I brought home a 2 yo recently neutered rescue on Oct. 5 who was deemed "cat friendly" at the shelter's assessment. My cat wasn't happy so hissed and ran off, and of course my new Yorkie thought what a fun game and chased her. Went online for some research and found several good articles about why you must never let your dog chase the cat when introducing them (worst case scenario, dog may one day encounter a clawed cat and lose an eye). Chasing a cat or any other animal is a behavioral issue because all dogs should be be able to be called off (whether it's a confrontation with another dog, cat, horse, mailman, child, etc. etc.) Thank goodness my new pup, Bowie, has shown that he knows what "No", "leave it" "drop it" and "come here" means. The goal is to teach the dog to ignore the cat until the cat warms up to them (dogs love to play chase by nature). Per one article's recommendation I've also put up child gates on two rooms which gives the cat a couple of safe haven rooms until she could get used to his presence without running and triggering a play chase response. They can now occupy the same space without him chasing her at all. |