My Dog!

Question
My husband and I just bought a 4 month old German Shepherd puppy. When we first brought him home he was quit shy but after a few days he started to warm up to us an explorer the house. We also have a cat and soon after we brought him home he started to eat the cats poop what can we do about that. he also like to chase after the cat and pounce on top of him and when we dicipline him for it he just goes right back at the cat I am afraid that he is going to hurt the cat because at times he will lay right on top of the cat and he will hit him with his paw. Due to this we have to shut the cat in one of our spare rooms with his food and litter box just so we can get some slppe cause otherwise the pup will go after the cat in the middle of the night and we would be geting up 5 times a night just to keep him from doing that. Please tell me what we should do about this.
Thank You For Your Time
Angela Roberts

Answer
Hi Angela,  All dogs eat cat poop.  The best way to explain this is to compare it to human food.  The reason dogs eat cat poop is because cat food is richer than dog food. So what comes out the other end is also richer.  Sort of like human cheesecake being cat food.  Unfortunately dogs like the cheesecake. :(  There is no way to stop this except to keep them away from it.
As far as the cat is concerned, this is just common puppy behavior as well as typical herding behavior for a herding dog which is what a GSD is.  What you need to do is have several spray bottles filled with water around the house so that you can grab them quickly.  Every time he starts to chase the cat spray him with the bottle and tell him "no".  This will teach him to stop chasing the cat as well as teach him that he can be corrected from a distance which will help him for future training.  Hope this helps,

Dawn