dogs and cats not getting along

Question
I have 2 pure bred GSD.  They are littermates.  Male and a female.  They 15 months old.  I also have 2 cats (both females, one is 5 years old and 1 is 4 years old).  I did not anticipate that my dogs and cats wouldn't get a long as prior to these two pups we had a GSD who lived with the cats from the time of their birth and the cats got along with her great.  She was older and was MUCH more calm than the two new rascals.  There was about a 6 month period after she died that there were no dogs and the cats ruled the house.  Then we got the two pups and brought them home.  They were very, very wild, as all puppies are.  They played with everything in sight, including the cats and scared the cats very much.  We did do the slow introduction and everyone got along pretty well when the pups were small.  But as they got larger and their barks developed they also started thinking that chasing the cats is a fun game.  We discourage this very much.  Both dogs have been through obedience training (CGC level).  They are very well behaved and very well trained dogs.  We have no pack order problems as we knew with two littermates we had to be very careful and have two very well trained dogs to avoid fighting.  (those two love each other sooo much...they are best friends and the friendliest pooches you'd ever meet!).  They love people very much and are fine with dogs of thier own size and play, play play.  However, small dogs...and apparently cats, are not something they like.  We can't figure out where we went wrong because they were socialized with small dogs at puppy school and in training classes.  
So...the behavior is this:  If the cats are out and taken by surprise the dogs will approach very calm and friendly, tails wagging, they will go in very gently to sniff the cat.  The cat will usually stay still for a moment but then freak out, start snarling and run for it's life at which point either dog thinks this is a fantastic game and will give great chase to the cats and bark excitedly.  The one cat goes immediately to a high place (usually my closet) and will not come down for hours until she hears the crates close at night (the dogs are crated at night ONLY to give the cats some peace of mind and let them have their time to go potty and be out.)  The other cat hides under the bed where she knows the dogs can put their snouts under (and they do) and at least 4x a day, she has screaming hissing fits and this excites the dogs and they get under and stare at her and either bark or wine.  

I don't know what to do to help them get a long.  Do you think it would be worth it to try the socialization trick with the cat (like we do with other dogs...slowly taking small steps and giving treats when the dog pays no attention to the cat?).  This may take years.  

I just want my cats to feel safe enough to be out and about and not have to hide in closets for their remaining years...and my boy to not get so, so excited that he breaks a leg trying to get upstairs when he hears them moving about.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that my dogs both now think it is their "job" to keep those pesky cats upstairs.  Any time the cats come down to the floor we are on the dogs immediately chase them back up and are only satisfied when they are in the closet/under the bed.  It's almost as if they think that is where they belong and that they are doing a good thing.  

I appreciate any advice, I hope I have provided enough information for you to help.

Shannon  

Answer
Hi Shannon;
I am so sorry you are having this problem, and I know you are very caring and worried about your babies, but you just have to excuse me for laughing so hard.
I get a mental movie of all you describe, and I can see the devilish looks on the dogs' faces.
Yep, they think the cats are playing chase with them.
I doubt they would harm the cats if they caught them.
Ty are still pretty young,and maybe still have a littly puppy in them,and having a littermate to be in cahoots with, they are having the time of their life.
Do the cats ever get outside?
The reason I ask this, if they have access to the outside and they have not left permanently, they are not really afraid, just decided they don't like the dogs, and aren't going to put up with them.
I have used animal massage to retrain some dogs, and take care of problems like excessive barking, aggression, fear of thunderstorms, aa well as getting a lot of pain relief from arthritis and Hip Dysplasia.
I think I found a goldmine when I got that video to learn the massages.
I watched a TV infomercial and orderd the video.
I saw them massage a dog that was aggressive and then lead it by another dog it had tried to attack 15 minutes before. It didn't even look at the other dog.
I am really more of a sceptic than that, but it was for the opain relief I ordered it, to help my dogs when they get old and possibly have Arthritis.
My English Setter and my son's Lab/Chow mix were going balistic during a really severe thunderstorm. They were close to going into shock from fear. I massaged one and my grand daughter (5 years old) massaged the other the way the video showed to do it to calm them down, for about minutes, and bot dogs lay down at our feet and slept through the rest of the storm.
The Setter was 1 year old. We lost her a few weeks ago to old age. She was 13 years old, but she was never bothered by thunderstorms again, after that one massage.
I have massaged my dogs when they were so stiff they could hardly walk, and after about 30 minutes of massaging, moved like they were pain free, and sometimes even scampered with the other dogs in a romp.
I tried it on an aggressive dog, and it worked. I was really surprised. It usually takes more than one massage for aggression.
You can also get videos for massaging cats.
I gave mt grabd daughter several of the tapes on horses to help her train the little colt she got last fall. He is responding very well to it. She is 10, and she said it is helping her a lot with her training of him.
I would suggest you get both videos. The one for dogs and the one for cats.
Hubby take one dog or cat, you take another and massage them. You see the hands doing the massages, so it is easy to learn just where and how to place your hands and do the massages.
for instance, the massage for calming dogs, you start with your hands over their face, and slowly rub your hands over their face and eyes, and work your fingers in a circle out to the tips of the ears. It is so simple and does so much.
I would do one cat and one dog, get them calmed, then do the other two.
If the cats are afraid, then do the massage recommended for that, and I am sure you could get them very easy at being around the dogs, and teaching the dogs not to chase.
If the dogs still chase, put them in time out. different time out for each, don't put them toether, or it will not be a punishment.
Time out at my house is the hall bathroom. It is very small, and has only a 5X5 space between the fixtures, so all they can do is lie on the bathmat and be bored, and hear all that is going on they are missing.
My little Lhasa is the bad boy here, and he is the one who has to go to time out still, but even he will straighten up and be a gentleman when I say "MAX! do you want to go to time out?) LOl
I think he would rather be beaten than do time out. LOl
The massages also make all training go much faster and smoother.
Go to this site and read about the massages, and you can order the videos from there.
   www.lindatellington-jones.com
Please let me know how this works out.
Also, another thing I saw the other day on TV.
These people had a cat that loved to roam through the house, and they didn't want all the rooms' doors open all the time, so they built a series of shelves at the top of most of the rooms, with a hole for the cat to go through over the doorways, put attractive molding around the holes ( like portholes) and the cat could roam as she pleased.
Thought it was neat. Maybe that is something that would appeal to you.
Hope this is of some help to you.
gotta teach dem babies to get along. LOl
Charlotte