Just Adopted A Greyhound (Cats And Whining)

[ejallow]

Hey everyone. I adopted my buddy on Friday. He's been super good about his crate, walks and the cats. However, as of Sunday, he began whining at the cat when she walks by the crate? Today, i allowed him to have some out-of-crate time, while he was muzzled and leashed. He approached the cat, who was relaxing on the chair. He sniffed her, and she hissed back at him...he began to whine. Everytime he does something unsavory, in regards to the cats, i tell him "NO!" and tug the collar. Also, when i try to distract him, he'll pay attention sometimes. The adoption organization listed him as cat trainable, yet he almost dragged me into an alley trying to chase a pigeon...*sigh*, don't know what to do

[palmettobug]

First, DEEP CLEANSING BREATHS!! It's not even been a week. Many of us have cats and greyhounds, so it's not impossible. My Johnny gets along fine with my cats and my mom's cats, but wants to devour her cockatiel.

 

Muzzle on at all times to begin. Give the cat escape routes, such as under the couch or behind a secured baby gate, and don't scold the cat if he smacks the dog--that is the cat's warning "get out of my face!". Whenever the dog shows any sign of interest, a sharp "NO CAT" from you. Work on the "look at me command" with plenty of high value treats to distract.

Edited September 26, 2016 by palmettobug

[RedHead]

Outside vs. Inside prey drive are totally different things, so I wouldn't really worry too much if he chases things outside. Your grey sounds completely workable with cats, I would just give it some time. There are some greyhounds who completely fixate on cats and want to lunge and chase them right away. If your dog doesn't do this, he is probably very trainable. The whining could just be a mix of anxiety or excitement. With daily exposure the novelty will probably wear off and they will get used to each other. Everything is so new for your dog, so he is probably just a bit overwhelmed.

 

Keep the muzzle on for now but try to have them together a lot (supervised of course). Be careful what you are correcting your dog for...curious sniffing, watching the cat (in a non-fixated way) and whining are likely just your pup being curious or trying to figure things out. If your cat hisses and swats back that takes care of most of your training lol Most dogs quickly figure out who the boss is. Try to relax and breath and give it a good few weeks before worrying too much.

[Trudy]

Yep, inside vs outside are 2 entirely different things. My Jet and Ryan were fine with a gpig and bunny inside, but outside, they caught baby squirrels and Ryan snagged himself a bunny. It would never have crossed their mind to catch them if they were inside... or if it did, they wouldn't act on it

[dostacos]

my boy chases the ground squirrel so fast they never make it though the fence, IF the bunny's are far enough away they will make it out of the yard. the TREE squirrels...well after the first two, they don't try.

 

BUT in the house, he actually lets HIS cat lick him, and they are always greeting in the "usual manner"

[ejallow]

Thanks so much. Also, how do i post pictures? I would like to share one with yall.

[GeorgeofNE]

I believe you can only post pictures in "cute and funny" when you're a new member. You can read how to in the many threads in "technical questions about greytalk" forum.

[Guest xengab]

HI!

Whining usually means my boy is stressed while thinking. He did this in his dog training class too when he was comfortable it stopped.

The cat is a new thing, he wants to say hi, he wants to know the cats smell. HOW does he react when the cat growls/hiss? Back up and give space? or just keep being rude and sniff? My boy is cat friendly, he will see a cat a want to say hi with a quick sniff, tail wag and then walks off. Took him a few times to learn that cats don't want their butts sniffed, slapped on the nose by the cat and he backed off right away.

 

Never tell kitty off, kitty must rule the house. Feed the cat FIRST then the dog. It will take time for them to mesh and learn what each other is ok with.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I agree with what the others are saying, your dog sounds workable and like he's just curious. I wouldn't tug his collar and punish him for curiosity. Instead call his attention away from the cat and reward him for not fixating. That has the added bonus of associating the cat's presence with good things, and not with punishment.

 

Indoor and outdoor prey drive really are different things. The dog in the picture below is my former foster. I got a call one evening looking for a foster home to get him out of the local shelter so he could recover from his injuries in a home. The wounds were from the cat he had recently killed fighting back.

I agreed to take him in, knowing being crated at my place would be better than the shelter, and I can keep my cats safe with careful management. Clark came in and never looked twice at the cats. If he didn't have the wounds to prove it I wouldn't have believed he would kill one. When he was officially signed over from the shelter into our adoption program I got to see his surrender form, and finally learned it was an outdoor cat he killed.

This picture, with my cat, was taken only a few days later. He was adopted into a home with a cat as well, and even uses the cat as a pillow occasionally.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Wasserbuffel

[Guest xengab]

FYI cats can and DO attacks dogs when outside. I've had it happen to me, thankfully I was able to run away with my dog before it got close. And recently a cat attacked 3 pitt bulls, send two to the vets for stitches and the dog owner to the ER for stitches. Dogs walked by the cats house, cat ambushed.

 

We have a cat, so my dog was super confused by one charging at him all fluffed up and hiss/growling. I later found out there were kittens in that backyard and that was the mama.

[ejallow]

When hissed at, he backs away. You can tell he's a bit scared by it.

[palmettobug]

That's good!

[Guest budsmom]

If he's backing down from the cat you'll be fine. Just give it a little time.

[Guest bubbagumpshrimp]

He sounds fine. As everyone else said...his behavior so far sounds normal for a dog that's cat workable/tolerant/trainable (or however you want to put it). The first two weeks we had Barnaby, we kept his muzzle on him whenever he was around the cat. He did show some initial interest in her that concerned me a bit, but once he processed that she was just another member of the household...his interest dwindled somewhat. He still sniffs her on occasion, but that's about it.

 

Prey drive wise...as was already said...indoor vs. outdoor are two different things. I rarely have tension on the leash when I walk Barnaby. I give him a bit of slack and he just bee-bops along next to me, for the most part. Whenever he sees a cat outside though, he wants to go...investigate, lol. As far as dealing with when he gets tunnel vision on cats while on walks...I just start walking in the direction that we were headed...say "let's go" (in a calm voice) and he'll snap out of it in a few seconds.

 

Barnaby has a fenced backyard. As I put it to his mom..."anything that has such a poorly honed sense of survival (ex. Squirrel) that it hits the ground in the backyard is fair game. He has brought two squirrels to the back door as gifts for the family.