Help! Nipping the cat!

[gordonlvr]

 

Hi Everyone,

My beautiful one year old BC Bree has been with us a few weeks now. She loves to herd my two cats that are declawed. Mac, (the male) just hisses at Bree, smacks her if she gets too close, and runs away from her. He doesn't like too much interaction with anyone or anything. My female Dixie however is the sweetest cat I've ever seen. She is 12 years old and loves people, especially me. She hates my male cat because he jumps on her. The problem is that my previous BC Trixi used to protect Dixie from Mac. She would guard her and dare him to come near her. If Dixie got attacked while Trixi was out of the room, the cat would scream bloody murder so Trixi would come and save her. Now that my sweet Trixi is gone and Bree has arrived, it's a totally different story. Bree follows her everywhere herding her (which is fine), but then she nips and bites at her. I'm really afraid she's going to hurt her and not mean to. Yesterday, I knew Bree was doing something in the kitchen, and she had her mouth around the cat's neck! Of course when she saw me she let go. How can I stop her from doing this? I love my cat too, and I don't want her to get hurt. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Michelle

[MrSnappy]

Bree follows her everywhere herding her (which is fine),

 

No it's not.

 

but then she nips and bites at her.

 

See? Not fine.

 

Scold her when she bothers the cats. It's not okay for one family member to endlessly harass the other. *Especially* if they are declawed. So tell her to knock it off. Border collies shouldn't be excused for bad behaviour just because they are border collies. The cats were there first, and they are also vulnerable, so if I were you I would make it clear to your dog that she is not allowed to follow the cats around and especially not bite them. And give her something else to do to occupy her so that she is not so obsessed with the cats maybe too.

 

RDM

[tualizzy]

Does your cat have a place to escape to where Bree can't follow?

 

Jak likes to follow and pester our cats as well. We don't allow this, but when we're not home (and he's not crated) we needed to give our cats a way of escaping. We have a babygate in the door of a bedroom (aka "the cat room"). Dogs are not allowed in this room and the cats happily leap over and stare back thru the gate. Know I know Jak could jump it if he wanted to, but so far he hasn't figured that out (none of our dogs have) & if he did so, I'm pretty sure he would get a face full of claws.

 

Lizzy & Brass love the cats (snuggle with them) so if Jak is up to his bratty tricks and a cat meows, Lizzy comes running and rams him out of the way.

[Guest WoobiesMom]

Remember too that you have a very smart dog there. It only took about 2 weeks for me to teach Woobie which cat it was okay to play with and which one to leave alone. My young cat Milo and Woobie play very rough and Woobie often scruffs him (mouth on the neck) but I have a gate up and Milo has a safe place to retreat to when he doesn't want to play and Milo has all his claws and uses them. My old cat Miss Jackie is the queen and not to be messed with for age and rank reasons. Everytime Woobie tried to mess with her I said, "Uh Uh! Not Miss Jackie, No No No!" and 2 weeks later he was just sniffing her. Occassionally, he will give a little chase but he gets scolded and she knows that the gate is always up and where to jump to safety on the stairs. I also never leave him out alone with the cats. I do know there's a risk with the way they play that Milo could get him in the eye one of these days, but they do enjoy each other and Woobie's gotten pretty good at dodging the head shots. Good luck!

[vickim]

I second RDM. Whisper and my cat have come to an understanding: the cat is boss. If the cat is lying stretched out in doorway, the dog will look at me and then the cat (and then me and then the cat) until I get the message that the cat is in the way. Whisper does not move the cat on her own, nor will she ask the cat to move. There has been occassion when the cat got some kind of wild hair across her butt and dashed up, whapped Whisper on her nose several times puffed herself up twice her size and waited for a response. All Whisper did was bark, snap at the air well above the cat and then look at me to protect her from the vile creature. I thought for a moment I was going to have a dead cat. After tellig her not to chase the cat (and all it took was a spoken "NO") she quickly learned that the cat was not a toy.

[Jack & Co.]

I am not a fan of declawing. I cut my cats' nails without problem and my furniture has never suffered.

 

My cats are 14 and 9 years old so no cat harassing is allowed. Jack has a very good "leave it" so that's how we nip any pestering in the bud. The cats reinforced the rules with claws and spitting and Jack finally realized that everybody really means, "LEAVE THE CATS ALONE!" Everyone gets along fine now; it was just a matter of making sure Jack knew his place in our "pack" dynamics.

[painted_ponies]

Bree follows her everywhere herding her (which is fine), but then she nips and bites at her. I'm really afraid she's going to hurt her and not mean to. Yesterday, I knew Bree was doing something in the kitchen, and she had her mouth around the cat's neck! Of course when she saw me she let go. How can I stop her from doing this? I love my cat too, and I don't want her to get hurt.

 

You're right to be concerned. Your cat could be seriously hurt or worse. Dogs, especially young ones, can get caught up in the chase and do tragic damage very quickly. You really must stop this now.

 

The innocent-looking little girl in my avatar was an awful cat-chaser. She still isn't trusted out of my sight with the cats, but can co-exist with them now (at nine months of age) if I'm within earshot. Here's what I tried and what worked:

 

I tried teaching "leave it" - you know how you give them a treat for leaving the tempting thing and coming to you? - and it worked with everything but cat-chasing. I reckon this means cat-chasing is better than treats.

 

I also tried coming down on her like a ton of bricks and scruff-shaking her. Oddly, this did not work after the first few times either. I guess she figured out I wasn't going to kill her and chasing cats was worth being shaken and shouted at.

 

Finally, I started just calmly (or as calmly as possible ) taking her by the collar and putting her in her crate for five minutes (this is the important part) every time she so much as made a move in the cat's direction. It took a night or two of doing nothing but letting Faith out of her crate and stuffing her right back in it, but she finally got the message.

 

Now, I can actually trust her to give the kitties a good morning or good night kiss - something Faith enjoys but the cats, not so much . So it's possible to relax the rules a little later, after she's shown she can be trusted, but for right now, my advice is to tell her she is to completely ignore the cats and enforce that rule consistently.

 

Good luck - and welcome to the boards.

[Shadows Mom]

We had the same problem with our mutt, we also went the crate route, but called her by her full name in a stern tone when she was bad. Now we just need that tone and the full name and she knows she in trouble. She will still chase stray cats sometimes, but the pet cats beat on her if she harasses them (they're had tendonectomies so they have claws but cannot use them... was needed after they destroyed a VERY expensive silk furniture set... which I will be paying my parents for for the rest of my life -.-). I have a very small blind cat that kicks the dogs butt.. cat = 5 lbs, dog = 75 lbs.

[smileyzookie]

100% Agree with RDM! Especially this..

Border collies shouldn't be excused for bad behaviour just because they are border collies. The cats were there first, and they are also vulnerable, so if I were you I would make it clear to your dog that she is not allowed to follow the cats around and especially not bite them

 

Does your dog know the "leave it" command? It would come in helpful here. Riven doesnt know leave it, however she does know "NO" means immediately stop what you are doing. Riven is not allowed to so much as stare at the cat unless the cat initiates play with her, or I give her permission to. They are smart dogs, it will not take long for the dog to know your terms and limits. It is NEVER ok for the dog to follow ("herd") your cat. One serious chomp and the poor kitty doesnt stand a chance. It also is not fair to the cat for it being harassed. I also second that idea of giving the cat space the dog cant get to. For us, Rohan has a few options. He has a bed on the dryer, he has one of those large cat trees, he sleeps on the computer table sometimes, or goes in the storage room on top of a clothes rack. Riven doesnt even go into the storage room. She doesnt push doors open, so the door is open a crack and Rohan gets in there. Of course if I go she follows, but then leaves when I do.

 

Good luck, I hope you do stop her from messing with your kitty.

 

ETA: Someone may be able to help me here but, I believe a lot of times BC herding (in home) is actually prey drive. Your dog isnt herding those cats. Its prey drive.

[Beth G]

I agree.

Our Pepper is NOT good with cats. She has a VERY strong prey drive and she has actually gotten ahold of a few ferals that came into the yard too!

 

Though she didn't do any damage, and was scolded severely, I would never chance having a cat around her. But I'm allergic to them anyhow so I don't have to worry about that....

[Allie Oop]

We have 2 BCs and 1 cat. Cat is Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Dogs are not allowed to approach the Cat, unless invited and any infraction is punished by banishment to another room.

 

I agree that "leave it" is a very important thing for the dog to learn. We recently added Rusty (a 2 yr. old rescue) to our family and he was very interested in our cat (who is 9). From the beginning he was scolded if he approached the cat and she hissed or appeared disturbed. We've had Rusty about 6 weeks now and things are going fine. Spike (the cat) is now doing great with Rusty (she had about the same adjustment phase with Allie) and everybody is happy. I still monitor all contact, however.

 

The bottom line is, the dogs can kill the cat, so the cat needs to be protected. Teach the dog to leave the cat alone. Everyone will be a lot happier.

 

ETA: Forgot to add: Bree is gorgeous!

[gordonlvr]

Thank you everyone for the great advice! Bree is doing much, much better about leaving Dixie alone. She does know what "NO!" means, and it is working well. Dixie has a bed on the dryer, and that's where she sleeps. That has always been her space for the past 9 years. She eats on the washer and sleeps in the clothes basket on the dryer. She easily gets away from Bree even though she's not biting her now. She's still herding some, but not biting. Things are improving though. We've learned a few new tricks this weekend, and obedience school begins July 11th. The new thing is now she is scared to go out because of firecrackers. This too will pass, I'm sure.