Cockers and Cats

[frater5]

Hi

Am looking for some advice .

When we got out little monster we already had 2 cats . One who would put her in her place with a swipe
and a very stupid one that lets her treat him like a soft toy , very roughly .

Unfortunately we lost the confident one due to old age . The poor stupid one is chased , chewed on and generally terrorised ,
he hides in the kitchen most of the time , he is lovely and was great friends with out previous dog , a Boxer .

It has been over a year and she has not given up or calmed down and I am thinking that re homing him may be for the best .

Obviously I do not want to do this so am here to ask , does any one think she will calm down eventually ,I am not expecting
best buddies just a little respect .

I do introduce them occasionally and she will do her best to behave but as soon as I am not looking she is after him again .

I will add she is a great squirrel chaser , which I do my best to deter .

We also have baby gates so that she cannot get him when we are out .

Any hope or words of advice gratefully recieved .

Thank you

[Patp]

Sorry to hear about your problem, I am sure there will be somebody along who has experience, but I also have a chaser I am afraid my poor daughters chickens, goats and cats - all ignored by her 3 spaniels are chased until they stop, at which point she loses interest.

[MIN]

our gemma hates our staffie who is too stupid to keep out the way. It is tiring needing to know at all times where they are.

[BobnDot]

Maybe you could create a few cat havens or bolt holes about the house. Ideally in places that a cat can jump up to or hide in but would be more challenging for a cocker to get to.

Re-homing your poor cat would be one way of restoring peace and quiet but does little to address the main problem which lies with the behaviour of your cocker.

Perhaps a session with a dog behaviourist in your own home would be beneficial.

Bob.

[frater5]

Hi

We have baby gates on the kitchen and the stairs , they are positioned so the cat can get underneath but not our monster
who is looking like butter wouldn't melt at the minute , so does have some areas that are mostly monster free.

A behaviourist is not a bad idea although I think they would have their work cut out 

I have had Staffies and Boxers before which are both nutty but nice so am used to high maintenance dogs so when we got May
I thought I was getting a dog that would be easy  . I researched online but did not speak to any actual owners and there lies
my error .

Despite her many interesting characteristics we wouldn't change her but I do wish she would learn to live with the cat .

I will have a look at behaviourists.

Thank you

[Pearly]

I have 2 cats and 2 cockers.  Pearl came home as a pup and the Bengal played with her until Pearl was 7.5 Kg and put the cats back out  after which everything seemed to calm down....the other cat promptly had a Stoke when she came home but was the only other animal that Pearl has ever allowed in her bed.  Sadly he died around 3 years ago from lymphona and the rescue cat arrived just over 2 years ago.  The rescue is a timid little thing that took the best part of 12 months to settle in and relax.

Coral arrived age 9 weeks at the end of March.  The Bengal, again, plays with her but tends to hunker down and make noises like she's being murdered.....the timid cat bides her time, runs the gauntlet and has yet to be caught by the pup!  For the last couple of weeks I've been removing Coral from Minnie (Bengal) and getting her to be steady on command.  Over the next few weeks I want to stop the behaviour completely - I need her to not chase anything (I can hear laughter now  ) but will persevere and may resort to treating good behaviour!

It's not easy and most often Minnie starts it all by taunting then jumping over the stairgate to where Coral is!  Good luck - look forward to hearing how you get on

Jayne
X

[Joules]

Cockers easy??  I think quite a few people have fallen for those cute and cuddly looks.  Cockers are definitely not an easy breed - they are far too clever for one thing and always have their own agenda, which rarely bears any relation to their owner's! 

I have always had cats long before I got Coco so it was essential that they learn to live together.  However, I had not reckoned with Coco's wish to chase/bother them 

The secret is that the cat must ALWAYS have a safe, dog free place to go and a clear escape route.  You can use baby gates, put the cat's bed and food up high or just restrict the time they spend in the same room.  Mine will sit on the worktop and sneer at her from above 

Coco is nearly 10 now and she will still harass some of my cats given half a chance.  The cats that don't run are not interesting to her so she never bothers them.  I make sure that she doesn't get the chance to chase the others as, if she does it, it becomes self rewarding behaviour.    I have a couple of areas in the garden that Coco can't get into and she doesn't always have free run of the house either, and she is not allowed upstairs.  The cats know where they can go to get away from her and life is consequently pretty harmonious.

Have you tried rewarding her for ignoring the cats, perhaps using a long line?  Keeping them separate is the key at least to start with, then supervision and rewarding good behaviour - eventually you will get to a situation that works for you all, but it might take a while and require a fair amount of effort on your part 

Good luck 

[BobnDot]

We've two cockers, Milly and Chaz, but no cats of our own (yet  ). Our elder daughter Siān has two cats which she regularly brings with her when she visits.

Her cats, Jacques and Gandalf, both Maine Coons, are well able to hold their own with two cockers even though Gandalf is still a kitten and only the size of a normal full grown cat at the moment. Jacques, at 11 months old, is nearly the same size as Milly and the three of them, Jacques, Gandalf and Milly get on really well together.

Chaz, our worker, is still a bit of a work in progress as far as the cats go but getting better every time they visit. His first reaction when they arrive is to go zooming around the living room at furniture height but he finds it most disconcerting when Jacques joins in and easily outpaces him   

The oven in our kitchen is at eye level and we keep the top of the oven enclosure, about 5 ft high, free for the cats to get up out of the way of the dogs. We've fitted a piece of coconut matting on top of the enclosure and both cats love sitting up there looking down on the main worktop for any food that may need sampling while the dogs do the same from ground level  .

As soon as Siān and her cats have left both Milly and Chaz do a quick scoot around the house sniffing at all the places the cats have been before getting their reward of a raw bone each for being on their best(ish) behaviour.

Bob.

 

[*MaryG*]

This is really difficult. the thing is your timid cat has not up and left so i think is not as unhappy as you may think. It might also be difficult to rehome an older cat. However he does need safe places to go. we had a stair gate, the cat had up stairs and the dog downstairs.the cat had a cat flap and we had a placefor her food upstairs. to be honest i think when the behaviour has been going on this long and your dog has a strong chase instinct how ever hard you work you are always going to have to be vigilant. good luck x

[moneypenny]

When we brought Penny home at 8 weeks, we already had two four year old cats. The male, Tom, got on beautifully with Penny from the start, and has never minded being squashed and mauled, even when Penny was a cockerdile!
But the female cat, Tessa, was absolutely terrified. Luckily there is lots of space for her to escape from Penny, but we still felt terribly guilty about destroying her quality of life.

Penny is now almost three, and in the last few months there has been a change for the better. Penny is calmer and Tessa is now much less scared. She doesn't run away so much now, and so she doesn't get chased. She even consents to being trampled sometimes, and is now reluctant to give up a warm spot on the bed just because Penny wants it.

So the point is that it is possible still that the situation may change. I wouldn't give up yet if I were you.

[moneypenny]

Here's Penny And Tessa

[cockerlover1]

Lol my cocker hates cats, the thought of him being next to one he would try and kill it, he even sniffs them out when he is on his walks 

[Neil]

I have 3 cats, after 10 months none of them will willingly enter or stay in the same room as Bobby. He's far too lively for them. In truth I think he wants them to be friends, to play with him, but he doesn't know how.

They have all learned that he is all bark and no bite but they still find him alarming. If only he wasn't so boisterous.

[tritonx]

Fraser spent his puppyhood bunting the cat ahead of him as he sniffed under his tail. Cat eventually waited him out and ended stealing Fraser's bed, much to Fraser's baffled dismay. However, other cats are the devil and unfortunately, a black and white cat has taken to sitting across the street by my neighbour's fence to hunt the birds that come to her feeders. Fraser hates this cat and barks his fool head off whenever he sees him. Quite apart from the issue of bird killing free range cats, it means I have to keep my front curtains closed to reduce the manic barking. Good luck with trying to train your cocker out of cat chasing. I work on Fraser with clicker and treats each time he starts barking or just call him away. So far he's still barking at the cat on sight. In my darker moments, I feel like loosing him and hoping the cat punches him in the face, but that would be wrong. Mustn't do that.

[sodpot2000]

Cockers are bred to chase. They are at heart a hunting dog. Nothing you can do will eradicate what is hard wired but there are things you can do which will make life better for everyone.

You already use baby gates. When Buster and the cat were trying to settle together we found this a big help.

Make sure that there are safe places where the cat can go and relax and feel safe.

Try to stop the chase before it starts and the hearing goes.

It does help if the cat is assertive. Buster just wanted a playmate and as soon as the cat realised that she could stand her ground and by waving a claw make him back off she became much happier. These days a sharp hiss is enough to stop him in his tracks!

If cats are really unhappy with their lot they can and do leave home. That's how we got ours! That yours has stayed suggests that the two of them have found a way of co-existing even though it might not be ideal.