Hello,

This may be slightly long-winded but helps you to get a full picture.

I have a 5mth old puppy 'Tank' and 6mth old kitten 'Teddy' who is a indoor cat.  They get on tremendously however they playfight with each other non-stop and this is beginning to become a problem.  Tank is an English Mastiff X Akita and is a very large pup and quite often gets too rough whilst playing with Teddy, but with Teddy being a 'Ragdoll' breed of cat which is the most docile of all cat breeds, he will just lay there and take whatever Tank does and is not teaching him when he goes too far. 

I never leave them unsupervised and have a water spray bottle and a shaker to use when Tank does get too rough and not forgetting when Teddy winds him up.

I have just recently stopped them from playfighting altogether before Teddy gets hurt, however they still are together most the day. I've got mixed feelings about whether to let them playfight and hope Teddy will put Tank in his place or to carry on with no playfighting.  My vet said let them play so did my dog trainer but i'm still uncertain what to do.  I've wondered that if I do let them playfight, once Tank is fully grown he will seriously injure Teddy.

Any advice please? :-)

Surely Teddy wouldn't put up with it if he was being hurt? Cat's aren't stupid, if he didn't like Tank's attention he would either give him a scratch or run off & hide. I have a GSD & small terrier, they make a hell of a noise when play fighting, but I hardly ever hear one of them yelp, & Tilly is small enough to go underneath the armchair if she needs to get away. It's normally poor Zak though who is trying to get away from her. It's probably the size issue that is worryng you? If it gets too much, it's easy to split them up & put the cat into a seperate room, or put a child's safety gate up on the door, the cat can then escape if he wants too?

my cat and gsd pup, use to sort of playfight,the cat tolerates the dog, and they used to sleep together in my bed....fred my gsd is now 8mths old,and it has become a big problem,he is way too rough with the cat, only the other day i wasnt quick enough to stop him,and he dragged the cat by his leg off the fence....im considering getting professional help with this before fred seriously hurts the cat,hes not aggressive, hes just way way too rough!

this is also what we have done,put a safety gate up at the kitchen door so the cat can escape, but i feel the cat is having a rough time of it

Hi shelleybel, sorry to hear about your GSD being too rough with your cat, after reading this its just what i'm worried might happen in the near future.  Tank has already taken a liking to dragging Teddy by the tail!  Have you tried spraying water or using a can or bottle with pasta or something to distract your GSD?  I used a spray bottle and it was effective but only for a short time.  Now I shake a bottle with pasta in and as soon as Tank or Teddy hear it they seperate but I find myself watching over them 24-7 so i'm wondering whether i'm wasting my time??? Grrrrrrr and they say pets relieve stress :-)

Video's below show Tank at 8 and 13wks old playfighting with Teddy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AkFwr_Y_i4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG5b8pxTQ8E

Looks like the cat instigates and controls the play and the pup is being gentle. 

Cat certainly looks like it could easily get away if it wanted to, so as long as cat has an escape route I would leave them to it.

Reminds me of how my Dads cat used to play with my Kizi when she was a pup 10 years ago.

They look fine to me. I think the cats having a great time and the pup has a friend to play with. If the cat was unhappy it would let the dog know with her claws. or by giving a yelp as mine dose at times when my dog gets to ruff. see video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNVMrc-bTSk
I think the only bit your cat hates is the water pistol lol

I'd be careful using a water pistol and possibly the rattle bottle - the last thing you want is Tank learning that when he plays with the kitten, something unpleasant happens.  Dogs (and cats) learn by association - he could learn that kitten makes nasty things happen!

It's nowhere near as extreme, but this effect is documented with dogs that live with an "invisible fence" (those underground electric fences for gardens) - many dogs have made negative associations with other dogs, people, locations etc because of a shock and have learned to either try and avoid that thing/person etc or actively try and get rid of it to avoid the shock (i.e. attack it).

Like I said, a water pistol is nowhere near as extreme as that example, but it does show how associative learning can backfire.  With a dog that's going to grow as big as Tank probably will, I'd want all interactions with a kitten to be good ones!

I'd work with timeouts if the cat genuinely won't stop him - when he gets too rough, remove him (not the cat, always him) from the room for a minute so he learns that rough play is not allowed.

our old cat used to play with the dogs all the time, they'd see it they could sniff her without her swiping them, they thought it was hilarious. the cat would sit on the couch, very sphinx-like and the dogs would sit in front of her (mischief making faces on) and lunge to sniff her, she (lightning fast) would smack them on the nose (with claws btw, often left them bleeding quite badly). if they left she'd go and get them back so wasn't unhappy and they thought it was funny. mine are big to howarth so don't stress about the size, cats are fast and there attacks very nippy, so he'd more than likely make it away before damage was done.

whats your dog doing thats worrying you? btw i;ve also heard of a ragdoll who's a bit of a masochist, refused to be a house cat and comes in with burrs stuck in tis coat that need pulling out. apparently it goes mental (in a good way) when its getting its fur tugged etc, seems to like the pain (weird cat)- maybe is a breed trait?

yeah! the cat starts it! pup looks like he's being careful so i wouldn;t worry to much, even at that age he could have done some damage so is obviously careful. i also noted your cats got an escape point behind the tv (doesn;t look like pup can get in) so theres a place to escape to.

gorgeous puppy btw

It's your poor dog who needs to escape from the cat! Lovely videos, I also think your dog is being very gentle, don't worry, they are definitely playing.

after just watching your videos, i would say this is very mild compared to fred and my cat bullet.i have to step in or else the dog is all over the cat,so much so that the cat cannot move!
im going to seek professional help for this,because there is absolutely nothing more i can do,i am always on 24 hr alert with them both!

Having just watch your videos i found myself staring at the same behaviour my dog has with my cats. Boston & our male cat Fagin (1 year old) play fight. Fagin winds Boston up by chasing his tail, nibbling his ears or swinging a left hook. Boston just chases them & will lie & nudge them. Fagin & Boston (who is 2 yrs old) get on so well, B goes nuts when Fagin dissappears during the day. Yet the female cat Nancy gets left out most of the time. :( They all let each other know when they've had enough. B will tell them off by giving a deep growl & the cats back off, the cats let B know by running off. They all share everything....when the cats were 10 weeks old they slept with B in his bed. He never minded but now they are all bigger so no room for 3 of them in his bed. I don't really watch over them as they all get on so well & B tends to listen if i say "play nicely" if he is getting too much for the cats to handle.