Until recently, I had two calm German Shepherds and three house cats who all lived together peacefully. The cats are strictly indoor, and the older two have no claws on their front feet. The GSD's spent most of their time indoors.

Because of a debilitating illness, I had one of the dogs put to sleep. On Saturday, I adopted a four year old female who has apparently never been in the same room with a cat before. She is more high strung than I am used to, and I understand it will take some time for her to acclimate to her new surroundings. She is very interested in the cats, and I have hardly seen two of them since she bounded into the house.

I use a barrier to keep her in the same general area I am in to monitor her, and use a crate or put the dogs in their fenced yard when I can't directly supervise her. I am particularly concerned about the cats' safety and that they could end up as her lunch. I have a lot of squeaky toys for the dogs, but she plays with them so aggressively that the toys almost scream! This makes me wonder what she would do with a small (real) animal.

For the most part, the dog is untrained although she understands the word "no" when she sticks her nose into the fur of the only cat who tolerates her. How can I get her to more safely interact with the cats? I have considered a muzzle, but that would be a last resort. I don't want to have a cat killed because I let my guard down for a split second. Does anyone have suggestions for how I can develop more harmony between the dog and cats? I am looking into obediance training for a longer term solution. Thanks in advance!

-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

We had the same type of situation here and let Meow handle the 'diversity orientation" . The cat simply asked the hound about three times "Didn't your mother tell you about playing with sharp objects?" Three encounters in two weeks and for the last five years the cat and dogs all lay on our bed together with a "swat zone " between them. They even play together some.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

That doesn't work when the cats have been declawed.

Here are some articles for you to read -- I hope they help:

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/dogscats.html

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/furfury.html

http://www.cuhumane.org/topics/catdog.html

http://www.sfgsrescue.org/cat.html

-- Joy F (S.Central Wisc) (CatFlunky@excite.com), December 04, 2001.

I had one when I was young that was declawed and she "thumper swatted" adversaries like a rabbit. It may have been unique to her.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

I have known many dogs that can be taught to get along with cats. However, I have also known the odd one or two that will kill a cat if given the opportunity and cannot to reabilitated. Watch her carefully.

-- Anita in NC (anitaholton@mindspring.com), December 04, 2001.

Joy, I was able to open and read all the articles but the third one. Thanks for the referrals; there is a lot more going on regarding cat/dog relationships than I had imagined. The second declawed cat came out of hiding for a while this afternoon and things went well as I watched every move. The biggest cat, and the one with a full set of claws remains mostly in hiding! I will continue to closely monitor the dog when she is not crated. Thank you all for your comments!

-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), December 04, 2001.

Ive heard of this method working: Put the dog in one room, the cat in another. Put up a screen (might think about a welded wire screen for german shepard protection) and let the animals investigate each other for a week or so. From then on they "should" get along. I have two big dogs (135 lbs and 100 lbs- german shep mix, doberman mix) and 2 cats. The cats literally sleep ON the dogs. People have rushed to get cameras when we were out canoeing in Canada to get pictures of our kitten (then) sleeping on the shepherd. The cat, incidentally, went on a two week wilderness canoe trip and knows how to swim.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 04, 2001.

My experience has been this: some dogs are truly just excited and curious about cats, and when the curiosity is satisfied the dogs back off. Other times, the dog has a strong predator drive, and cats are simply another small animal that begs to be caught & killed. The squeaky-toy behavior is cause for concern. I have seen dogs kill cats before, and I want to emphasize that, despite your vigilance, it only takes ONE SECOND for a dog to kill a kitty. It could happen before your very eyes. If you had adopted this dog from me and were reporting this behavior to me, I would encourage you to bring the dog back before you lose a cat.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), December 05, 2001.

bluetick, the third link worked for me several times. Perhaps it was just a glitch when you tried it.

I thought the fourth was especially interesting because it was specifically about German Shepherds. There are always exceptions to everything, but I thought it interesting that they thought GSD's had a higher level of "possession" than of "prey drive". Apparently a lot of these dogs can easily discern between their own cat(s) and other cats. We all know that GSD's are very smart dogs in general.

-- Joy F (S.Central Wisc) (CatFlunky@excite.com), December 05, 2001.

Perhaps a shock collar would work. Touch one off if the GS gets too agressive.

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), December 05, 2001.

Shannon - The squeaky toy behavior concerns me, too. On the other hand, this is day 5, and the dog is settling in and settling down. Both of the declawed cats have been appearing frequently and seem almost at ease with her. She seems okay with sniffing them and walking away. The big cat with claws is beginning to show himself a little, and the dog is interested in meeting him. I will not push it. I continue to be vigilant as to everyone's location.

Joy - The "possession" issue is actually something I have witnessed, but thought I was reading too much into the situation. The dog was a neutered male coonhound. He was the only dog in the house for years before I introduced my first GSD, a female. He attacked her rather viciously several times, to my surprise and the vet's. He was an old dog, and we couldn't figure out his problem. I do remember thinking that perhaps the female had gotten too close to "his" cats, but then thought that was silly. I guess it wasn't silly after all. He was on medication for over a year to calm his aggressiveness, before I finally put him to sleep. The tension of not knowing when he would attack again got to be too much for me. He was a big dog, and those attacks were very scary!

-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), December 05, 2001.

My Pit Bulls are very possessive of their cat. When I rescued a year old Pit Bull last spring that had never been around cats, they helped the cat teach the new guy not to play with "sharps". When that cat passed away in Oct. my 2 yr old pit grieved deeply.

We got a new cat (16lb adult nuetered male)from the shelter a month ago. It took about 10 days for everyone to get aquainted. We correct both dogs and the cat when any of them get too aggressive with each other. (The cat likes to terrorize the 2yr old probably because he is the cat lover) Now that they have accepted that they are all part of the family things are fine.

Sounds like your new dog and cats are learning to get along, continue to monitor their interactions until you are absolutely certain they are bonded, and insist on non-violent behavior from all of them.

Good luck, Jane

-- Jane (jwagman@mail.com), December 06, 2001.