# Is this aggression or herding?



## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

18 month female we have had in our home for 2 days! Brought her back from Virginia as a "re-home". 

We love her greatly, a real sweet heart. Two walks and she no longer pulls the lead.

We also have cats, who are remaining in their bedroom, that is after we broght Rena home.

She knows the cats are in the room, and can see them through a small cat door. She will crouch and look at the cats, and whimper as if she wants to get in. There no barking or growing at the cats, just seems "please let me get to them".

Are we seeing agression? I get between her and the door and give a very sharpe NO, but she insist on returning.

I hope to see an improvement soon, and will welcome ANY and ALL suggestions!


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## Bruce Wilson (Oct 25, 2007)

I think she's just curious about the other occupants of the house. I'd leash her and introduce her to the cats. Who knows, she may have had a cat as her best friend in the past. 18 month old, no barking / growling... probably just wants to meet them.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Sounds like curiosity to me. How are the cats reacting?


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## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

A bit nervous; most likely from her excitement. One of three came into our bedroom, with our new dog asleep on the floor, climbed up on our bed just like normal. And was fine, until our dog was invited on our bed, and saw the cat.


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## scannergirl (Feb 17, 2008)

Even if it's purely playful the dog can severly injure the cats so please be careful.
I have a dog who's obsessed with my cat and she WILL hurt her- I don't think it's intentional but it really doesn't matter- dead is dead.


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## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

OH how right you are. They got nose to nose this morning, under a tight lead control. I hope things will smooth out, it has already tappered off.

Here is our new girl, Nina.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Sounds like curiosity to me too. Minnie loved to investigate cats until one put her in her place. Now she's scared of them, ha.


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## ripgretchen (Jul 29, 2008)

beautiful girl...


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## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

I was hopping for that, in a mild way, just enough to get the message through. Maybe as pack leader I have to do that!


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## Riley's Mom (Jun 7, 2007)

It sounds like curiosity to me, too. I'd be careful of a tight leash because that in my training/teaching can make for aggression whereby a loose leash will not. Now, obviously that has to be done w/care due to these special circumstances. But if you are tense when you do this, the dog's going to pick up on it and things will probably go badly for a meet'n'greet then. What if you put the dog in a crate and let the cats walk by/near the crate and see what happens? At least then a visual introduction is better than a door they can't see thru. Watch the reaction and take it from there.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I have a spare bedroom set up as the cat room, with a baby gate across it. Halo is obsessed with Emmy, and Emmy is very interested in her too. Halo will lay on the floor outside the gate and whine and whine and whine - I think she's saying "Emmy, please come out and play with me!"







Sometimes Emmy will lay on the other side of the gate and they'll just gaze at each other. It's a love connection, lol!







Sometimes Emmy will rub against the gate and Halo will stick her nose through and sniff her or lick or bite at her fur as if trying to groom her. Definitely no aggression involved, but Halo will chase the kitties if they run, and their room is their sanctuary, a safe place to eat and use the litter box without being pestered.

Until you're absolutely sure that Nina won't harm the cats I'd make sure to always supervise them and never leave them alone together. But rather than telling her "no!" for showing interest, how about rewarding her? Create a positive association with the sight and presence of the cats by feeding her small treats for being calm and not barking at them. I wanted cats to mean good stuff for the dog rather than cats = a correction. You can also give treats to the cats while the dog is around. You want everyone to eventually be relaxed and calm around each other, so that's a good place to start. 

With Cassidy, I started taking her into the cat room with me every evening. If she got too excited and jumped around, barking, or trying to lunge towards the cats, she got booted out of the room. I had a special cheese filled bone that she only got in the cat room. I'd sit on the floor with her and praise her while she enjoyed her special treat. She controlled how much time she got to spend with the kitties by her behavior. They have a cat tree so they could choose to come down and meet her or not, and had a safe place to retreat to. It took a lot of time and patience, but just having them in close proximity under mutually rewarding circumstances did the trick. 

I also taught her the "find it" command, which meant there was food on the floor. Later, after she was able to be around the cats while they were loose in the house rather than in the confined space of the cat room, she would sometimes charge them, and I could simply give the command and then toss a handful of tiny treats at her. That would get her attention, she'd stop and immediately start sniffing around for the treats. Funny thing, my cats learned the command too, and even now when I say it, they'll often come running, lol! Cassidy and Elvis used to end up on the floor together scarfing up those treats practically nose to nose, when mere seconds earlier he was prey. 

For dogs with very high prey drive it can take a long time, months and months of work. But if Nina is just interested and curious it shouldn't take that long for her to be fine with your cats as long as you spend a little time training her.


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## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

Our cats are in fact, in a spare bedroom, with a small cat door cut in the bottom. Nina (who we have renamed Bonnie) does not spend the time at the door as she first did. 

We have had the cats in her crate, with her on the outside. (we let her find them there when we come back from a walk) She will now just lay on the floor and look and whine. But it's getting better every day. We are trying to be consistant, firm, and hopping for the best!


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## Ryder&SophieSue (Nov 25, 2008)

i have two kittens, and one of them the dogs don't bother at all because she has put them in there place, but the other doesn't do anything and the dogs run, chase and if they can't get to her whimpper like crazy. If the cat takes off ryder (shepherd) will give chase but he doesn't do anything to them..If i catch him i tell him to leave it, even in mid run and he does....So Idk. Cause i have even held the cats and let the dogs check the cats out, but he still goes crazy.


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## Sammy J. (Sep 7, 2009)

Update: We are making progress. The cats are staying in their bedroom. So: Introduce again and again like in the pictures. Today we only called her down twice (barking or grabing crate) Pretty calm compared to last week!


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## sunfluer (May 12, 2009)

<span style='font-size: 11pt'>She has a look on her face like "let me at him". I think with patience you can get her to come around.</span>


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