Springer mad after cat's

Timmyhealy

Hi, I have a springer spaniel and he is mad after cat's, is there anything I can do to stop him?? He is 18 month's old and very intelligent, apart from the cat's he is very good. I don't hunt with him but spend much of my time outside with him as he comes to work with me and he is always hunting, but never goes far from me. There are 2 cat's at work and while he knows they are there he will not chase them unless they actually cross paths and any time I catch him chasing them I give out to him, I don't hit him as he knows well when he has been bold, but any other cat he will chase like a mad thing. He is otherwise very odebient and a brilliant dog.
Thanks.

peasant

Timmyhealy wrote:

Hi, I have a springer spaniel and he is mad after cat's, is there anything I can do to stop him??

Yes, it's called a lead!

Keep him on it, watch him and whenever he shows the first signs of chasing after a cat tell him "NO!".

That and a good few months/years of patience might sort it.

Timmyhealy

Yes, I know what a lead is, and so does he, when out for a walk on the lead if he see's a cat, he can't run after it, he knows he shouldn't, and he knows that he can't, so he doesn't, I trained him like you described when he was younger. He is intelligent and very well trained, except he is obsessed with cat's.
In the garden he will sit there, for ages, waiting for a cat to appear along the wall, and in the house he will sit looking out the window, for ages, watching the street, looking for a cat walking down the street. And when he see's one he get's really excited, run's around the place, but, if we were out for a walk on the lead and he saw one he would also react, but just enough to let you know he had seen it. It's only in about the last 4 month's he has started to be really obsessed with them, since 14 month's old. The cat's do occassionally come along and sit on the neighbour's shed's looking into the garden at him and if I see them there I shoo them off or bring him inside so as not to have them taunting him and making him worse. With the cat's at work, he know's there there, and he know's to leave them alone, and he does, unless he comes across one face to face, ie he does not go looking for those two because I trained him not to. All other's though, if he could get them he would. How to I train him not to be obsessed with them?????????

FranknFurter

"Reward the dog for calm behavior in the presence of the cat. Your goal is to keep the dog calm. You do not want to let the dog get excited and then punish. You want to establish a strong habit of calmness, so calmness is what you practice. Use a focused attention eye contact exercise to get the dog’s attention on you and off the cat. Reward this response, over and over and over. Eventually the dog will automatically turn to look at you instead of at the cat."

Taken from THIS

Hope it helps some,....

B

SuzyS1972

My 6 year old fox terrier x is EXACTLY the same - I can't believe this - I tried all sorts of methods and nothing deters her.

Spraying her with water - rewarding her you name it - she doesn't even see me / hear me when she sees a cat - she screams her head off in a high pitched whine and will not come back to me - in my garden of course - she's exercised on a long rope as she cannot be trusted not to chase and disappear.

I'm afraid despite my best efforts she is still the same.
Perhaps some dogs just have a higher prey drive than others.
My other 2 dogs have been gradually introduced to cats and are fine now .

franksm

it's going to be an uphill struggle though - cat's aren't going to help :rolleyes:

my own cat sits on the shed at the back here, watching the dog in the garden behind. Worse still, he'll walk along the garden wall while the dog bounds up and tries to get him, while always staying out of reach. Then he'll walk back again - the dog goes nuts. Funny though