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Tips on impulse control training?
I'm not sure if this is even possible at this point but I'm currently living with a roommate who owns a pit bull/mastiff mix thats about 1.5-2 years old. I myself own three cats. Prior to moving in, this roommate claimed their dog was good with cats however that has not turned out to be the case. We've installed a gate to keep the two seperate but whenever the chance arises the dog will go after the cats. I'm not sure its entirely aggressive in nature but its still a 60+lb dog trying to pounce on a 10lb cat like its a chew toy, accidents happen even if not intended.
Now I noticed the dog has a tendency to fixate on the stairs that lead to where we keep the cats and if you yell at him he looks away or will try to casually walk over to sneak a peek, all which tell me that the dog obviously knows its doing something its not supposed to but just cant control itself. And if he happens to catch a glimpse of a cat than he leaps into action in a seconds time which also tells me he probably has a high prey drive.
Now I'd love to be able to live in harmony and not have to worry about this dog going after my cats and I figure in order to do that this dog needs some serious impulse control training. Now its also not my dog and I work and dont have all day to sit around and train it so I need an answer thats not going to invovle anything too indepth or too time consuming or too complicated if I need to get the roomie to take responsibility.
Or am I dealing with a hopeless situation?
Also, to stop answers that might pretain to this line of thinking before it starts, our roommate is my bf's/fiance best friend since before grade school, so its not so simple to say kick him out and while that will happen eventually its not happening now.
They're never kept in each others company as it is. The cats stay upstairs and he's not allowed up there but that doesnt mean he hasn't tried jumping the gate before or someone absentmindedly took the gate down.
2 Answers
- ?Lv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
I would teach this dog the "off" command. Each and every time he goes after a cat - I would tell him "off" - say it one time and only one time.
If he does not leave the cat alone - get up - grab him by the collar and immediately put him in a sit/stay right in front of you until he calms down. You can also use another command "watch me" while he's in this sit/stay. That way you can teach him to focus on you even if the cats are walking around.
He needs to be crated or the cats put in another room when unsupervised.
- 1 decade ago
the dog is young and play full and will settle down.you must put all three cats in the front room with you and the dog, make sure they can sit up out of reach of the dog. the dog will stare at them and if he gets to close trust me the cats can take care of themselves.do this every night and it wont take long, my dog learnt very quickly to respect the cats.have faith and a lot of trust it will be ok.