Cats and my dog

[undeterred]

My 2 year old aussie seems quite interested in cats, and not in a good way. Until tonight he's never met one face to face but when we see a cat on our walks he gets quite excited and often barks at it. Of course the cats don't come any closer.

Tonight my dog was lying out in the front yard, attached to a 15ft cable. Suddenly I heard a lot of barking. I went outside and found Ollie wrapped around a tall evergreen barking at something - and then I saw that it was a cat. Beautiful long haired cat that I've never seen before. Cat was hissing at my barking dog. It was cornered.

I pulled my dog away and sat on the steps with him for a minute. I assumed that the cat would take off now that it was safe. But it climbed way up in the evergreen - maybe about 9 feet up.

I went inside after that, deciding just to get my dog out of there. I don't know exactly what happened during the confrontation- it surprised me that the cat even allowed itself to be cornered since he must have seen my dog lying out. I assume he was able to get down from the evergreen.

Any suggestions on getting my dog not to see cats as prey? I'm allergic, so I won't be getting one.

[livetohike]

1. I wish I had some good advice, but my ACD Murphy sees

everything as prey, or at least something to herd! Murphy and Cindy haven't encountered very many cats in their 7.5 years of life, but the few encounters they had ended up with the cat escaping (thankfully).

[undeterred]

2. I've heard that the herding instinct is really based

on a strong prey instinct. But I never know what to expect when he sees an animal for the first time. On the one occasion he saw a horse up close he made play bows in front of it! When he was confronted with a female deer he barked at her and chased her over a fence.

I'm thinking it was an indoor (declawed) cat who got out accidentally or it probably would have scratched him.

[Warpy]

3. A dog will react against anything entering his territory

and that's not just cats, it's also dogs, birds, bugs, leaves, and clouds. He doesn't think of his territory as being marked by the end of his leash, either. I'm afraid you can't do much to discourage his territorial protection, it's part of his dog nature.

As for the kitty, it might be a cat that's used to dogs or it might be a naive indoor kitty who escaped the house. You can be assured that it got down that tree. While they might want to sit up in trees and meow, looking helpless and pathetic, the fact that all trees are not festooned with cat skeletons means they all figure it out when they get hungry.

Taking the dog inside when he treed a cat was the right thing to do. Just expect him to do it again from time to time. You really can't teach a dog to stop being a dog, nor should you try.

[undeterred]

4. Thanks Warpy

[MadMaddie]

5. We work really hard with recall with our Maddie

(Rhodesian Rigdgeback mix)Her prey drive is crazy....so last week I caught her hopping around a bush in the back yard. Side to side she was going around the bush....I sharply called her, she obeyed and came to me. I made her sit as I went to investigate.....lo and behold she had cornered a field mouse. Well we went into the house and let the mouse find his way home.

She doesn't like cats or other dogs so she likes to give the stink eye, we are on top of her so we nip it in the bud. She knows that it is wrong...she just likes to push the line to see what she can get away with...way too smart for her own good.

[happyslug]

6. I had a Australian Shepherd about 30 years ago., My Brother just bought himself another one.

My Brother's is only six months old, but my sister had a Australian Shepherd mixed with something till about two years ago, when she died of old age. All three were good dogs, including the puppy.

As to my father's Australian Shepherd, he was a good dog, he just "loved" cats. One of the few times I was walking with him off lead he saw a group of cats and then proceeded to sneak up on it, he wanted at least oe of those cats and nothing was going to stop him. He used all available cover to hide his movement, but my yelling at the dog to come back to me, caused the cats to realized something was up and to scatter just as he pounced. He hated cats and nothing we did could stop him from going after one if he could.

The reason, we believe, was as a puppy he had approached a cat and that cat had scratched at his eyes. He never forgot that and every time he had a chance he tried to get a cat. Never succeeded, but he kept on trying. He had a long memory. For years I would walk him by a house where a Husky once jumped him. He would always look up at that house and the steps to its front door. He was always prepared to get the first bite in the next time he was attacked by that Husky. He was also quite smart. I was walking him at night in the Smokies on Vacation once and he started to act in a matter that can only be said, he wanted me and him to turn around, but if we continued he was going to get the first bite in. I then heard a banging of a trash can and realized a bear was in the area. I turned around and he was a lot happier.

Good old Tigger, he was good dog. He got his name from his habit as a puppy to jump/bounce. He loved to jump. Once, when I was visiting relatives I had to put him in their garage. From a standing spot, he would jump up the distance of two steps and 3/4 of a door to look into the little window in the door to the garage and bark. He wanted in with the rest of his family. His loyalty to the family was outstanding. Once I went snow sledding with him and my sisters. I then took him on a trip on a trail. I took him off lead about a 1/3 of a mile away from where I left my sister so we could walk on the trail. He deserted me and ran to my sisters, he was going to stay with the larger number of his family. I went after him, and we all had a laugh where he ended up at.

One thing I did learn from that dog was NEVER call a dog Tigger. Once he got away from me to chase some cats. At that point I yelled "Come back here Tigger". Now I was at my Mother and her block is a flat block on her street. The next block in a steep hill climb. On the top of that Climb was a African American. He turned around and from his posture I realized he had NOT heard the word "Tigger" but a similarly sounding name that begins with N. At that point I started to Emphasis the T, including saying "Come back here TIG" instead of Tigger. I also said TIGger. The African American posture slowly changed as he realized I was calling the DOG not him. I hate to say it, Tigger was a great name for a dog that liked to "bounce" as Tigger did, but it is a name I will NEVER use again.

But, I was NEVER able to get that dog NOT to chase Cats, he wanted revenge.

Now, I later had a Border Collie who the Squirrels in my backyard loved. They would swing their tales so he would see them even when he was in the house. Once he spotted them he wanted out and ran to the place on the fence the squirrel was sitting. The dog would then start to bark at the squirrel, sending any cat hiding in the tree far away. That is want the squirrel wanted and he was perfectly happy with the dog barking at him, for it meant any cat was far away and the Dogs could NOT climb the fence or the tree. The dogs never stopped barking at the squirrels, but they accepted the fact they would never get one (Through the dogs were happy in anticipating once when one of the neighborhood squirrels "lost" his footing on the neighbors garage, which over-hanged into my yard. They saw he was in trouble and then just stood they waiting for him to fall. I would like to say it was the thrill of seeing him fall, but looking in their faces it was the expected joy of tearing the squirrel to pieces once he landed. The squirrel had a hard time with his footing but he did regain it and ran away over the Gar gage roof away from my dogs, who were disappointed.

I mention this for sometime what is happening is posturing between the animals. Most animals quickly learn their own limitations and limitations of the animals around them. Dogs are bigger then cats, but do NOT climb trees for example. Dogs on a lead have a limitation as to how far they can go. Dogs off lead do not. Other animals quickly learn this and use it to their advantage, like the squirrel in my yard, using the dogs to chase away the cats. Somehow that cat decide to go by that dog for some reason. It could be he had done it before and KNEW that the dog could NOT get him. The cat may have become concentrated on a mouse (or other small game) and the dog "jumped" him when the Cat was NOT expecting it. Something was up. Lets see if it happens again.

One last Comment, my Father was a Letter Carrier for Decades. He was bitten by dogs every so often, but the one time he mentioned he blamed himself not the dog. My father had walked by that dog many a time when the dog was unchained with NO problems. The problem is that once a dog is chained the dogs view of the world is different. Once Chained the Dog no longer has the option of escaping from any attacker, thus to defend himself the dog does what dog do when cornered, they attack. Thus the dog bite my father as he walked by the dog, and the reason the dog bite is that he was chained (i.e. in the eyes of the dog, the dog was cornered by my Father). My father said he should have known better, so he blamed himself not the dog. I bring this up for you mentioned the dog being chained. That may be a bigger factor then the cat. My Father preferred fencing for it gives the dog the whole yard to maneuver in AND without the possibility of being caught up in the chain. Just a comment that the problem may be the chain not the cat.