Jump to content

Possible Space Agression?


Guest joviemom

Recommended Posts

Guest joviemom

I brought home my dog in October and she has been amazing!

 

There is one issue that I would love some suggestions for (and also feedback on if I am handling it correctly).

 

 

When Jovie is laying down in her bed I can touch her as much as I want, she has never shown any form of aggression towards me at all or to any person. Now when she is sleeping/laying down and the cat goes near her, she will generally give the cat a gowl/large bark (sometimes a stand up and lunge). I have only seen her do this maybe 5 times since October.

 

My cat is overly curious and cant help himself but to sniff her feet when she is sleeping. What I have done in the past when she growls is give her a soft ah ah, and she stops and looks at me instead of looking at the cat.

 

Whenever I cannot supervise them together she is muzzled and I also muzzled her around my nieces (and explained to them that when she is laying down, you cannot touch her).

 

I feel like if she was truly cat aggressive she would have tried to eat the cat by now (or shown true aggression), but what I am seeing is more of a "STOP YOU ARE ANNOYING ME!!!" type of behavior instead of a "you look delicious" type of behavior.

 

Any suggestions you all have would be greatly appreciated! (this goes for suggestions with my "in your face cat" too lol) I know she is such a sensitive dog that I want to make sure I am starting her off on the right foot and not setting her up to fail!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bu will let me do anything I want to him at any time including when laying in his bed. But, he can get grumpy with other dogs bothering him while hes lying down. My suggestion is that any tone the cat starts getting close to her, is to throw get a treat before she starts growling. She'll start to learn that when the cat is near, good things happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If she was a cat zapper your cat would already be dead. It's understandable that she doesn't want to have her feet sniffed by a cat while she is sleeping. With time as the cat gets used to her s/he will probably stop sniffing at her while she's sleeping. You can help your kitty out by trying to make comfortable/safe situations with an awake Jovie. So if Jovie doesn't mind you sitting on her bed with her while she's awake you could do that and then encourage your cat to come over. S/he should feel safer since you are there to control the situation. And Jovie will be awake so she shouldn't feel the need to growl at the cat (unless she is space aggressive as opposed to sleep aggressive).

Kristie and the Apex Agility Greyhounds: Kili (ATChC AgMCh Lakilanni Where Eagles Fly RN IP MSCDC MTRDC ExS Bronze ExJ Bronze ) and Kenna (Lakilanni Kiss The Sky RN MADC MJDC AGDC AGEx AGExJ). Waiting at the Bridge: Retired racer Summit (Bbf Dropout) May 5, 2005-Jan 30, 2019

Like us on Facebook!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Giselle

I was never one for hand-eye coordination. So, in times like these, I preferred a spoonful of peanut butter taped to a long stick. A ruler works, too! If your dog doesn't love peanut butter, try canned chicken baby food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry. I'm not seeing a problem here.

 

Your animals are communicating with each other.

 

Your dog is making it clear she does not welcome the cat's advances.

 

It's up to you to let the cat know what the dog means since clearly she doesn't understand. I find a well timed squirt with the water bottle when my cat is annoying George works wonders.

 

Your dog has every right to tell the cat to buzz off. If she intended to hurt the cat, she would have.


Hamish-siggy1.jpg

Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jaws4evr

I agree with you, your dog is telling the cat to back off. Unfortunately even those kinds of warnings can escalate into a bite, which would be very bad for your cat (being a small animal) even if your GH wouldn’t mean to maim the cat.

 

The dog also clearly doesn’t question your “rights” as a pack member to come to her in her space, however does question the rights of the cat!

 

I’d do what one poster said, and sit with GH on the bed, and have the cat come over and interact. Use treats and attention-rewarding with the GH, and respect if the GH gets uncomfortable with the cat. The idea is, good things happen when cat comes over!

 

You can also discourage the cat from going up to the dog by using a squirt bottle. The cat isn’t doing anything wrong but IMO should be discouraged for its own safety.

 

We have dogs and cats in our house, and we also discourage our dogs from any sort of assertive behavior towards the cats. No staring, no following, no nudging or playing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...