# Stop trying to play with the cat!



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I have thought of getting "Leave the cat ALONE!" on a loop recording here. Our issues come from Pippin-cat's habit of kneading when he is sleepy and happy, which means neither dog wants him close by when they are settled down, and Tilly-cat occasionally condescending to play unbelievably exciting games of Tom Tiddler's Ground (she hides behind a chair flounce, and the dogs creep closer and closer and closer and she POUNCES!) - net result dogs inclined to chivvy cats, who are far too kind to fight back. 

I have found the dogs are far less inclined to annoy the cats if they are well exercised - as you say, it seems to be an easy boredom buster for them. We also play turn taking for treats, with the cats sitting along side the dogs for their turn, which has helped a lot, and like you I praise and reward polite interactions. The house is full of safe places for cats, so that they can get right away from the dogs if they want to, although much of the time they simply ignore their silliness. I think you are on the right track - distraction, redirection, reward polite behaviour, and lots of physical and mental exercise so Archie is happy to snuggle down with Dorian rather than desperate to have a game!


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

Haha! Hiding and pouncing reminds me of Dorian's mixed messages. He actually loves to attack Archie's tail (he loves string, and Archie's got this long natural tail with not a ton of hair grown back yet), but he doesn't want to wrestle with him face to face. So he'll grab his tail, then hiss at him when he turns around. Very confusing for the poor dog. We do have some cat-only spaces in the house (working on more), but the problem is the cat is about as social as the dog is, so if there's a human around they're sort of competing for us.

Excellent point about the exercise, though! Archie's a ball of energy right now and it's hard to completely tire him out, but when he gets there he's like a completely different dog. I've been meaning to start jogging myself, so I guess I'll just have to go for it and start taking him along.

There was some progress this morning - Archie has been learning the command "Go get your toy" or "Bring me your toy," both for general playtime and when he's decided that my hands should be chewtoys. Today I used it when he went to harass the cat, and he ran off to find his rope toy instead. So here's hoping he can learn to do that every time! 

There's a light at the end of this teenage dog tunnel, I can just feel it...


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Generally the cat will train the dog fine but can leave a few scratches on the dog?
Eric


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

True - the cat has mostly trained him not to get right up in his face. The problem is that he's decided instead to step back a foot or two and then just drop into a play-bow and bark. Over and over again. Even though the cat isn't reacting at all. It also seems like Dorian is starting to avoid areas he'd normally be in while Archie is around, perhaps to prevent this from happening in the first place, which isn't really ideal. He's normally a very social cat and I'm a little worried it's stressing him out.

It could very well be that I'm just being impatient and things will settle in over the next few months, though.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i think this may be the moment to use the time out for archie - into his crate, which is hopefully in another room. keep the time out short - 30 seconds to a minute and then let him out again. just keep doing it every time he goes into nagging the cat to play mode. try adding an ah-ah as you pick him up to crate him. after awhile, just the ah-ah will probably work. hopefully he'll get it that both of his behaviors are unwelcome.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I agree with patk. Very brief interruptions to redirect should work.


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