Strange Companions
We were trying some leash training with the dogs. As we were half way down the driveway I turned and noticed Boose, the shop cat, trailing behind. What surprised me was she could clearly see Cleo who is obsessed with chasing her with us. She lagged about 12 meters behind and went a kilometer down to Savory road and then half way back up before I picked her up as we passed a cow. Photo op.About five minutes later I handed the leash to Jo-Ann and turned slightly to put Boose back in the Shop. Cleo came from behind me and lunged for Boose, my right hand between a hissing cat and a set of formidable canine teeth. One of which went right between my two large knuckles.
A couple of hours later Cleo was trying to run down a new calf and chased it, the calf shrieking for its Mom, across the front pasture until the whole herd turned and charged towards Cleo - at which point she seemed to hear our yelling and returned to the house.
We are back to the books on this one. And continuing with walks hoping to convince Cleo that she is part of a bigger family. A couple of episodes of " The Dog Whisperer" are probably not going to help.
Any suggestions out there?
We are having a wonderfully, Lazy Sunday, just catching up on emails. Yesterday we tore apart the right hand drive on the skidsteer to figure out why it was only being driven on three tires. Fortunately it turned out to be a broken rear drive chain - a relatively simple and inexpensive fix. As soon as I can get the required chain links. Hopefully in the next few days. In the mean time Brother Tom has volunteered his skid steer for a couple of days to help out with some yard work, wood gathering, and clearing out the Red Shed in preparation for its transmogrification into green house.
Hope your day is peaceful.
Comments
Maybe she just needs more exercise to wear her out? I know she gets a lot already, mayb she needs more. Or take her on a leash away from distractions, then play ball with her for a while, and then walk her on a leash near the cat/cow and correct her. No negatives, but distractions when there's bad behaviour often works too.
Or, what if she had a halti on her muzzle, I don't think they can bite too well with them on.
Chase-obsessed dogs are a tough one that's for sure. Sorry to hear about your hand.
I'm not dog trainer, just goin' from experience.
Good luck, I hope things get better for you.
We're doing everything that we can think of but the Cat chasing is going to take some time. I don't believe it is impossible because she likes to learn. She gets so focused it is unbelievable.
We were out for a walk along the South and East property lines right through the herd, calves, bulls the whole works and they were both great. They would down on command and stay while I cleared brush off the fence line. Once I took off without giving the come command and Xena was trotting up with me for quite a ways before I looked back and saw Cleo hunkered down in the grass: " Dad, come on, I'm being good!"
Unfortunately we've had to keep Cleo tied up while we let Boose out of the shop. But she follows that cat with her eyes and body without fail. Boose isn't a lot of help tho, I think she likes to flaunt herself in front of Cleo, rolling and stretching, safely out of reach on the concrete apron of the shop..