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dog and three cats

19 17:48:19

Question
Hi, I saw a question you were just asked about the dog and 3 cats. I have a femaGerman Shepherd dog, 1 year old who acts exactly like the dog described in that question. She goes crazy around my cat and also other dogs. My cat is a very dominant male, 6 years old. The dog LOVES the cat and all other dogs and wants to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY. Forunately we got the dog as a puppy and they were able to work it out. The dog is still after the cat all the time and the cat puts up with quite a bit of it now that he knows the dog is not going to hurt him on purpose (occasionally steps on his tail though) and then chases the dog around the house, hissing and hitting (but rarely scratching)  when he gets tired of her antics. I just wanted to let you know that the dog described (particularly because of the scratching, whining and acting the same around other dogs) sounds to me like she may only want to play. Doesn't mean they can work it out though. Just a thought.


Answer
Hi, You got your dog as a puppy, there dog they got as an adult which is a totally different situation.  If you get the dog as a puppy, yes they can work it out and most of the time the cat will let the dog know the rules, but if the dog is older and hasn't had experience with cats, especially a strong herding/prey driven breed like a GSD, you can have plenty of problems.  I have seen many adult GSD's take out a cat very quickly.  I have raised them for 20 years, and depending on their breeding, some of them have very high prey drives and will kill a cat, especially in the heat of chasing it.  I'm glad yours gets along with cats and has the good stable temperment not to be overdriven in his prey drive.  Thanks for writing.

Dawn