Excitement to Cats!

[Eugene]

We've recently adopted our 1st greyhound and although he's been labelled as cat trainable, we would like some advice base on your experience etc.

We do not have a cat in our house and do not intend to get any in the future, however our windows are from the floor to the ceiling and being on the 2nd level, our grey has the ability to look outside on our street in full view.

When he sees a cat across the road at the end of the driveway, he will often be fine and just stares at it or makes a little whine.

However when its close to our home, like on the street or just across on the footpath, he will bark, whine and gets quite excited.

My question is, what would you do in that instance or even before he gets excited?

I would usually call him over and if he does (50% of the time), i would praise or give him treats......he would then head back to the window.

While on a walk, he tried to go after a cat running across the road too which I understand its in their prey drive. But do you walk away from the target or just continue walking and pretend nothing has happened?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide  

Edited October 30, 2019 by Eugene

[HeyRunDog]

If you're out walking a quick tug on the lead say NO firmly and keep on going.

[MerseyGrey]

Cat at the window...I wouldn’t even try to correct this. The cat is safe, the dog is safe so no big deal. If we see one while out walking, or more usually, if he smells one (his back straightens and he starts to walk with purpose rather than meandering along), I shorten his lead and brace myself for the inevitable pull. It’s easier to control him now I use a harness. Then I will pull gently on his lead and encourage him to walk on. It’s harder if we see a cat as he wants to follow it but usually when he realises he can’t have it he gives up.

While I don’t want to deal with the aftermath of extracting a cat from his mouth, I’ve never felt that training a dog to be cat friendly to be worthwhile for us. We don’t have cats in the house and I just make sure he’s under control while on walks. Not everyone will feel the same, but I think you will find that the term ‘cat friendly’ doesn’t always extend to all cats. Getting along with a cat that lives with your hound doesn’t necessarily translate to ignoring strange cats that your dog might see as fair game. I think it depends on the dog

[palmettobug]

I have three cats and two greys now--they all get along inside the house. But OH BOY, when we are out walking, that's a whole different story. They both want to go meet that cat (or possum, or with Fuzzy, THAT SQUIRREL!!), so I have to say in the VOG "NO CAT" and pull them along and keep walking. Fuzzy's squirrel obsession takes the form of statuing and staring--I got her a harness and it is a lot easier to get her moving with that opposed to the martingale. I say "let's go" or "keep walking" in a happy tone. She is doing a LOT better than when I first got her, she did a backflip on leash trying to get a squirrel out of a tree!

[lifeingrey]

There are a lot of helpful posts I have found on here in regards to the walking situation, as for in the house/through the window I wouldn't be concerned. I would think rewarding him for breaking his attention on the cat is good, but not sure if it's worthwhile.

For the walks, both of my greys are very prey driven. My "older" girl (3 y.o.) we got at 18 months and I immediately started teaching her "leave it" by simply turning the opposite way from whatever she locked onto after saying "leave it" firmly. She learned that if she stiffened up, pulled, or was too excited that we would not get to walk that way. This worked very well for her and I didn't need to do much else except repetition. Our "younger" girl (2 y.o.) struggles with impulse control and is not as mature. She gets very upset and distracted even when I turn her away- and away and away- I keep her feet moving, mind thinking. She is getting better, but for her I had to break her concentration with a "clap" of my hands, "leave it", and turn away. Until she would walk calmly we might switch the direction once or twice. You have to be consistent, I'm no dog trainer but this has worked for us.

I would add in treats if your grey is food motivated. Reward him for breaking the attention and focusing on you. You could try teaching him "watch me". I've heard people do that by keeping the treats in their own mouth (hot dog, chicken, etc), saying the command, and once the dog looks at their face "spitting" the treat to them. If it works, it works. I'm sure you could also use your hands but you want them to be rewarded immediately for looking at your face. Either way, it's a good tool to have in any kind of stressful situation.

[Eugene]

6 hours ago, palmettobug said:

I have three cats and two greys now--they all get along inside the house. But OH BOY, when we are out walking, that's a whole different story. They both want to go meet that cat (or possum, or with Fuzzy, THAT SQUIRREL!!), so I have to say in the VOG "NO CAT" and pull them along and keep walking. Fuzzy's squirrel obsession takes the form of statuing and staring--I got her a harness and it is a lot easier to get her moving with that opposed to the martingale. I say "let's go" or "keep walking" in a happy tone. She is doing a LOT better than when I first got her, she did a backflip on leash trying to get a squirrel out of a tree!

Oh boy that backflip. I remembered the time when mine did a side flip and landed on his side with a thud. No whimper or whine but i think that thought him not to pull hard on the harness!!

[Eugene]

6 hours ago, lifeingrey said:

There are a lot of helpful posts I have found on here in regards to the walking situation, as for in the house/through the window I wouldn't be concerned. I would think rewarding him for breaking his attention on the cat is good, but not sure if it's worthwhile.

For the walks, both of my greys are very prey driven. My "older" girl (3 y.o.) we got at 18 months and I immediately started teaching her "leave it" by simply turning the opposite way from whatever she locked onto after saying "leave it" firmly. She learned that if she stiffened up, pulled, or was too excited that we would not get to walk that way. This worked very well for her and I didn't need to do much else except repetition. Our "younger" girl (2 y.o.) struggles with impulse control and is not as mature. She gets very upset and distracted even when I turn her away- and away and away- I keep her feet moving, mind thinking. She is getting better, but for her I had to break her concentration with a "clap" of my hands, "leave it", and turn away. Until she would walk calmly we might switch the direction once or twice. You have to be consistent, I'm no dog trainer but this has worked for us.

I would add in treats if your grey is food motivated. Reward him for breaking the attention and focusing on you. You could try teaching him "watch me". I've heard people do that by keeping the treats in their own mouth (hot dog, chicken, etc), saying the command, and once the dog looks at their face "spitting" the treat to them. If it works, it works. I'm sure you could also use your hands but you want them to be rewarded immediately for looking at your face. Either way, it's a good tool to have in any kind of stressful situation.

Thanks for this and I'll try the "going the other way" method and hopefully that does the job. He went absolutely mental the other day ( a huge tug and leap) when a collie was off leash running along the footpath with its owner on a bike. I guess he wanted to race him