Cats! Aggression or excitement?! Friends or food?!

[yksward]

So as most of you know Storm is in a temporary home whilst I sort things out at home.

I have 2 cats here, and when Storm is here he's very boisterous. I can't quite tell whether it's excitement or aggression but some of his actions involve being very still and quite submissive until... well until the cat moves! And as soon as it moves, Storm does the normal dog thing and chases. The cat will attempt to get to a higher level for security but Storm being a big boy can reach most places and he appears to jump around the cat and sometimes on the cat!

He doesn't bark or growl, he's just very active and as I said I can't make head or tail of whether he's aggressive or exited and what he is trying to achieve.

Is there a specific way to train a GSD to not necessarily get on with cats but to except that it's their territory as well.

Or do they eventually just learn to live with eachother and Storm wont see them as 'food'? (Or whatever he sees them as)

[Tedsmum]

When we introduced our pup to the household we had 4 cats!
After a while he started to chase the cats and he could also fit through the cat flap to persue them into the outdoors (hard to believe it now).
Anyway, we attached a house line to him for what turned out to be a few weeks and every time he went on the chase, I stepped on the line and stopped it.
It realy was just the persuit he loved, GSD's generally having a high prey drive, the chase is what excites them.
Once we did this for a few weeks he was fine and we could stop a chase with a command after that.
He continued to chase when he saw them in the garden but the same training applied outside did the trick too.
I would suggest that Storm is the same. The chase is good fun and the intention is not to harm or aggressive. My dog is great friends with the cats now and is surprisingly gentle with them. He does not chase any more and is corrected if he gets too boisterous.


Little Ted on his long house line..........

[zetstaff]

Food for my 2

[Moobli]

Awww look at baby Ted .... sooooo sweet!

I don't have cats but would suggest a house line and training Storm in the way Ted's Mum did. You can't really expect dogs and cats to just get along - Storm will need to be trained to know what is expected of him.

[zetstaff]

Originally Posted by Moobli

Awww look at baby Ted .... sooooo sweet!

I don't have cats but would suggest a house line and training Storm in the way Ted's Mum did. You can't really expect dogs and cats to just get along - Storm will need to be trained to know what is expected of him.

Our cats have accepted our puppies coz we let them get on with it, one serious belt from a big cat has been enough to put our dogs off forever

If you can ignore the yelpyscreaming that is

Wouldn't do the same with an adult SBT mind you

[Moobli]

Yes but that is cats and PUPPIES. Storm is an adult GSD - so I wouldn't expect the cat to be able to put him in his place as easily as they would a pup. Storm would be quite capable of killing a cat if he wished

[LOVEGSD]

I would be careful with and adult GSD and a cat, I would never leave them in a room together, always make sure the cat can get away.....my friends GSD killed her cat