Kingdom of Pets

Posted by Darren
Apr 2, 2008

I am the very proud owner of a 15 week old British bulldog. He is an absolute joy.

I have had quite a successful time teaching him to sit, stay, come, drop and to wait for his food. He walks well on and off the lead already. To be honest he is a great little dog and very obedient.

I have only one issue with my dog Benson and that is he has quite a bad habit of tormenting my ten year old cat who is very friendly and docile. I know that they are only playing as they really do love each other. They sleep together every night, but Benson has developed a habit of dragging Sebastian my cat across the room by the scruff of the neck. The cat does not complain which concerns me a little. I have tried using the rocks in the can method which has worked when I am here. My concern is more that when I am at work my cat may get hurt badly. how can I make my dog understand that the cat is not to be dragged across the room like his toy?? PLEASE HELP ME, MY WIFE AND MOST OF ALL MY CAT.

Darren and Leanne

Posted by Todd
Apr 6, 2008

Hi there Darren and thanks for the post.

I do feel your cats pain, they often suffer at the hands of the opposite species but trust me they can get there own back

In general the best way to teach Benson that the cat is not a toy is by reprimanding him.
When he is playing gently with her eg snuggling or sniffing then make sure you let him know he is being a good boy. Give him lots of attention, petting and praise. The more he knows playing with the cat gently is good the less chance there is of any damage being done.

Now to the same degree we need to reprimand Benson when he is being a bit rough. The can of pebbles is a great idea but i think a water pistol may work a little better (even though the cat may accidentally get a little wet )

So when Benson is being rough give him a loud reprimand as well as a squirt with the water pistol. The more we let him know this is not okay the faster he will learn. You have to try and get him every time or as close as possible

After he has been told off he needs to be given a time out. Take him out of the room and leave him there for 15 minutes. Then bring him back and give him another chance

Now to the problem when you are not home. Until you can trust Benson to not cause the cat some trouble then he may have to be kept in a separate room to the cat.
He may have to be kept like this for a few weeks until he can be trusted.
Other than that you may be able to keep him outside?

I hope this helped, let me know how things go and if i can help anymore

Todd

Posted by Darren
Apr 11, 2008

Thanks Todd, That all makes good sense. I will let you know how we go with the water pistol.

Thanks again
Darren

Posted by taniajennifer
Apr 16, 2008

my dog does this all the time too (dragging around by the scruff of the neck and the cat is completely compliant also) and although it is annoying, and noisy because they also chase each other around the house like demons possessed, i have become used to it and was not that concerned. The only difference is that my cat is not docile and friendly - he is quite cranky and it amazes me that he puts up with this. he really seems to like it.

Should I wake up and start working on this too or can i leave it ... we have some many other issues that we are working on at the moment.

Please help my Cat