cats and dogs

[JudithMary]

Help! I have a 5 month old male JRT pup. He is a great dog and is learning fast but I need help to assisst him to learn that he must not go after the cat. The cat has been ill and has no front claws. She likes him and wants to be friends with him but does not want to play like a puppy. At this point I am crate training him and keep him on a long 6' lead the rest of the time.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Shadow_Spitz]

Your pup is showing signs of aggression towards a cat? Pretty much what you can do is correct him. If you catch him in the act of pursuing the cat, tell him "No" in a firm voice. Crate training might help, but don't make is so that when the cat is around, he goes into the crate. All you do is creat a negative association with the cat and being crated.

How long has it been since you've had this pup? It could be that you just need time to allow them to get used to each other.

All in all you have to make it so that the puppy associated the cat with something good. You can, for instance, get them to meet and give the pup a small piece of food. OR you can put away all toys, and just take them out when the cat is around.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Help! I have a 5 month old male JRT pup. He is a great dog and is learning fast but I need help to assisst him to learn that he must not go after the cat.

What, specifically, is he doing to the cat?

I suggest to every puppy owner that their puppy is in a crate unless directly supervised, and a leash is also a great idea. Don't feel bad about doing some good management!

 

[JudithMary]

he is always trying to get her to play and jumping on her. I have not seen it as agression but puppy play. I want him to stop though as he is rough and the cat is not well. He is on a leash and they do sniff and act friendly, the cat is not afraid of him in fact she teases him.

 

[adojrts]

Ok, first things first, you have a JRT!! They are first and foremost a HUNTING dog, bred to go into the earth, locate and corner quarry such as Fox, Raccoon, Groundhogs, Badger, Oppossums. All critters that have teeth and claws that will use them against the dog, therefore jrts have to have a certain amount of aggression to do the job that they were bred to do!

Having said that, your pup is probably just honing his prey drives and hunting/engaging skills, which is normal, but not safe for the cat on any level.
Yes you can socialize him to the cat and teach him to leave it alone BUT be careful about using corrections, that can offend lead them to really direct aggression onto the cat when your NOT present.

In short, don't EVER leave your Jrt alone unsupervised with the cat because he could easily just kill the cat one day and it wont be the dogs fault. It has been well documented over the years of the people who ended up with dead cats because their jrt killed it. Even Jrts that were raised with the cat and they were friends for years.
It always amazed me when I was an offical Russell Rescue Rep the number of people who had no clue WHAT a jrt is or what they have been bred for and continue to be bred for to this day. The number one reason for people getting rid of their jrt was aggression to people/other dogs and other small animals etc, raising the dog in a permissive home and the owners not knowing how to recognize it or how to deal with it.

I have owned multiple jrts over the years, this info is based on being a breeder, rescue rep, hunting with my dogs and showing them in everything from conformation to performance events.

At this time I have 5 Jrts in the house, all except the youngster has proven themselves as a hunting earthworking jrt and ALL will call off a cat BUT I would NEVER leave one of them alone with a cat for any reason.

As for training, positive reinforcements work best, teach a solid 'leave it' with HIGH rewards. It takes a LONG time to train it correctly and it is something that needs to be consistantly reinforced with high rewards.

You are more than welcome to PM me at anytime. And here are some sites on JRTs that gives the facts about them and some good advice.

www.terrier.com
www.terrierman.com

Good luck.

 

[adojrts]

Your pup is showing signs of aggression towards a cat? Pretty much what you can do is correct him. If you catch him in the act of pursuing the cat, tell him "No" in a firm voice.

QUOTE]

That wont work with a JRT in prey drive, even a puppy. And if the pup is 'playing' you have to watch very closely that those drives are not triggered. If that happens, the cat can be dead or seriously injured before the people present are able to stop it.

 

[corgipower]

I agree with everything Ado said. Don't ever leave the JRT unsupervised with the cat and use positive motivation to teach a "leave it" and redirect the puppy to acceptable outlets for prey drive.

 

[Dekka]

More agreement. DON'T ever leave them unattended. Snip was raised with cats. Got along just fine. Then has he matured I would see the way he would 'eye' the cat. The cat got a new home. Hubby was a bit upset as it was a 1200 dollar cat (due to aputating a back leg) I said we paid to remove the leg because I loved that cat. I rehomed him for the same reason.

Since then Snip has killed 4 cats. He shows no signs of aggression to cats. He looks like he 'loves' cats (well in a way he does) He looks like he just wants to play. He barks and wags his tail if he sees one. But its not the kind of play any cat would like.

I wouldn't correct either. Its a great way to teach cat=correction. Therefore cats are bad. Some dogs might avoid cats after that. JRTs are more likley going to 'fix' the bad cat problem.