She finally figured out that she's a Border Collie...

[JaderBug]

I have a 4-month old female Border Collie pup who is everything I could ask for. She's extremely smart, and knows quite a few tricks and commands already. However, like my subject says, she has recently discovered that she's a Border Collie and has become obsessed with following my cat around the house, and for the life of me I can't grab her attention away from the cat at a distance. Does anyone have any suggestions for breaking her focus from the feline?

[WyoBC]

Does she like the tennis ball or have a favorite toy that squeeks? I always have a Kong squeeky tennis ball with me because if his recall doesn't kick in, that noise will make it kick in. I would just really work on her recall. Have lots of treats and lots of toys so when she comes it's a good 'ol time for her! If it's not, then why would anyone want to come anyway? Every time you get a chance put her on a leash and go through your recall training. She will get to the point where she will quit watching the cat and come to you. You can also work in "That'll do" training too. Instead of using "come" say "that'll do" and pull her back with a leash. She will get the point after a while. Puppies can have short memories. Good luck.

[Kenbo]

I have 3 BC's, a house cat and 2 barn cats. Molly, one of my dogs is also obsessed with the inside cat. She will follow the cat for hours, in a playful way. Even when we let her out for bathroom time, she will go right back to the cat. Once in a great while, she will jump in my lap and settle down. The funny thing, she could care less about the outside cats. You're right when they have their attention on the cats, there is no pulling her off. I do have some training to do, but who knows.. Ken

[haleigh]

This is where a great recall comes in handy, like AJ said. I started out with something low value, like a paper towel tube. I threw the paper towel tube and told Joy to get it (BTW, a flexi or long ling is needed...prefer. flexi). After she took a couple steps, I called her back to me. If she keeps running, I locked the flexi and ran a few steps backwards. Then I reinforced heavily for 20 seconds.

 

After she was perfect at this, I upped the value of the tube. I put peanut butter and her dinner in it. I reapeated the above, slightly increasing the intensity of the reinforcer. One thing I never do on recalls is fade out a reinforcer. If my dog comes back, she gets a huge good girl, arms in the air, and a huge hug. If there is food or a toy by me, she gets some. This will help get Zoe off the cat.

 

Once you have her coming off of food and inanimate objectsm start adding people. Then people holding dogs. Sound dogs (who you KNOW will stay) in a stay. Little kids running. Someone holding your cat. The cat itself. One thing to really remember is to HEAVILY reinforce for at least 20 seconds, especially when seeing the cat. You can slowly fade out the intensity of the reinforcer, by reinforcing the fastest recall with extra games of tug...etc.

 

This is best used on older dogs, rather then pups:

 

Joy chases the cat. I tell her "That'll do" (knock it off). If she keeps chasing, I tell her to down and call her to me. If she goes back to chasing the cat within five minutes of that, she goes in the crate for a timeout for about 5 minutes. If that doesn't work, she gets to spend a little bit in the yard. I only do this because I know Joy understands what she should be doing, but is choosing not to listen to me.

[haleigh]

Ahhhh, double post!

[painted_ponies]

One of my BC, Violet, is obsessed with my little terrier. Drives me nuts! Because after a while the terrier, Abbie, gets understandably upset and lets Violet have it and then I have a dog fight to break up.

 

At least in Vi's case, this has been one awful habit to try and break. I wonder if that's because at her last home she was allowed to obsessively "work" another dog in the house, and then, when she came to live with me, I let her by with it for the first few months or so. Vi was my first BC and I didn't realize at the time what a huge pain this behavior would become. It gets worse as it develops, BTW.

 

So my advice is to break this habit while she's young and before it becomes ingrained!

 

Teach her "that'll do," or some other command that means "stop what you're doing." And then use it every single time she starts trying to work your cat. If she doesn't already have a recall, of course, you'll want to teach that too. Just remember - don't ever give a command you can't enforce. So be sure you have a way of backing up your command immediately if (when ) she blows you off.

[OffTopic]

You didn't say how the cat is handling all this attention, but what I would do in addition to all the good advice about establishing a solid recall is to establish that the cat is YOURS. If you can pick up the cat and hold it while your pup sniffs, etc. and show the pup that kitty is loved by you and is going to get attention from you, it might help your pup get over some of the curiousity.

 

Our last BC, Scudder, loved our kitty, Gonzo. It was HIS kitty and he was going to make sure kitty stayed safe from things like the evil vacuum. Fortunately I have a weird kitty who loved the attention. They were best buddies and played together for hours at a time. And the good thing about cats being the object of a BC's undivided attention is that when they get tired of it, they can find a hiding spot....like on top of the refrigerator.

[painted_ponies]

Fortunately I have a weird kitty who loved the attention. They were best buddies and played together for hours at a time. And the good thing about cats being the object of a BC's undivided attention is that when they get tired of it, they can find a hiding spot....like on top of the refrigerator.

 

I have one like that, too. I was almost successful in teaching Faith to leave Clawdia alone, when Clawdia discovered she really liked all the attention. Just the other day, Faith treed Clawdia on the back of the sofa. When I fussed at Faith and told her to get down off the furniture, Clawdia leapt over Faith to block her escape. If Faith hasn't chased Clawdia in a while, Clawdia will run into Faith with her head or tickle Faith's nose with her tail until Faith takes off after her. *sigh*

[haleigh]

Also, I think if the dog is hurting a cat, the cat NEEDS to give a dog a good claw in the face. Unfortuantely, our dogs are too dang fast....

 

 

I use the "mine" concept with rooms. If Joy is chasing the cat, I tell her it's mine, and make her stay in another room for a few minutes. If she's in my way while I make food, she has to go in the other room and STAY there until I go up to her and lead her out of her stay.

[karrie]

Come borrow my Molly( BC cat). She has no issues with dogs. Pester her or get too close in her opinion and get a good head spinning wack. If she thinks you are up to no good, a nice smack on the head. She is not above chasing the a dog. Now if the dog behaves she will leave it alone. I'll think about loaning you Mo , the one eyed BC cat. Sam ( BC dog lol) and Mo are best buds. Mo loves everyone.

 

When Sam decides to ignore me and stalk what I've told him to leave alone in the house, I have used a squirt gun told him to let it. It broke his attention on the hyper kid on the other side of the babygate and allowed me to call him to me.

 

Good luck. The others have some good solid advice. I'm just lucky to have a cat with a dog adjusting attitude.