Hi guys

We have now adopted Gypsy who is a 14 month (approx) old collie cross german shep. She is lovely, very affectionate if not a bit highly strung! Our 10 year old Lab loves her and they get on really well.

The only problem is she is obsessed with chasing our 3 cats - to the point where one has moved out!!

We have a stairgate at the top of the staris now to offer some sanctury to the cats but have had to replace the cat flap 4 times in 4 weeks as Gypsy will ran after them and hit the cat flap with her head as they run out!

They will sniff each other through ther bars of the stairgate when we encourage it and Gypsy will wimper but has at least stopped barking at them!

She doesnt want to hurt them - i think she just wants to play with them (she runs at other dogs when out)

We really need to get ontop of this now as today I found one of the remaining cats has started to go to the toilet in our bedroom as he is scared to go downstairs!

HELP PLEASE!!!!!!

I think I would put a litter tray upstairs as a start. Would it bother you if you had an upstairs only cat?
The collie has so much energy and innate sheperding genes I can only imagine how much joy it is for her to go fetch/chase the cats.
I wonder if it is her lively nature that has supported the need to rehome her?

i have two cats and two sheps that dont get on at all, so the cats have two rooms during the day with lots of toys and litter boxes, and at night the dogs are in with us and the cats they have the run of the house, one of my sheps hates cats and no way can i let him near them , in a morning they go back into there rooms of there own accord and we find that works very well the dogs now know they are not allowed in those two rooms,.

Thanks - i was thinking of putting a litter tray upstairs but felt it was giving in!
The people who last had her told the kennels she had lived with cats before but i am not too sure!
I feel really bad as we have had the cats for 8 and 7 years and they are now being pushed out of their living areas!
They got on ok with Charlie our Lab who in the end was grooming one of the cats!
I would really like to try and get them to all get on (ish) if we can.
xx

i have 2 dogs and 2 cats and i find my gsd dog is obsessed with my cats....he is actually stalking them
They have all upstair the cats and he sits downstair guarding the stairs incase they want to go to toilet lol
Or when they with us on their tree he sits and watches them until he falls asleep.
And when they try to walk out the room he runs after them....but i find if u have the leave command trained well that helps a bit. as mine makes a abrupt stopp when i shout leave lol but sometimes i just have to grab hold of him as he gets so excited.
Also u should never allow the dog chasing them and try to stop it however u can as this will develope into a fun game for the dog and it will be harder to stop.

I agree a good 'leave' command is essential.

We got our first cat, a now 17 month old Ragdoll, a couple of months ago. Our oldest dog is three and none of our three dogs have lived with cats. They also always barked at them in the garden and would chase them given half the chance.

To start with we made sure the cat could easily get away from them if she needed to, by having a stairgate between the living room and downstairs hallway. Then we introduced them in the same room with the cat unrestrained and the dogs (one at a time at first!) on a lead. They obeyed the 'leave' command, so we tried them off the lad and if they tried to approach her we simply told them to 'leave', which they did.

The cat still isn't their biggest fan, but she certainly isn't bothered by them. She'll happily march about in front of their noses and they know to leave her alone. They pretty much ignore her now. I can't ever see her snuggling up with them though! Oddly enough, they still want to chase other people's cats, so it is not impossible that your dog has live dwith cats before.

I think one of the most important thing is to never allow the opportunity for the cat to be chased by the dog, as the chase itself reinforces the behaviour for the dog. So, if you need to, keep the dog on a lead to start with if the cat is about.

I also have a dog who chases cats. The thing is he doesn't chase the cat he grew up with, but is chasing the new cat. She usually responds well to the 'leave it' command. She will leave food and she is very food focused!
I'm trying leave it, but it doesn't work. She is hurting the cat.
Any more suggestions?
I'm at my wits end

When we got Roxy she was excitable around the cats so we kept her leashed for the first few weeks until she learnt that she couldn't bother them too much.

Your cats need to build theior confidence around your new dog but won't be able to do this if they are being chased. Unfortunately your dog probably thinks this is great fun but your cats won't!

I don't think it's fair to expect the cats to live upstairs after all this was their home first so the new dog needs to know the rules. Once the cats are more confident they will probably 'tell off' the dog if she gets too close or bothers them too much but at the moment you need to be the one to teach the dog that the cats aren't there to be chased

Maybe do some clicker training with your dog & when she does leave the cts alone or sits nicely when they are near reward her for this rather than telling her off.

It will take time but I'm sure that you will get there