# Charging at cat



## Duke122465 (Nov 14, 2013)

My duke is 8 months old, I also have a tea cup Pomeranian and a cat. Being a puppy of course he tries to play with them but him being 70+ lbs and them no more than 10lbs doesn't quite mesh. With supervision he is nice just really playful. His crate is in the living room where we spend most of our time but over the last few months anytime my cat comes anywhere near his crate duke charges at him threw the crate, he barks doesn't growl or show his teeth. So I'm not sure if it's his prey drive or he is just trying to play? Or perhaps because the crate is his territory and he is being territorial..... Any thoughts about this problem or advice to help me break this? He is my first GSD and puppy, I have had full grown dogs that I have adopted but never crated so this is all pretty new to me.


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

Yes, Duke is showing prey drive and to be fair, the cat isn't blameless - cats love to tease and your kitty has found a perfect way to do that by waltzing by the crate and getting Duke all worked up. If you crate Duke when you are not home, then I suggest you put him in room and close the door so the cat can't tease him. When you are home, instead of the crate - put Duke on his leash - keep it tied to you and that way you can correct him when he lunges at the cat and also redirect him by giving him a favorite toy to mouth. So when he goes after the cat - say "Mine" real sharp - then give him his toy and say real nicely "Your's" and praise him for taking the toy and mouthing it.


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## MrsFergione (Jul 7, 2013)

I have this problem as well. I feel like the cat is going to be eaten at some point. To be fair, it IS my cat's fault. Rina would completely ignore him if he would just sit still or lay around. But instead, the cat sits on the other side of the baby gate as close as he can get and makes crazy noises and hissing, instead of just walking away. So of course, if the gate falls down the cat ends up in the dogs mouth. I think she is playing, but 50lbs of playing on a 9lb cat isn't going to end well at some point. What's weird is my other dogs are 17 & 19lbs, the cat has never had a problem with them or vice versa, but when Rina goes after his, the other dogs join in which they've never done before.


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## BellaLuna (Jan 27, 2013)

Yes my two cats love to tease my dogs when my dogs do chase them , I grab their collar and tell them No, after a few days they stopped.

And if they do get the itch to chase the cats all I have to do is clear my throat and the freeze right on the spot 

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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I thought my female GSD would never leave the cats alone, but as she got older it completely stopped. She was between a year and a year and a half.


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I don't allow the dogs act this way towards my cats while they are in the crates. In my case, I have two very dog friendly cats who just like to be near them when possible. Any type of growling or charging is corrected. I've only had this issue with two fosters.


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## Duke122465 (Nov 14, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your replies, I didn't even think about my cat teasing him.... With how he acts sometimes it wouldn't surprise me now that I think about it. But I will take everyone's suggestions and give it a try! Wish me luck thank you


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

While the cat may be instigating this... I wouldn't care.

I don't allow my dogs to be crate aggressive or over react to anyone/anything. Dog, cat, human. Same with my car. That kind of crazy only gets worse and our dogs can actually start getting MORE aggressive and break teeth on their crates/destroy cars.

So just pay attention and tell him to KNOCK IT OFF the millisec he starts. If you let the barking/charging go on, he's already cranking up and you've lost the training until the next time.

If you have bothered to clicker train this is an easy to train behavior. Just click/treat every time he looks at the cat calmly. Obviously starting with the cat further away. Treats/calm = chicken is something all our dogs understand pretty fast.

How is he when the cat is out?


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## Duke122465 (Nov 14, 2013)

He tries to play with the cat which Is fine with my cat for all about 2 minutes lol then he gets aggravated. And he chases him to play but no aggressive behavior like in his crate. Every time he charges him from inside the crate I tell him no! And he is never alone with our other pets unless my husband or I are there to supervise. I also try to deter him from chasing my cat, I can tell when he is about to go after him so I pick up a toy or distract him some how but I don't always catch it 


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## Sym (Aug 20, 2012)

this is an important issue and there could be a lot of answers i love working with dogs like this.. even though its always a work in progress .. If I have a puppy that is lunging out of confidence, play and prey drive that means all I need to do is redirect that drive. 
But you as a handler/trainer/owner must learn to read body language and catch all the signs of interest before it turns into an action. 
In essence what you are doing is correcting the THOUGHT as apposed to the decision to do whatever fun and exciting thing that that a pup conjure up. In correcting that the flip side of that is if you focus on me you get to play with a toy, tug, treat or anything that is the bees knees that you and your pup can share. 
If you already have some obedience under your belt and you are using a ball or toy drive as incentive then all you need to do is correct the bad thought and activate the magic object. what you come up with is a dog that will look to you every time he sees a distraction and if done right consistently his behavior responses will be better around the cats and things like that than it would be in a dead environment. 
tip.. do some eye to eye focus training. basically pup gets a treat every time he locks eyes with you when you call his name. fun stuff.
hope this helps..


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## Harry and Lola (Oct 26, 2013)

LOL I finally had enough of my 2 1/2 male GSD going after our cat, through training he is well aware that he is not allowed to do this, but with the cat, he will push his boundaries with me until the other night!!!!

I walked outside and saw my poor cat hunched over, hissing and my male GSD over him, I grabbed my GSD by the neck (where his mum would of), and growled loudly for about 10 seconds right in his face, showed my teeth, told him to leave it, then put him on lead and made him sit on a mat for the rest of the night.

He has not gone near the cat ever since and I believe he knows he overstepped the boundary with me, I don't expect him to ever do this again as he got quite a shock at my behaviour with him.


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## MyHans-someBoy (Feb 23, 2013)

Harry and Lola said:


> LOL I finally had enough of my 2 1/2 male GSD going after our cat, through training he is well aware that he is not allowed to do this, but with the cat, he will push his boundaries with me until the other night!!!!
> 
> I walked outside and saw my poor cat hunched over, hissing and my male GSD over him, I grabbed my GSD by the neck (where his mum would of), and growled loudly for about 10 seconds right in his face, showed my teeth, told him to leave it, then put him on lead and made him sit on a mat for the rest of the night.
> 
> He has not gone near the cat ever since and I believe he knows he overstepped the boundary with me, I don't expect him to ever do this again as he got quite a shock at my behaviour with him.


Could you please come to my house next and have this same talk with Hans?? 


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## Harry and Lola (Oct 26, 2013)

MyHans-someBoy said:


> Could you please come to my house next and have this same talk with Hans??


LOL gladly


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## Duke122465 (Nov 14, 2013)

Lol I might try that! However I have always been told if your dog bites you to bite them right back.... Or maybe that was a joke because... Yeah I tried that and just got a mouthful of hair and he wanted to play more, he only does light mouthing. I have tried to growl at him on several occasions and he just looks at me like "what do you think you are doing?" Maybe I need to find my "inner dog" ha ha


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