Cats!!

[CraignTod 278]

Everytime i take the pup for a walk we encounter cats before we get to the open fields. The pup has always shown an interest in them and wanted to chase.

Now shes started barking at them out of frustration of me holding her back.

Yesterday she actually chased a rabbit out of cover snd began to pursue through the bushes and she started yapping! ? i was not happy.

I know its hot and shes struggling with the heat,l causing her and me to get frustrated easy but do you suspect the frustration from cats will cause her to bark when chasing rabbits? Thank you

[sam 72]

Could be frustration or could be to young to be coursing. Get it some easy rabbits in big open fields. If it courses a rabbit around a big field barking u might have a problem. But it could just be frustration not being able to catch it.

Edited July 20, 2015 by sam

[MickyB 327]

I'd try and keep it away from places with game until its old enough,when it barks at cats while on the lead correct it as the same as you would if it barked at a sheep, depending on its age as above try and get it some easy runs it may lose its frustration with some easy catches

ATB

Micky

[haymin 2,465]

As above . But as you say it's s pup and its finding its feet stay away from gear there's no hurry ?

[CraignTod 278]

Thanks for the replies.

The friutration towards cats im hoping is not going to shift towards the rabbits, ive not purposefully got her on the rabbits yet but now and again she finds them because does bush quite alot!

[tb25 4,627]

Let slip th dogs of war lol.not had a good cat post on here for time

[bird 10,014]

I'd try and keep it away from places with game until its old enough,when it barks at cats while on the lead correct it as the same as you would if it barked at a sheep, depending on its age as above try and get it some easy runs it may lose its frustration with some easy catches

ATB

Micky

true try make the dog safe with cats as much as you can, you might get a farm with permission for rabbits, that's got few cats on, the last thing you need his dog trying to kill them. ive got one here that will kill them in a blink of a eye . he never bothered with them ,never looked at them he was ok with them , then one day bumped into a big bloody feral thing by a wood, heard right noise the thing was on his head with 4 feet. as I was running up to him get it off, he bit it right through the neck and one dead feral cat . from that day on he is fecker for them, its bad news dogs can get real nasty bites from cats , keep well away from and try to break them to them if you can .

[tote 857]

You say she's always shown an interest in cats and wanted to chase them, what have you done about it? I'd have expected, after a few weeks of you correcting her every time she's shown an interest in them that she'd know they were off limits for her, sounds like she still thinks they're fair game. It's not too late to change things but you have to be firm and let her know they are off limits for her.

 

As for yapping when she chased the rabbit, I'd say it's got nothing to do with barking at the cats, more likely caused by her age which going by your other posts is about 7 1/2 months, plenty of time to be chasing rabbits when she's older and more mature.

 

Also think the fact she chased the rabbit through cover wouldn't have helped, I've heard of more dogs that started yapping when in pursuit through cover, plantations etc than anything else.

[CraignTod 278]

You say she's always shown an interest in cats and wanted to chase them, what have you done about it? I'd have expected, after a few weeks of you correcting her every time she's shown an interest in them that she'd know they were off limits for her, sounds like she still thinks they're fair game. It's not too late to change things but you have to be firm and let her know they are off limits for her.

 

As for yapping when she chased the rabbit, I'd say it's got nothing to do with barking at the cats, more likely caused by her age which going by your other posts is about 7 1/2 months, plenty of time to be chasing rabbits when she's older and more mature.

 

Also think the fact she chased the rabbit through cover wouldn't have helped, I've heard of more dogs that started yapping when in pursuit through cover, plantations etc than anything else.

Yes she is only 7n half months old to early to be chasing, i was suspecting it was the cover as she couldnt run at full potential...

She been out ferreting and has been fine i think the heat plus she got stung by a wasp about 20 mins before which p155ed her off lol

[Maximus Ferret 2,065]

There's no prizes for killing cats. Stockbreaking is a necessary part of training any lurcher and in my opinion it's best to train to ignore cats as much as to ignore sheep, cattle, horses, poultry etc. I have a cat and quite like them but even if you don't like cats yourself, killing someones pet can only cause unnecessary trouble.

There are probably more threads on here about cat trouble than there are about sheep trouble. Both are avoidable .

[Stud dog 632]

If this was me I would stay away from the cat area an try keep pup on lead around game road walk it take it to playing fields get the recall an retrieval time put in an perfected till pups developed enough to keep up an pressure it's quarry just an opinion on things if you don't stop it know you will be limited to what you can use the dog ATB