electric collar - cruel or neccessary??

Jotter

ok where to start!!

dog plays too rough with cat, cat wont scratch bec hes friendly to a fault, just gives little miows. dog pins cat to ground, nips at him,chases him and barks.

this only happens outdoors. I received advice here before that worked which was to give him cold shoulder when he get at cat, if he does it indoors he gets put outside and cat stays in. this worked well, now the odd time hell attempt it if he thinks were not looking but mostly he leaves cat alone.

outdoors however its a different story. husband is running own business and im running after a baby so were not outside that often. if hes caught hes given out to and or ignored and cat comes indoors. trouble is the cat will go back out catflap sooner or later and dog is there waiting. We ambush dog when we can, but usually he cops its us and just waits till were gone :mad:

the cat is a glutton for punishment and makes life harder by always trying to make friends with him. theyre not always at each other but the cat is suffering, we had him at vet to rule out medical probs bec hes losing hair, prob from overgrooming one spot, has lost weight, is always caked in mud and generally looks neglected, literally.

hes a lovely cat from a rescue and hes old so id like his last years to be as stress free as possible.

someone suggested an electric collar but it sounds cruel, are they, has anyone used them and do they work?

any other suggestions welcome as its getting to the point that if we cant sort it one of them has to go, its not fair on my poor aul cat and we really dont want it to come to that.

advice here in the past has been great and its always worked so fingers crossed!

Alfasudcrazy

I assume you want to use the electric collar on the dog as I think they are a bit too strong for cats generally.

We have a similar problem with our dogs except in my case the dogs are trying to be friendly to the cats but they are having none of it and hiss and growl anytime the dogs comes near them - or run away when they see the dogs - which of course is great 'fun' for the dogs so they chase them.

We have the wire fence around the perimeter of the property and the cats now know the dogs always stay about 5 feet back from the wire so they have their own zone to relax in.

Depending on the size of your property I think you should lay the wire in such a way that the cat has its own space which excludes the dog. Try to lay the wire to include the door that has the cat flap so the cat can come and go without interference from the dog.

The electric collar works well for me - my main worry was them going out on the road. In my view it is not cruel as after the first shock or two the dogs learn quick that it can't go there. As said though I think they are not so suitable for cats.

Jotter

sorry ment to say the collar is for the dog! we are in the process of doing up garden and have built a dog run, the cat goes in there when it gets to much as the dog hasnt been in it yet. the cat will come out though when dog has calmed and will go up to him and it starts over again. I think the dog doesnt understand that the cat is a cat, he plays with him the way hed play with another dog but hes too big and too rough.

I think i will try the collar, often ill hear something but ill be upstairs putting baby to bed or something so i wont be able to get down to stop it but im hoping with a collar i can press a button and give a shock, that way he wont know its me and will associate it with being bold to cat (ive no doubt that he knows hes nto ment to do this as hes sneaky about it)

is that how the collars work? where do i get them? sorry for all questions, the only place i came across electric colars was san fran where dogs have to wear them as theyre not allowed bark after 10pm in residential areas :rolleyes:

peasant

No, no, no, no ...

don't do that! It'll make things worse, not better.

Any correction has to come from you and be associated with you. That's the only way the dog will learn that "them's the rules" and that the cat is taboo.

If you hit him with a shock unseen he will connect the pain with the cat and that will more than like turn him agressive than turn him off ...sooner or later he's going to hit back at (what he thinks is) the source of the pain ...end of cat.

Futhermore, if you just "press the button" because you "hear something" without actually knowing exactly what's going on ...you will punish him at the wrong moment ...he will end up associating pain with running, sitting, licking his paw or whatever it is he was doing when you weren't looking and you''ll end up with one VERY confused and distraught dog.

The only way to create peace between the two is for you to enforce it.
That means the cat and the dog can only be together when you are there to supervise them and step in when things get out of hand.

If you are busy doing other things, you have to make sure that they are separated. You have the dog run already, use it.
Maybe put the cat flap in a different place, so the cat can get in and out at a spot that the dog can't reach or that can be fenced off easily ?

It will be a long drawn out process, but it will work if you keep at it.

One of our dogs, when he arrived here, the first thing he tried to do was kill our cats. Through separation, correction and patience he can now be trusted around them (3 years later!). But it has to be said that the cats were clever enough to stay out of his way.

Jotter

peasant wrote:

If you hit him with a shock unseen he will connect the pain with the cat and that will more than like turn him agressive than turn him off ...sooner or later he's going to hit back at (what he thinks is) the source of the pain ...end of cat.

Futhermore, if you just "press the button" because you "hear something" without actually knowing exactly what's going on ...you will punish him at the wrong moment ...he will end up associating pain with running, sitting, licking his paw or whatever it is he was doing when you weren't looking and you''ll end up with one VERY confused and distraught dog.

.

Yeah it did occur to me that he might think the cat was the source of the pain and turn but wasnt sure if this was correct thinking.
Generally I can tell at this stage when the dog is at the cat by listening, usually I get to window on time to see whats going on and bang on it which distracts him for a min but I dont have time to get downstairs and out the door to actually catch him at it properly!

All the advice I have gotten from you has worked so ill stick at it and implement the dog run, its not completely finished which is why dog hasnt been in it. I just wish I could sit the cat down and explain to him that he needs to avoid the dog sometimes! its terrible bec the cat will lie beside dog and lick him when hes asleep and then the dog wakes and trounces all over him :rolleyes:
Our other cat avoids him except when we're in room or lately the dog has a cone on him bec hes been neutered and this other cat knows fine well he cant touch him so hes teasing the dog no end! they get on ok though bec they both act like cat and dog, this other cat just doesnt seem to understand that hes a cat, bit of an identity crisis going on!

unfortunately i cant put flap in any other place other than where it is, ill keep the cat in though as much as possible (hell be delighted!) and hopefully if some decent weather comes around ill be able to stay out back more to give out when neccessary!

thanks guys

corkimp

Are you looking at the remote control shock collar or the collars that issue a shock when the dog goes close to the cable?

Jotter

i wasnt looking at any of them, a visitor to the house asked what was wrong with the ca tbec he looks in bits, i told him about the dog playing too rough and he suggested the collar.
Were not going to use it though, i walked in earlier to find cat and dog lying on the same bed,theyre pretty much ok in house so we just need to implement same rules outside, it will just mean a bit of juggling timewise - and a bit of good weather wouldnt go astray!:rolleyes:

macshadow

I had the same problem with a young stray cat i took in but cat has learned if it runs the dogs chase so now she walks very slowly past them and stops dead if they run at her. They say any correction must come within 1.5 seconds to be successful and understood by the dog,not the easiest if outdoors.

BeauZak

Have a read then decide. Its a good document lots of facts and stats. Most animal related organisations would like to see these banned. I personally feel they will be banned soon, the UK are well on the way to a ban and then we will follow.

http://www.advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/electricshockcollars.pdf