springer spaniel and cats

Question
My wife and I rescued a male English Springer Spaniel 3 years ago.  he was dropped off at a humane society's night drop-no history.  Our vet estimated him to be 1 1/2 years old at the time.  He's always been a healthy, great dog excepting a couple minor problems, one of which is that he torments ours two male cats who are 6 and 4 years old.  Both are front-declawed.  (which I would never do again, having new knowledge)  We use wooden gates to close off the basement when he is out of his cage and the cats head down there.  He's caged at night and when we're not home. We both work days.  He's completely fine in the cage.  He even goes in there to nap.  We thought that after a reasonable amount of time he'd get use to the cats, but that hasn't happended.  We know several people who adopt dogs and they don't have any problem with their cats.  Will our dog ever change his behavior and is there anything we can do to acclimate them?  He chases, they run.  Occasionally the younger cat even urinates, probably from fright.  Therefore we haven't pushed the relationship.

thanks!

Answer
Hi Jamie!

What your dog needs is training class! YES you can stop the chasing of the pussycats, but he has to learn that cats are a NO NO in the house. :) (I had a similar problem with my dog years ago)

What he needs is to learn how to please you,this keeps him occupied in the meantime and distracts him from the cats.

Positive/negative reinforcement is going to be necessary in his case.  With a great trainer, your dog will learn to leave the cats alone.

Also he MAY be lonely, and a companion may be needed for him.

Hope this helps!