German Sheperd and Cats

Question
Hi,

I hope you can help with this one, it's more a behavior problem that I'm having than anything.  I have a three year old German Sheperd and a fifteen year old cat.  They usually get along fairly well... meaning they just ignore each other, but I just got a little kitten two weeks ago and now the problems are starting.  Buddy (my dog) has absolutley fallen in love with the kitten and has become very protective of it, so if my older cat goes anywhere near the kitten Buddy goes nuts and barks and growls a her.  Today he nipped at the older cat just for walking near the kitten.  I'm not sure how to handle this. I'd hate to give away the kitten but I have to be fair to my older cat, it would be an absolute last resort to give the kitten away.  

I hope you have some advise for me that I can try out.

Thanks in advance.

Sandy

Answer
Hi Sandy,  The best thing to do is have a bunch of water bottles around (with water in them) where you can grab them quick, and everytime the shephered even looks cross-eyed at the old cat, squirt at his face with the water and tell him no.  He will start to understand that that behavior is unacceptable and that you can correct him from a distance without having to go after him.  Soon you'll just be able to raise the bottle and he'll ignore the cat.  You want several bottels around as you don't want to go searching for one when he is acting up.  Also, timing is everything.  If you don't catch him with 5 seconds of doing wrong he'll have no idea what he has done, so you want to remember that when correcting him for whatever he is doing.  Hope this helps,

Dawn