Anyone have a GSD that won't stop chasing the cat?

[sharkey19]

Ok, I know this makes me sound like a terrible owner, so I was wondering if anyone else has this problem.

Dax is now 16 months and we still can't get him to stop chasing the cat. The cat was here first, so has been around since he was a puppy. We have a part of the apartment blocked off by baby gate as the cat's safe zone.

The issue is, as soon as the cat appears, that is all Dax cares about. And as soon as the cat moves, Dax goes after him. Dax would never hurt him intentionally. If he ever catches up to him he just sniffs and licks him. In fact, at a friends place, he went after the cat but the cat didn't run, and Dax lost interest very fast.

We've trained Dax. He's done obedience and agility, and he is fairly well behaved. The problem is his insanely high prey dive. If the cat didn't run, I don't think Dax would be as interested (of course it is hard to blame the 7lb cat that this 90lb GSD is going after).

If I see the cat coming, I can tell Dax to stay and leave it, and he will. But if I don't, Dax will chase him.

So has anyone else had this problem and successfully resolved it? If so how? (Also Dax is not food motivated in the least, so that is not an option for training him).

[Kittilicious]

Originally Posted by sharkey19

he went after the cat but the cat didn't run, and Dax lost interest very fast.

this made me laugh at the thought of it!
I have no suggestions... I have a cat that chases the dogs.

[lola2010]

i have the same problem...if the cat runs the dog chases but if the cat stays still the dog looses interest...its like she wants to play but the cat wants nothing to do with her.

[1sttimeforgsd]

Mine will sometimes go after the cat, but if she does not run they back off real quick.

[stolibaby]

Mine does the same thing with my roommates cat to the T. With stoli unfortunately no real cocncrete commands to keep him from chasing the cat but it has gotten better with a very firm "leave it" while he's chasing tobey.... Although I would like to also point out that sometimes the cat (in my case that is) initiates the chasing and then I try not to yell at him since he was following tobeys lead. This is why cats are the devil in my opinion They antagonize and mess with dogs lol.

[BR870]

Abbie won't stop chasing ours. Our cats are quite old and set in their ways. They wanted nothing to do with my dogs before, and they want nothing to do with Abbie now. We've already had to bring Abbie to the vet once for a scratched eye.

Sad thing is, my wife and I are not really cat people anymore. We are letting them finish out their life with us in peace and as much quiet as we can provide with Abbie and our son. But after they are gone, no more cats for us...

[KZoppa]

my cats are very dog savvy. they grew up in a house with the dogs, or in Faith's case, she was raised by two of them. Riley is our for sure resident cat chaser. We tried everything. Discouragement, cat safe room.... nope. none of it worked. Him getting his butt kicked a couple times when he got snappy with Faith but really what did it for him was he finally learned that trouble would only follow him if he chased the cats. He'll get grouchy with one of them every now and then and gets corrected but for the most part, he just has this helpless look on his face now because Faith will walk over and rub on him. Titan used to run, now he just moved real slow like. Shasta is interested in the cats but she only wants to play. She'll run up on them and nose them and be generally obnoxious but with a correction or a nice open pawed, claws out swipe to the nose she backs off. Riley is almost 7.... he stopped adamently chasing when he was about 4....

best i have is patience and persistence in training. A very strong leave it helped with our foster Shelby who'd never even seen a cat. She would just paw them and was very curious about them but once she realized they werent other dogs and didnt care for the play like attitude she left them alone.

[Freestep]

I had a dog that was like that. Eventually I rehomed her to a cat-free home because even though she never did hurt my cats, she was so intense in her cat-drive that I just didn't trust her.

My current pup loves the kitties, but I have to supervise closely when they're together... my cats are dog-savvy and know it's smarter to get up on higher ground than it is to run, but I have to give the cats a break from time to time. They will sometimes play with Vinca, but if I hear growling or hissing, Vinca gets called off. If she keeps going back, into the crate she goes. She's gotten better--she used to do a lovely bark and hold on the cats, which they did not appreciate.

[sharkey19]

Glad I am not the only one. Its just so frustrating. We would like to stop crating him at night, but we just can't do that until he stops chasing the cat. I am starting to wonder if it would be easier to train the cat not to run...lol

[KZoppa]

Originally Posted by sharkey19

Glad I am not the only one. Its just so frustrating. We would like to stop crating him at night, but we just can't do that until he stops chasing the cat. I am starting to wonder if it would be easier to train the cat not to run...lol

i honestly have no idea how you'd train a cat not to run. Mine, despite being raised around dogs, had to learn to move slowly on their own.