# stop attacking my cat!!



## dethfire (Mar 5, 2008)

I have a 6mo boston terrier with tremendous energy. I've had him for three months and i can't get him to stop attacking my cat. It's not to hurt, but to play, however my cat does not enjoy it and it must stop. Every time he lunges for my cat I say "No" and put him in his crate. But this does not work as when he gets out he will go for the cat again. When he is advancing at the cat I make a "tsk tsk" noise and he pauses and looks at me for a few seconds, but if I move back on to what I am doing he then continues. To make things worse when I yell "No" and go after him, he runs away from me and I end up chasing him for awhile, it sucks because he is freakin fast and agile. what should I do?


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Your running after him makes the game of chase even better for him. 
Call him to you, ask for a sit, praise and pet for coming/sitting. That diverts the game into a nicer behavior. If he won't come, step inbetween him and the cat. Make him back up....just a half foot or foot is enough. The idea you're trying to teach is "back away from the cat". 
Cats are notorious for taunting...they love the game of chase as much as the dogs do. My cat is often the instigator of those games...she's much younger than the dogs and far more playful.


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## gingersmom (Jun 2, 2008)

I hope your cat is not declawed -- she needs to be able to tell the puppy to keep his distance. Also I'd make sure that the cat has somewhere she can go to keep away from the puppy. We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs so the dog cannot go by the cat's food, litterbox, or favorite sleeping spot. There is also a scratching post downstairs where she can perch above the dog. 

Can you teach the puppy to chase something else? A motorized mouse, or something? Redirecting his energy seems important. 

If him running away is still an issue, you may need to leave a leash on him to drag around when you are home, so that you can correct him promptly.


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## dethfire (Mar 5, 2008)

TooneyDogs said:


> Your running after him makes the game of chase even better for him.
> Call him to you, ask for a sit, praise and pet for coming/sitting. That diverts the game into a nicer behavior. If he won't come, step inbetween him and the cat. Make him back up....just a half foot or foot is enough. The idea you're trying to teach is "back away from the cat".
> Cats are notorious for taunting...they love the game of chase as much as the dogs do. My cat is often the instigator of those games...she's much younger than the dogs and far more playful.


yeah the problem is when he is hyper he will not come to me and sit. my cat doesn't instigate, he wants nothing to do with my dog and is older



gingersmom said:


> I hope your cat is not declawed -- she needs to be able to tell the puppy to keep his distance. Also I'd make sure that the cat has somewhere she can go to keep away from the puppy. We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs so the dog cannot go by the cat's food, litterbox, or favorite sleeping spot. There is also a scratching post downstairs where she can perch above the dog.
> 
> Can you teach the puppy to chase something else? A motorized mouse, or something? Redirecting his energy seems important.
> 
> If him running away is still an issue, you may need to leave a leash on him to drag around when you are home, so that you can correct him promptly.


the cat is declawed and unfortunately a complete dumbass, there are lots of places to go for high ground but over and over he'll still wander on the ground and even right near the dog, sooooo frustrating, and then he gets attacked, HELLO, do you ever learn, ahhhhh


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## natureloverchris (Nov 11, 2007)

dethfire said:


> yeah the problem is when he is hyper he will not come to me and sit. my cat doesn't instigate, he wants nothing to do with my dog and is older


How do you reward him when he comes to you. Schmoo still every once in a while goes after the cat. However, he only does that when I've slacked off and given him less attention and exercise then normal. When Schmoo is in hyper puppy mode the reward for coming to sit is not treats, it's a game of fetch. Yes, every once in a while schmoo forgets and goes after the cat but when I call him he comes running quite happily.

Chasing your dog is not going to get you anywhere useful and will create future problems.



> the cat is declawed and unfortunately a complete dumbass, there are lots of places to go for high ground but over and over he'll still wander on the ground and even right near the dog, sooooo frustrating, and then he gets attacked, HELLO, do you ever learn, ahhhhh


my cat is old too. she doesn't like to jump up to high places when the pup is pestering her and she has claws. the process of jumping when you have a hyper puppy makes the cat vulnerable. watch how your cat jumps, they sort of crouch down first. And getting knocked down when in midair can not be pleasant. But Fancy-cat has low places she can hide that Schmoo can't get in to. Does your cat have any safe, low hidey holes? When your pup is especially hyper can you put your cat in another room?


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Had a bull mastiff pup in my puppy class that chased the cat. The trainer told her mom to get a squirt bottle and squirt the pup every time she chased the cat. She also said to make sure the pup didn't know that she was the one doing the squirting. (I use a squirt gun more accurate and can reach from a longer range!)


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## InverseLogic (Jun 1, 2008)

dethfire said:


> the cat is declawed


Sigh, the poor thing.


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## Twinney (Nov 4, 2007)

InverseLogic said:


> Sigh, the poor thing.


I agree, it's painful on the cat, but before we knew that we had a cat hang itself that way when it snuck outside one time. (Actually we didn't, it was my mums cat, my old dogs best friend, I was a year old.)

The puppy really isn't dumb, if it chases the cat, you'll chase it, and it's a fantastic game to play in his mind. My cat is the ruler of the house, and Shunka is afraid of it. Nothing can make her get up from that down stay other than that cat walking up to her. She tried attacking the cat when she was a puppy when we were all outside and the cat scratched her on the ear, that was all it took.

If your cat is walking right by the puppy, then it's probably teasing your puppy.

You'll need a place for the cat to hide when the puppy is getting annoying to it. Keep a leash connect to you, or as someone mentioned before, a squirt gun to squirt the puppy when it chases the dog. My dogs all sit on command, you should work on that with your pup too, even when the puppy is near by. For instance, the dogs can just about take my arm off when they see a rabbit. There's alot of sight and scent hounds in these dogs, so they usually don't give up. Lately, I've been putting them on a sit-stay until they are ready to heel. If they don't think they have to stay in a sit-stay, I will gladly put them back in a sit-stay.


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## Citrine (May 19, 2008)

Oh man, one of my cats TOTALLY instigates things with my puppy. He'll park himself directly in her path and hiss when she gets close. He hides behind the curtain of the patio doors, and when she unsuspectingly walks through the door hisses and swats. He's very determined to maintain his role as king kitten of the household but man....it makes for some noisy times with the barking and the hissing and the chasing. Both of my cats have access to the puppyless upper floor and basement (where their litter is) so they have lots of space to not be around the pooch if they choose....I figure it will all work itself out eventually there's been no blood drawn yet! Any the pup DOES get in trouble for barking in the house or chasing the cats.


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## kayjays99 (Apr 23, 2010)

dethfire said:


> yeah the problem is when he is hyper he will not come to me and sit. my cat doesn't instigate, he wants nothing to do with my dog and is older
> 
> 
> the cat is declawed and unfortunately a complete dumbass, there are lots of places to go for high ground but over and over he'll still wander on the ground and even right near the dog, sooooo frustrating, and then he gets attacked, HELLO, do you ever learn, ahhhhh


I googled how to stop my dog from attacking my cat and found this post. I truly sympathize. I have a 10 month old Boston Terrier and a dumbass cat. I have not figured out a way to stop this behaviour either. Bostons are very unique and stubborn dogs. I am hoping he grows out of it. I am also thinking about getting him a playmate.


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## Mudra (Nov 1, 2007)

I'm kind of lucky in a way that my dogs doesn't really mind the cat and vice versa. I never had cats of my own before. Zeus is my first cat. I have the three dogs before we "decided" to add a cat. "Decided" means I got to keep the kitty who followed me home (true story, believe me  ). Introducing him to the pack was a breeze from day one. One at a time. The other two were crated while the first dog was being introduced. It went well and now I can even take pictures of all 4 of them using the command "STAY".

Xena and Zeus plays a lot. But I guess they have some kind of a unbarken/unmeowen (unspoken) pact that Xena can only use her nose/paw and not her mouth (and teeth!)to play with Zeus and in return Zeus wont use his claws.  Its kinda neat watching them play. Zeus actually plays like a puppy now when he is in the mood. He always gets his ways with the dogs. For some reason their ALPHA MALE is the cat. 

I would suggest re-introducing them again. When I first introduced the dogs to the cat, I made sure they were leashed in the beginning until they calmed down and realized that the cat is not a threat. Hope this helps.


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## MissyP (Feb 21, 2010)

dethfire said:


> I have a 6mo boston terrier with tremendous energy. I've had him for three months and i can't get him to stop attacking my cat. It's not to hurt, but to play, however my cat does not enjoy it and it must stop. Every time he lunges for my cat I say "No" and put him in his crate. But this does not work as when he gets out he will go for the cat again


I'm having this problem with my 6 month old bulldog & my 7+yr old Pug.. the puppy has TOO much puppy energy (despite exercise & lots of toys) and he is constantly harassing my pug, who has NO interest in playing. The pug doesn't run, doesn't fight back, but the puppy doesn't let up~ he bites the pug's feet & tail, even when I say NO. I've tried the noisemakers & squirt bottle, doesn't even phase him (in fact he gets more hyped up from the spray bottle). I've put myself between them, made the puppy sit, tried to get him to focus on a toy instead, put him in his crate (over & over & over- repetition doesn't seem to work), etc.. but 2 seconds later, the puppy is at it again. When he leaves the pug alone, he gets praise & rewards.. so there is positive reinforcement..
He doesn't seem like he's being aggressive, he has long since established himself as the dominant dog (the pug doesn't care). The vet wants his exercise limited because he has a limp & although Xrays aren't showing anything, the vet said to limit his activity.. so I can't increase his exercise. 
Besides separating them with a baby gate (which is my only solution for any peace), what can I do? He's also started nipping at me, like I'm his playmate-- he doesn't touch my skin, but he bites my clothes & the air.. None of the corrections seem to be working~ the "yelp" that people suggest doesn't work, same with noise/spray bottle/etc like I do when he annoys my pug. He's been the sweetest puppy I've ever seen until the last month or so, when he went from Dr Jeckyll to Mr Hyde~ this puppy 'teenage' adolescent phase is awful !! He's been neutered for about 6 weeks now.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

I always have a little chuckle with people forget what Bostons were bred for.....yes they are little, and cute, and have that dapper little black and white tux (yes they do come in other colors)

but they were bred for ratting....to catching and kill small furry creatures...they are small and fast on the fly...and are very good problem solvers ..Bostons can have very high pray drive ...they need tons of exercise


Not to mention they are TERRIERS!!! LOL


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I agree with lots of the advice already given, but here's my 2 cents:
-don't yell at your dog. That is just going to add to the problem, because it makes him run and could make him fearful of you. 

-you said he is hyper and won't come when you call him, when he's chasing the cat. Work on being able to get his attention ANYTIME you ask for it! This is important! 

What if you are walking him and his leash breaks - you need to be able to call him to you even with the outside distractions. What if you're at a dog park and there's an aggressive dog and you need to call him back to you? What if you answer the front door and for some reason he sneaks out and takes off? Lots of unplanned things can happen and you need to be able to get his attention!
So, I would work on getting him to come to you every time! "Come" is a major command!  If you can get that down, then at least when he goes after the cat you can get him to you, and then do the "sit" as others have suggested.


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## AmyBeth (Jun 26, 2009)

I forget sometimes how lucky I was when it comes to my boston! First off my cat Fuzzy was raised by my other dog, and had never met another cat until recently. So when the Buster (bt) entered the picture Fuzzy took very naturally to him. They play ALOT and are very rough with each other but no one gets hurt. Now our new cat loves my older dog, who is still just a tad afraid of the new cat, but refuses to play with Buster. So when Buster really wants to play he starts running around Pancho making weird noises and then spinning on his buyy in one spot (his defence against Fuzzy claws) and this goes on for a few minutes then either Pancho walks away or Buster gets bored. Buster does love to chase Fuzzy but its all in fun, I know 'cause they'll trade places every few minutes  Pancho gets out of it by getting on the tile, 'cause Buster doesn't like running on smooth hard floors.


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## EarthMonkey (Nov 14, 2009)

Our cat is an older cat who had a puppy invade his space due to the inconsideration of his thoughtless humans. The puppy at first was very good with the cat but the cat was very fearful and would run away. This caused the dog to get more apt to bark and try and chase the cat. The cat also started being more aggressive to the puppy. What my husband and I did was get baby gates and gate an area off (the entire upstairs) for the cat. We also kept the dog confined in one room with the cat having access to the whole house if he felt like it. When the puppy would bark at the cat we would call him to us and if he ignored the cat who was sitting through the baby gate we would treat the dog like crazy, if the puppy stopped barking we would treat the dog like crazy, if he just ignored to start and didn't need to be called we would treat the dog. Eventually we started letting the dog into larger areas after he had stopped the barking and the dog and cat had been close to each other and we watched him leave the cat alone. Now the dog is good at ignoring the cat most of the time while the cat attacks the dog. Our cat has claws so he has taught the dog that it is not fun to get too close when the cat is growling. The dog does play bows and bounces to get the cat to play and the cat growls and hisses. Sometimes they just lay around close to each other and ignore each other, I am hoping they will get to the point where that is the norm for them. Our dog thinks our cat is his best buddy or cat has a different opinion. The two of them are not able to be around each other if we are not in the house. If our cat had no claws to defend himself with I would be even more cautious about letting them around each other unattended.


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## Dominion (Mar 25, 2010)

Lily chases our cats too and each cat handles it differently. Our older cat (6 years) Orion will swat hard with no claws and with claws if Lily starts to get too into it. The swat stops the play immediately, and it only took a few days before Lily learned not to get too close. Now with our other cat (5 years) Kobi he has no patience for Lily. It's a sharp hiss and a hard swat to the pup with claws. It took even less tiem for her to learn to not mess with Kobi.


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