Hi well its been four long days and nights first letting naure take its course(it has not) and then introducing cat to dog , it seemed to be working albeit slowly ,with one cat .....the other will not come anywhere near the house! while browsing through this site i heard the cat flap,and found Charlie braveley entering the war zone , Lola forgot all of the earlier attempts at making friends, and went absolutely ballistic, in fact the worst she has been so far i had to hold her back, maybe four days is not long enough, but i have this awful gut feeling this isnt going to work ,surely there has to be a solution,to be honest Lola is so aggresive towards the cats its quite scary ,if she chases the cats like this how am i ever going to feel safe letting her of the lead?is this ever going to work ?

hi sue,
it will work you just need to give it more time i know it can stretch your patience,i was in the same situation with our 2 deerhounds.
other than putting her on the lead in the house when the cats are present and saying "NO" when she goes to chase them,i cant advise anything else,shes still young and only still a puppy (if i my memory serves me correctly) but it will calm down even if it dont seem like it at the moment.
your cats will eventually lose there cools and eventually scratch her,which should also put an end to it if they pluck the courage up to do so.
sorry i cant be of more help :(
jane

Hi Jane , its good to hear from you , i have tried the lead,she looks like a cartoon puppy legs, going 50 mph ,and yes you are right she is only six months old , in all other ways she is great , although she must have been punished or yelled at a lot where she was before , i had to tell her off today ,for some reason she has taken to peeing on all of our beds (we have had to wash all duvets etc ), still ciest la vie she is only a pup but when i told her off she put her ears right back,and sort of ran on the spot with her front legs she looked terrified ! i didnt even shout that loud , i know i should have then ignored her , but im afraid i couldnt , she ended up almost rolled into a ball ,it was so sad to see her so afraid,still any of that we can overcome and learn together , its just the cats ,it really is upsetting everyone .

Hi sue,
I have been thru this myself, two cats who were used to dogs decided that after a dog free time they wouldn't share their home with the devil incarnate. They retired upstairs only venturing down to the bottom of the stairs to the litter tray, any noise made them growl and snarl.
Every time pup saw them a chase was in order, and since chasing itself is an exciting reward this was a situation that needed sorting fast - being a bedlington terrier, pup was a dangerous breed for a cat to tangle with (very high prey drive).

This is how we dealt with it.
I put both cats in their cages with plenty of butter on their paws and other bits, pup was put on a lead and tethered in the living room so that he could move around but not bounce or start chasing. One cat in catbox was brought downstairs at a time and left on a small table a little above pups height in full view of pup but not too close for cat comfort. Pup was then given a tasty treat to distract from looking at the cat and to relax him. Cat was kept in the room for 15 minutes (at first, later building up eventually to 2 hours.) This was then repeated with the other cat. As the cat relaxed in the presence of the pup treats were offered to the cat, once they were being accepted the pup was moved a little closer, just enough to cause a little discomfort to cat but not too much.

This will take as long as it takes, pup was also taught not to bounce at the cats and not to chase or lunge towards the cats.
As pup became less interested in the cat a little more freedom was allowed until pup was able to approach cats quietly for a sniff (when they were asleep in the box)
When the cats were completely comfortable with pup walking round they were allowed out when pup was asleep (still on the lead) at first it was a quick sniff then dart up stairs but eventually they would sit on a lap if pup was asleep.

Pup was 16 weeks when we started this and it took two months to get to the stage where they could be in the same room together under supervision. This may have taken less time but we could only do the above when small child was in bed as we wanted everything low key and calm as possible. Since then they have reached an understanding, 1 cat became very bold for a while and would lie in wait to attack pup, pup would want to retaliate but during the above time had been taught 'OFF' thoroughly during exciting raggy tug games (a mere whisper 'off'!!) and responded well.

Jane is right patience and perseverance are the keys to solving this.

I hope the above helps you in some way although I am not saying it is definately the solution for you, merely hoping to give food for thought :)

Regards
Dill
Edited to say - arggg sorry its so long

hi sue i think your best bet is to get them slowly used to each other like dill suggested. the dog i had as a child loved cats (to play with!) but they never loved her back. whenever she saw a cat she would go tearing off as most dogs do and you could never get her back. the only thing that worked happened by complete chance - we were walking down the road and roxy saw a cat in a doorway - went bounding off towards it. we expected the cat to run off like they usually do but instead it just swiped at the dog - made her nose bleed a little :( but that was it - she never chased cats ever again! obviously i wouldn't advocate letting your cats fight with your dog but one day she will get swiped as jane said and learn her lesson!

Hi folks,thanks for taking the time to get back to me, i know i was starting to sound desperate! it is just that i still miss Chloe so very much, dont get me wrong i have no regrets about getting Lola ,already she is so much a part of our lives, Chloe had been poorly for some time and it was the first time i have ever had to make the decision to have an animal p.t.s. and it still reduces me to tears even now typing this, Lola is a quick learner and our walks are great (Chloe had not been able to go for proper walks for a long time ),sooooo its all a little daunting at the moment teenagers and raging hormones (bring on the H.R.T.) and 15years since my last pup and one cat who IS realy trying and the other who has not been seen for two days!! I shall try it your way Dill, it sounds like hard work ,but if it works it will be worth it ,and Luandarchie i wish my cats had a little more guts this has always been the case with cats and dogs i have had before, one good swipe and everyone knows their place !!!!! i shall persevere but thanks for the advice its truly appreciated .. watch this space Take care Sue T.

Hi Sue,
i was discussing this with my huband this morning over coffee (we were talking about your situation and the one we were in when we got our 2 deerhounds).
And he said remember when you did what was called a "remote punishment" with our two....and it got me thinking back to when my cats and dogs were not getting on our life was hell so i am sure yours is :(.
anyway i will explain, a "remote punishment" is something i feel a dog associates with the environment or the performance of the behavior and NOT the owner.
This can be an unpleasent noise...the sound of a can filled with pebbles or a squirt from a water pistol....it is important to pretend that the "punisher" is nothing to do with you ,and reward your dog for stopping what she is doing or ask her to respond to a command and then reward her.
and i remembered what stopped our 2 when thinking back to stop them chasing our cats...it was putting them both on a lead to restrain them from chasing our cats and when i felt comfortable enough to take the leads off them and i felt confident enough for them not to chase our cats...but the slightist hint that they were going to they had a "squirt" with a water pistol, and for stopping what they were both doing they got rewarded.
some may think that my method was cruel but it really did work.
jane.

Hi Jane, thanks for getting back to me , a friend called me yesterday with the same ideas ,she said it had worked with her Cairn Terrier and Great Dane, and her cats ,she said they were all, never the best of friends but things did improve,if we could just stop the chasing it would make life so much easier ,spitting ,cursing and barking i can handle , !also i contacted The R.S.P.C.A. and told them that i thought they should log onto Champdogs and read your email and all remarks and replies about Cass and pups,i also said we would like to hear their comments,let me know if you hear anything i will do likewise ,hope Cass and pups are well ,oh and regards to The Conquering Hero!(your husband) x

hi sue,

thank you for your kind comments:) cass is doing ok (only a few more days to go in the vets for her and the pups) my homecheck is in the morning for Sadie and if were suitable im sure very shortly this will be a madhouse once again:D
I hope that the chasing of your cats stops soon and some peace is restored within your household,your dog sounds just adorable but i know only too well that its getting you down,but i am confident everything will work out just fine and everything will calm down for you shortly.
jane.:)

Good luck Sue T
and just remember when it gets hard and you think pup is never going to learn, it's just giving her more opportunity to learn more thoroughly and the end result will be better.
Sadly one of my cats died suddenly (blood clot) last year but dog and remaining cat are getting on famously now, we return home to the pair curled up on the same chair!! :D :D
However this doesn't mean he wouldn't chase other cats outside but as he has a really good response to the 'off'' command it isn't a problem.

hi folks well as i sit here once again saying grazia for all the help ,Lola is laying on her sheepskin at my feet picture of contentment i hear you sigh !! sort of, Luisa has got Enzo in her room{he was the pus who vanished for two days !) still VERY edgy, but at least in the house ,even if it is a form of house arrest!!!!!!!John has got Charlie with him on our bed !SO we are all a little dispersed but under one roof , small steps ! people small steps !! thanks for your words of wisdom , very much appreciated Regards Sue T.