Redirected Aggression

[melonie]

There is a stray cat around here that is the biggest pain in the butt ever. The lil effer will walk by my livingroom window several times a day. It gets the dogs all worked up. I swear he does it on purpose.
Winston lays on the back of the sofa watching out the window, when the cat comes by, he goes nuts. Cleveland will jump up there and ohh boy does he get ticked off at that cat. If Rhett jumps up, or joins in the bark, Cleveland will redirect on him.
Another instance where he will redirect happened tonight while I was vacuuming. Cleveland was barking at the vacuum, Rhett ran by to go hide, and Cleveland chewed him out.

What is the best way to reign this in?
I did buy new curtains and a new blind (that hopefully will survive the dogs). That should help cut down on the cat problem.
Common sense is to put the dogs in a crate while I vacuum.
Which I did end up doing after this incident.

When they are going off on the cat, I try to get to whichever is closest and remove him from the area. Usually it is Rhett, because Cleveland does NOT like his collar being grabbed. I do keep a 'goat lead' ( www.amazon.com/Weaver-Leather-GOAT-LEAD-HANDLE/dp/B0054C62UQ )
on my desk. I use that to keep a dog still while doing nails, ears, etc. But it comes in handy with Cleveland and his collar issue.

Just curious if there is anything specific I can do to fix it.

[adoptapitbull]

That is definitely the biggest thing here. Sometimes you don't even know what it is (like the deer that's walking in front of my window as I type. I see you!!), until you hear the commotion.

I try to block views from windows that cause trouble, too. The French doors in our bedroom have a giant mirror and a table with a sheet over it to block the view of the chickens. Cappy doesn't care about them anymore, but Mav will still bark at them if they come knocking on the door for food.

I try to distract them if I know there's something outside, or even call the other dog away before he sees the one who sees the chicken/deer/neighbor. Usually there's one dog who is less interested and easier to distract. Keep treats handy so you can quickly grab something for them to want more than the cat.

Whatever you do, don't grab two dogs at once by their collars. I've found that this definitely sets them off. Thankfully, you do have a hold of them, but they could still grab hold of each other. This almost turned into a fight once or twice before I realized it.

Redirection is a pain in the butt. Good luck!

[lpyrbby]

Cyrus will redirect too if given the chance. I've put up the blinds AND a sheet over my window in the bedroom where he can see the most from. Can't rely on curtains since they move too easy. It helps living where I do now too since things are rarely in my yard.

Something you might try doing as well is changing how they view the cat. If there IS something more highly prized than barking try to work on getting the dogs to understand (individually at first) that if they see the cat, they need to go to "their spot" and they'll get a treat.

This thought comes from people who have barking issues with dogs and doorbells. It might be a stretch but I think it's worth a shot on modifying that training concept for this scenario.

[melonie]

I do have an indoor cat, which usually is a friend to Winnie and Rhett, but now that Cleveland is back he wants nothing to do w/dogs.
It can be a rabbit, a bag, leaves, etc. If it is outside of the window it is something to bark about.

[fureverywhere]

As a feline person I know for a fact that a cat can put their paws in their ears and stick out their tongues faster than a human can blink

[melonie]

Oct 23, 2011 18:39:17 GMT -5 fureverywhere said:

As a feline person I know for a fact that a cat can put their paws in their ears and stick out their tongues faster than a human can blink

Uh huh, they're evil that way.

[RealPitBull]

Hey Melonie, I thought this may be helpful to you.....

www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/territory.txt

[melonie]

Good article Mary.
Anytime I reach for one of my dogs, I say their name, or do something else to get their attention.
Training would probably be toughest to do w/ Cleveland, then Rhett. Winston is easy. Cleveland is so over the top about cats that even though he is very smart, I don't know if reconditioning would work! Rhett is just special. 1 1/2 yrs old and I still can't get him to sit on command. So long as the other dogs don't bark, he does pretty good. He's like that kid that always gets picked last. He joins in only because the other dogs are doing something. Otherwise he's content more often than not.