Dog is OK with house cats but barn cats are prey

[Brnord]

Hi everyone -

We have an indoor cat and my German Shorthair often sleeps in the same bed with her despite having a very strong prey drive - never chases her or shows any hunting instinct around her. I use him for pheasant hunting and encourage him to run off any unwanted visiting varmints on our property.

The neighbor cat just had kittens and we decided to let our kids keep two in the barn (we’re done with new indoor cats). They are about 12 weeks old and have just decided the confines of the barn are no longer interesting which led to their introduction to my GSP.

He relentlessly stalks and points them, if I weren’t standing by to give commands (very well behaved dog) he’d give chase at a moments notice. Sooner or later, they are going to have to live together without supervision - the cats wont stay in the barn and the dog will drive me nuts if he isn’t outside burning energy most of the day.

Any suggestions for making this work that won’t result in little kid tears over kittens becoming dog food?

Thanks!

[make_x_it_x_so]

This is a tough one, and I don’t have a complete answer/plan, but I’d start with LOTS of positive reinforcement work for IGNORING the kittens.

[SugarCubes]

I have yet to figure out how to keep one of my Boxers from chasing my barn cat, so no help there, but I did have a cat door installed on the tack room door so that if my barn cat sees the “evil” dog outside he can run in the tack room for safety! Could you do something like that? Give the cats a safe place to get away from the dog?

[Manni01]

I have the same problem and my barn cat solved the problem, by only coming down when there are no dogs around. She lives in the attic of my barn, has her letterbox and her feed bowls up there and seems very happy because she is very safe up there. During the night she comes down and catches rats…

[js]

if you haven’t already, might cross post to The Menagerie forum, may get more responses.

[Brnord]

Thanks everyone. The barn is just a 48x60 metal building with some stalls, hay, tractor/implements, “horsey stuff” and a workbench. There are plenty of places for the cats to “escape” - their favorite being the hay bales, but nothing like a separate tack room.

The cats have simply dug a hole under the big sliding door to get out. The dog can’t use it and the cats can always get back in that way, but if he were to catch them too far away he could run them down without breaking a sweat.

I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye, doing positive reinforcement and using the e-collar if needed but am certainly open to other ideas. Thanks so far and I’ll definitely cross post - I see now there is a sticky on this forum where maybe this isn’t the right place.

Thanks!

[rockymouse]

I’ve cat-broken two high prey dogs. One person holds the cat and gives it affection. Other person brings in the dog and, using very high value treats, rewards the dog for making eye contact with the handler and ignoring the cat.

First time can be a minute or less. Add a bit of time each session. Go to town with praise for eye contact.

We’d do this multiple (very brief) times a day. Really, within a matter of a week or two, the dogs were settled and easy with the cat, just as they were with the house cat they’d long ago accepted.

Any other loose cat encountered on the place was not so safe, however.

[Babble]

My parents have two hunting dogs as well (English Setters) who LOVE to chase the barn cats (they don’t live with house cats either due to my father’s allergies). We live in an area with lots of coyotes, and our vet is convinced our cats have lasted partly because they have learned to be afraid of dogs, so I’ve come to see the chasing as a good thing. I agree with SugarCubes - we’ve given the cats some safe spaces (the loft, which the dogs can’t get to, and the grain room), and they do just fine. They are smart enough to know when the dogs aren’t around, and are vary savvy about avoiding them (and climbing trees or haystacks when they need to). Can you keep a stall door shut that the cats could jump in to if need be? Not sure of your exact setup, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

[crosscreeksh]

A shock collar is really your friend!! Any stalking in a radius of the barn cat gets a zop. It makes them think the cat is electric and they should stay away!! We have a HIGH drive Kelpie who would love to wack a barn cat, but he has been schooled!!!

[walkinthewalk]

Of my three dogs, the Catahoula/Pit Bull mix is like the OP’s dog. Fortunately for me, I have a 22 lb strong alpha barn cat that won’t take any of this dog’s bullying.

The dog gets nailed on the nose a few times, and we follow that up with a good verbal scolding (to the dog).

He wants to be the boss of something and nobody will let him - including one of my horses that knows it’s ok to chase any dog that barks at him, nips at his heels, or otherwise just looks at him wrong, lollol

The dog just turned two. He is stubbornly relentless as it’s been a year since we rescued him. His antics with the barn cats are becoming less and less. He gets chastised everytime he tries to pounce on a barn cat, even if the alpha cat has literally sat up on his haunches and gave the canine nose a good boxing, lollol

[red_mares]

[QUOTE=make x it x so;8917380]
This is a tough one, and I don’t have a complete answer/plan, but I’d start with LOTS of positive reinforcement work for IGNORING the kittens.[/QUOTE]

We went the other route, it was quick and easy. Set the Jack Russell up to go after the cats in a controlled environment. She took the bait and was instantly punished. Did it maybe twice. Never had a problem after that and it was an adult dog.

I did the same thing with the kitten and the dryer. Set little cat up to fail, plucked her out of it and smacked her hard when she climbed in, never went near it again. There are some things it’s easier not to mess around with.

[allpurpose]

Our barn cats taught our dogs all on their own. Claws in the face are a powerful lesson. Our dogs did their best to go the other way when a cat was in the aisle. If they had to pass them, they gave the cats a W-I-D-E birth. It was hilarious to watch!

[Pocket_Pony]

I’ve had my dogs go after two of my house cats when they were outside. One cat twice - all three incidents required stitches.

Our solution was to keep the cats inside at the last house.

After we moved last year, we put up fencing around our house area - probably an acre of no-climb. We moved one of our house cats to the barn (he was feral when we got him and never was a good house cat) and we also inherited a semi-feral barn cat. Well, OUR cat is a scaredy-cat and is wary of the dogs and pretty much stays in the barn area. The inherited cat was too brave for her own good and jumped over the fence where she was promptly killed by one of my dogs.

If anything, I’d say a shock collar might work. But you have to be around to monitor any potential interaction such that there is a high correlation between cat interest and the shock. It must be reinforced in the beginning every time. If you encourage your dog to go after other varmints, you will have to be very clear and have impeccable timing to teach your dog which you want it to go after and which you don’t.

A good fence is probably a good start, but in my case wasn’t a complete fix. If the dog is aggressive enough, the cats would hopefully stay away from the dog-side of the fence.

I actually do take one of my dogs up to the barn with me at night. She wears a shock collar but I’ve barely ever had to use it (I do use the vibrate function now if I need to get her attention - it is plenty). She and the barn cat get along fine and touch noses and the cat even rubs against the dog. Were it my other dog, though . . . I think she is the big killer.