chasing the cat......

[susnrob]

Our GSD, Sadie, is 2. She loves everyone and everything! When we brought her home as a pup we had a few indoor cats. One of the cats was a kitten and Sadie and the kitten played well together. At some point we found out that both of our sons are highly allergic to cats. We lived in Florida at the time so one cat became an outdoor cat and my parents in Michigan took the other cat (the one that my boys for sure reacted to). Sadie and the outdoor cat coexisted in the back yard pretty well for a while, but then things changed and anytime Sadie was outside in the yard and saw the cat she'd chase the cat. For a while the cat was faster, but then Sadie became pretty quick and was able to catch the cat many times. I don't believe that she wants to hurt the cat and I think she just wants to sniff and play, but the cat doesn't want to play with her and usually runs away and then the dog chases her.

We moved to Michigan this spring. We have not yet put up a fence in our back yard (plan to do that next spring) so I take Sadie out on the leash to potty and walk. The cat is almost always hanging out somewhere near the door and sometimes will even follow us on our walk. So, I have a heck of a time trying to walk the dog because I can not keep her focus on walking....her focus is on the cat. When the cat is not around she is very good at loose leash walking and focusing on me.

When the cat is around and I see Sadie focused on the cat I either growl at her or give her a strong NO. She will look at me and I praise her for looking at me. Sometimes she will lunge at the cat and if I don't have her on the halti then I usually get pulled several steps before I am able to regain control. If she's on the halti and she lunges at the cat I tell her NO and then turn around and walk the other way. Once she has heeled by my side then I tell her to sit and praise her. We just started group training sessions this week and she did really well in spite of there being another dog in the room.

Maybe she's just one of those dogs that will never get over the urge to chase the cat? Might it be best if we find the cat a good home so we don't have that distraction every time we exit the house with Sadie? We're already considering re homing the cat. Winter is coming up and our kids are allergic to the cat we can't bring the cat inside for the winter. We're looking at having a side entry door installed in the garage and then putting a cat door in that door, but we're not sure if that's something we can afford. If we can't afford that then we'll get the cat an insulated house for the winter and put a heated pad in it for her.

I'm looking for suggestions. Are there any training techniques that I can try with Sadie? Sadie really dislikes the halti, but at this time it's what I have to do to avoid being pulled down. I would really like to get the point that we could just put her on a regular collar for walks. Other than the issue with chasing the cat she'd be fine on a regular collar.

[susnrob]

anyone have some suggestions for me?