranky Jonah the cat is mellowing from seeing the dog and cat combo so happy together. I got some nice pics of the 2 of them laying near each other in the yard last week.

[ajithantony]

I'm glad to report that Elsa June and Louie are becoming fast friends. She gives him a big sloppy kiss when they run into each other and he rubs up against her legs. It's very sweet.
And somehow old cranky Jonah the cat is mellowing from seeing the dog and cat combo so happy together. I got some nice pics of the 2 of them laying near each other in the yard last week.

Congrats!
I am eager to see them!
-Ajith.

[6dogmom]

Sounds fine to me. In my opinion if you were to correct the behavior you could acually create a negative association toward the cat. This may create negative behaviors instead of positive. Keep it the way it is, I think it's good.