We have had our rescue puppy for five weeks now. One of the reasons we chose him is because he was apparently good with cats and we have two. However, he chases them when in the garden and it's making the cats very withdrawn and stressed. He is ok in the house and, although clearly tempted, seems to control himself except on a few occasions when he has run at them. But outside is
another matter. We shout at him when he chases them but this only adds stress to the terrified cat as well, with us shouting.
Worst of all one of the cats has two puncture marks on her back. We are going to vet this morning. DH convinced that it was the dog. A friend has suggested a soft muzzle for the garden but that won't stop the chasing. I've also thought of a puppy pen for outside but obviously the dog can't be confined to it all the time we are in the garden.
Please help. Our cats have been with us for 8 years and the puppy seems to be turning into 'the bad guy' especially in DH's eyes as their personalities are being adversely affected. I just wish puppy would ignore them. Btw he is 21 weeks old.
Thank you for any advice - I'm sitting here crying as I write this, very pathetic but it's such a stressful situation.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Please help - urgent
slinkyboo · 23/07/2011 08:07
Is the puppy allowed all over the house with the cats? If yes, what I would suggest (knowing cat behaviour) is that you confine the puppy to one area that the cats can escapem from and get away from the puppy.
When I introduced a "cat chasing" collie (same senario as your puppy, OK in the house, a PITA in the garden if she thinks she can get away with it!), we put a child stair gate at the bottom of the stairs with a rung missing so that the cats could get through. They then have/had the upstairs to themselves where they learned that they would not be disturbed by the dog and it was their "safe" zone.
(The cats also learned very quickly that they could sit one side of the gate and bop collie noses very hard with their paws without being chased!! 
)
Lots and lots of Feliway diffuser too. Put the food and litter trays in a area that the puppy absolutely cannot get to and give the cats "safe routes" to the outside (i.e. puppy free routes) and between the food source, so that they don't have to tackle the puppy, except on their terms. Also, reassure the cats. Is the puppy crated at all? If you have him crate trained, it might be worth having a puppy "time out" at some point in the day, where the cats learn that pup can't get to them. You'd be suprised at how quickly cats pick up the routine.
Good luck! (And thank you for homing a rescue dog!)
Thank you again 
No not a town house but a detached house in France where many houses have large basements.
Cat base in landing sounds very doable - thank you.
We have visitors at the mo who have said how well behaved and calm our pup seems to be...a bit of perspective I think! Thank you again and fingers crossed we can do what we need to and that our rescue pup learns quickly.
Just to update - I really appreciated the replies as I was very stressed!
We have been supervising pup much more closely and we now have a fixed post in the garden where we tie him occasionally on a long chain if we are all in the garden, so he cannot chase the cat. If she appears indoors in front of him I call him and then praise him when he looks at me. DH has also fixed a pet gate at the top of the basement stairs which cats can get through and not pup so he cannot go down and scoff their food.
Finally, there is a cosy new cat bed in our bedroom...of course the sodding darling cat has ignored it completely and keeps trying to curl up on our bed. I'm still working on that one as I refuse to wheeze all night!
Thanks again
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.