Dog Behavior Heelps A-SAP

Pepper97 · July 2009

My dad's in mid-live crisis. xD He REALY wants a cat again, as we had to put our 20 year old cat down a few years ago, and now we have a dog-aggressive Great Dane. My mommeh said that if I can train Roscoe(GD) with cats, we can rescue some from the shelter. My mimi just found a new stray she's feeding and has neutered, so we can bring it here to socialise with Roscoe before we get ours. How do I fix it? He's GIANT and we've tried saying SSHHT like Cesar does. But then again, we were all REALY, UBER tense and trying to soothe him. But he goes into a trance. His eyes get big and he drools and shakes. 178 lbs. of GD sitting infront of a 15 lbs. of cat. Coarse, he's fabulous on a leash. Anyone have experiance with this scenerio? We are definately gonna try it.

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

Well, I'm not the expert on great danes but I'm betting on them being the same to socialize with cats as any other dog just about. And I've found that I can handle a larger dog just as good as mi dad who is about 7 inches taller and weighs -alot- more than me. When I train any dog (primarily mi aunt's/uncle's/cousin's/their pap's dog) I hit right behind the side of his mouth like Ceasar does. But from what I read I'm guessing that he's really aggressive and not easy to handle? I would bet on putting him in a crate or cage and let the cat in it's crate beside the dane about 2 foot away so he can get it's sent and make a loud sound every time he acts up, not the little sshhst sound that he makes (I've found that it rarely works)..then after he calms down more move the cat's cage closer and so on until you get their cages to be rather close facing the other. But if it doesn't work (I'm betting it will if he had a long walk/jog/run beforehand) I would take him for a long run/jog/bike ride/hike to tire him out alot and then put a muzzle on him and try to have the only the cat in the crate and let him sniff around but tap him or make a really squealy/loud sound if he attempts to attack the crate (probably best if you stand close to the cat's crate). hope it helped, I'm baseing that on you not being big/stong/etc enough to hold him back because of his size. no offense.

NickelbackLuver · July 2009

If you're going to follow whats said above... Any GOOD thing he does, make sure you reward it & praise him a lot. If he's calm around the cat, make sure you let him know he's being good by giving him a cookie or something. My first springer was a little agressive when we brought my puppy (Tucker) home. We were told to have them meet outside, not in the house where it was her territory. OR if you do let them meet in the house, do it in a room that he's not normally in. A cat isnt as easy to keep away from a dog as a puppy xD But, when you bring your cat home, Id suggest keeping him on a leash whenever he's i nthe same room as the cat, and still praising him for being good, and scolding him for being bad. The loud noise thing does usually snap them out of agressive actions (though Ive also heard it can make them worse). Im not a dog trainer in any way, so... Id suggest possibly calling one to make sure you're training him properly

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

wow. I almost forgot about that last part nickel. o.0 it actually happened with mi cousin's dog. >.> but he's smaller so he's actually really easy to handle, aggressive or not. -shrugs- I just force him to keep walking, coz I don't use his collar when I'm walking him, I just use the leash.

ilyanthony1995 · July 2009

well, i watch ceasar mallian a LOT and like you said in your post...your tense? you cant be tense, or scared dogs can tell when you are. They can sense your feelings. i would suggest taking him on a walk before introducing him to the cat again. and when you do put the cat in the cage at first. lay Rosco on his side (that means he is submitting to him) and put the cage next to him and DONT let him get him..he HAS to submit to the cat..then IF you feel safe enough (cause i know he must be HUGE) you can take the cat out of the cage and make him submit to him again. Hope that helps

Kidashka · July 2009

You could always try to distract him around the cat...Get a favorite toy or treat and every time he is around a cat reward him. First distract him so the attention is on you. If you always punish him when he is intent on his actions then he will asociate the cat as a bad thing and will never learn the difference. Also when he ignores the cat and does something else instead reward him. it should soon click with him that ignoreing and not reacting to the cat he gets rewarded. Positive asscoiation has worked with a lot of my animals so maybe it can help you too. And it would definately be a good idea to say his name to get his attention and treat reward training before you introduce the cat. If you would like more ides let me know because i know many methods for dog training.

â™¥Andreaâ™¥ · July 2009

Everything mentioned above is great advice, so I'm just gonna repeat most of it. I would say keep him on a leash and don't overwhelm him. Make sure you make this little event all about him and the cat. Try to keep as few people as possible in the room (which might have to be two since he's probably massive xD ). Don't, don't, DON'T yell at him (I would suggest a clicker instead). First rule of dog training. And only intervene physically if he, you, or the cat are in immediate danger. Make sure you do ask him to submit. But don't force it. That'll just make him angry. If he seems to be agitated by the CAT, make sure it's not just the situation, remove him from the room, walk him, feed him, play with him, something like that to take his mind of the kitteh. Then calmly bring him back in like nothing happened. You might have to do this over a couple days... And most of all RELAX, there is nothing worse for a dog in a new situation than tension. Pretend you're just going for alittle playdate :]

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Dog Behavior Heelps A-SAP

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