Chases The Cat

[Mr-Remington]

My sister has a 5 month old kitten, and Remi loves to stalk and chase her. He has never bitten her, but he mouths at her. She will play for a while then get rough with her, like pens her down on the floor. My sister thinks their 'fighting' but Remi just wants to play. The hardest thing to deal with is that the kitten will come up to him and smack him, or walk very slowly by him when he is laying down. And she will not let him play with his toys. But as soon as Remi wants to play she freask out and hisses and doesn't want him around her. But no matter who starts its always Remi's fault. My sister said If I don't teach "my stupid mutt some manners" I can't bring him to her house anymore, and I stay at her house alot. I've tried teaching him "leave it" with kitten but he doesn't listen. Is there anything I can try to teach him to ignore the cat even if she starts the 'Fight.'

 

[Anneke]

It sounds like they are just playing. The kitten seems to be playfighting. Cats are nasty, in the way of making it seem that the other one has started the "fight". I know, I have a cat and have had cats all my life.
Young cats and young dogs mostly get along when they are together a lot. And I think this kitten is just saying: Hey you're in my house and you have to live by my rules

Trouble is, most catpeople don't see this. They think the dog is always the one that causes the problem.
So if your sister wants Remi to behave, that is fine, but she should teach the cat not to provoke Remi Walking by him slowly IS provoking, hitting him IS provoking, it's an invitation to play.
It will be hard, but I guess you can teach Remi to "leave it". But it will take time, because this "object" is teasing him

 

[tigerlily46514]

LOVED THIS LINE:

//"So if your sister wants Remi to behave, that is fine, but she should teach the cat not to provoke Remi "//

Yeah, i think Anneke is right,

(cats CAN be trained btw, but no one even tries.......but i had a "trick cat" once.)
and i think Anneke is right----->it's asking TOO much of a dog to resist a cat who IS teasing him!
I think Anneke is right, too, that if this pup and cat hang around often, and regularly, they will probably find their own way with each other.

now, if the cat was NOT teasing Remi, there are things one can do to help Remi learn to leave cat alone, but,
so long as cat IS asking for Remi to chase him, what can we say?






MAYYYYYYYYYYBE, if you filmed the cat and dog behaviors,
maybe, your sister could observe how her own cat IS asking for it??

 

[tigerlily46514]

also, just wanted to clarify,
what exactly is the problem? (besides your sister is upset, i mean)
Occasional bouts of noise and that's it?


Is either animal getting hurt?



//"But as soon as Remi wants to play she freask out and hisses and doesn't want him around her"//

I betcha that Remi will learn how to listen to the cat. I bet that Remi can and will learn that cat's signals, "yes, yes chase me!"
and
"no, not now!"

and so forth, i bet Remi will learn to read that cat juuuust FINE....

 

[Mr-Remington]

For now I'm rewarding Remi if he is calm or ignores the cat. And if they play to roughly then we separate them for a few minutes. So they can calm down, and than we let them play again. The only thing that worries her is Remi hurting her cat. Which I understand but her cat has hit Remi in the face a few times, claws out and everything. And he will walk away. So should I just let them handle it themselves, if it gets rough?

 

[tigerlily46514]

OHhhhhh,
so there ARE injuries.....oh.

It sounds like your current plan is good so far.
but
i think BOTH animals have to be trained to ignore each other,
and YES, one CAN clicker train a cat, in same exact way you clicker train a dog. I used tiny bits of tuna for my old cat, he knew about a dozen tricks, and learned to stay off my kitchen counters.

You can train sister to clicker train her cat, rewarding calm behaviors around the dog, too. It's going to take BOTH animals being trained, imo.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//"The only thing that worries her is Remi hurting her cat."//

IS Remi hurting her cat,
or sister just thinks Remi is hurting her cat?

cuz lots of times,
if only the dog is getting hurt,
the cat itself trains the dog to leave her be.
but, if dog IS also actually hurting the cat,
yeah, you have to intervene there, cuz of impending size difference coming on, as Remi grows.

 

[Anneke]

In my experience, they mostly can handle it.
In all my life with having cats and dogs(and some cats that didn't grow up with dogs and one rescue dog that was supposed to not like cats) they did handle it themselves. The only time we ever intervened was with our Boomer(the rescue) and Tijger(my grandma's cat, who came to stay with us, whenever my grandma was in the hospital) Then sometimes it would get too rough for our liking. After a while they would just ignore eachother, but would sit side by side to get a treat.
With Jinx and Balou(my 17 year old cat who grew up with dogs, so he thinks he is a dog) it can get pretty rough sometimes. But Balou knows exactly how to handle it. More than once I have found nailshells stuck in Jinx her muzzle.

I remember when Cooper was younger, he used to play with Balou(he doesn't anymore). And one day my mom was over for a visit. Cooper and Balou were playing and Cooper had his mouth over Balou's head. I mean, he actually had his head in his mouth My mom freaked. He's eating the cat, she yelled! And the next moment, Cooper is on his back, the cat standing over him... My mom was stunned. Cooper is a BIG dog, Balou is just an average sized cat. But he knows where to bite, if Cooper or Jinx gets too rough. The soft spot on the nosebridge, right behind the nose
But when I do step in, they both get told off.
I swear cats know when a dog is not allowed to do anything. They will challenge the dog and laugh when the dogs gets it, because he reacted.

 

[Mr-Remington]

No the cat has never been hurt. The kitten is being raised around three dogs, and she got her at I believe 6 weeks. She's never been around other cats. So she like your cat Anneke, She believes shes a dog. She plays with all of the dogs, begs for food, comes when called, and loves to play with dog toys. It just happens to be that Remi doesn't realize his size when playing her, or when to stop. But he doesn't understand that with the cat or any of dogs he has played with. Which I find weird. he doesn't care of any other animal has had enough, he just goes and goes until we intervene. Is that normal or a problem?

 

[Anneke]

Hahaha, it's quite normal I think. I have one that doesn't know when to stop...(jinx) So I work on that with her. She has a good recall when playing with dogs/cat. So that's how I break it up, before it gets out of hand.
So maybe you could work on that with Remi. I did a LOT of recall training while playing with dogs in her first year.

 

[Mr-Remington]

Recall is Remi's hardest thing to learn, He will come when he feels like it most of the time. But if I carry treats around all day in my pocket, then he is my best friend. Its constant practice with him.

 

[Anneke]

I know... You should have seen the things I'd have to do to be more interesting than the other dog Jumping, high pitch yelling, waving around toys, getting the smelliest treats....
Running away with her favorite toy did it for Jinx, as soon as she caught up with me a game of tug and then a treat ofcourse, she will never forget I have treats

 

[Dogster]

Oh yeah it's the cat's fault.
I had the most obnoxious, self-centered cat ever, who provoked Shivon all the time.
Face it. Cats rule the household. Cats are sneaky little creatures.

You can try teaching "leave it" but I doubt it will work (tried it) Let's just say that cats have a way of getting what they want

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

Cats are very devious...they will antagonize dogs to the point of a melt down and then scurry off quickly so the dog looks like the agressor, then sit back and watch the dog get in trouble!!

 

[Evie]

Currently dealing with a similar problem... Only it's me wanting Evie to stop obsessing over the little fluffy creature with claws not my family. Evie, my partner and I are currently house sitting for my parents who have a kitten... Everyone here is well aware that the kitten provokes Evie and that the kitten actually seems to enjoy Evie's intense attention, but as far as I'm concerned it's an obsessive compulsive behaviour from Evie's side and I also have no idea how to fix it. I can't even click and treat Evie for sitting calmly around it because Evie zones out and stops accepting treats. Sigh.

On the other side, seriously contemplating buying Evie a kitten to keep her occupied 24/7

 

[Evie]

Oh yeah it's the cat's fault.
I had the most obnoxious, self-centered cat ever, who provoked Shivon all the time.
Face it. Cats rule the household. Cats are sneaky little creatures.

You can try teaching "leave it" but I doubt it will work (tried it) Let's just say that cats have a way of getting what they want

My sister clicker trained Molly (the monster kitten) to sit and shake paws. I convinced her that if she started from the moment they got Molly that it shouldn't be too hard and it appears I was right. Obviously slower than a dog because cats are evil and do as they please (they dont "do to please you" like dogs do). It's not that I don't like cats..... it's just that we all have to accept the fact that cats do as they please (rule the house) and that they're all evil

Good luck training leave it though lol

 

[Evie]

No the cat has never been hurt. The kitten is being raised around three dogs, and she got her at I believe 6 weeks. She's never been around other cats. So she like your cat Anneke, She believes shes a dog. She plays with all of the dogs, begs for food, comes when called, and loves to play with dog toys. It just happens to be that Remi doesn't realize his size when playing her, or when to stop. But he doesn't understand that with the cat or any of dogs he has played with. Which I find weird. he doesn't care of any other animal has had enough, he just goes and goes until we intervene. Is that normal or a problem?

Evie doesn't know when to stop either. My brother's awesome husky is teaching her though. They play wonderfully for the first few HOURS, but then husky wants a break and Evie doesnt stop. Soooooo husky will pin Evie to the ground and very viciously growl and bark in her face (Would probably be quite scary for me if i didn't know the husky) to tell Evie enough is enough. It's really funny, because after that Evie calms down and is a bit scared Skye (husky) will go running over to her and lick her all over the face as if to say "it's not that I don't love you, it's just that you keep pushing your luck"

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

My boys do the same thing with my brother's dog!!!

 

[southerngirl]

Have you tried explaining to your sister that the cat is starting it. If the cat did not like it she would let Remi no. My cat Sophie does not like other animals. If Chase bothers her she hisses at him and smack him. The kitten would be hissing at Remi if he didn't like it.

 

[Evie]

Have you tried explaining to your sister that the cat is starting it. If the cat did not like it she would let Remi no. My cat Sophie does not like other animals. If Chase bothers her she hisses at him and smack him. The kitten would be hissing at Remi if he didn't like it.

So true, I forgot to mention that my brother has a cat which Evie wont go near because said cat HATES her, and my parents have *sigh* two OTHER cats which once again, Evie wont go near because they hiss and swat her over the nose with her claws. The cat really does have to be part of the game or said game wouldnt exist. Cats have sharp claws and once a dog knows that they tend to give the cats a little more respect, but this isn't the case when the kitten is playing (wihtout them sharp claws..)