When good dogs do bad things

[PA Reb]

OP ~ I read your story along with a few posts afterwards and then I just decided to post. I've owned Rottweilers and Dobermans for well over forty five years now and I believe I know the breeds quite well at this point. Right now, we have a two year old male rottweiler and a five year old spayed doberman. Rottweilers are generally much more laid back than the ultra-antsy doberman but one thing is definitely sure about both breeds - they have an inbred trait called "prey and work drive." Our rottweiler has a high work drive (an ability to learn protection duties well) and the doberman has a high prey drive which is a high degree of wanting to chase, catch and even kill prey (cats, rabbits, squirrels, etc.). Enter our cat who was here before either of these two dogs were. We don't allow the cat to ever be around either dog although I believe she would be safe with the rottweiler. The doberman however is a different story - she would kill the cat in an instant. My point of all this is you can train the dog all you want now but since it is no longer a young pup, the rottie, who is normally a "stubborn" breed (especially the males), will always revert to its instinctive drives. As you know, even if the rott isn't trying to kill the cat, the simple act of grabbing it and throwing it away from its food will always end bad for the cat. My advice is to devise a plan to keep both away from each other and try to train the dog to eat in an area alone and away from the cat. The cat may have gotten the message already and may never try and eat the dog's food again but don't give her the chance. It can be done but you and your wife must remain vigilant. I hope this helps a little.

 

[307-Niner]

Is the dog free fed?

If it is stop free feeding it and take the food (dog's and cat's) up after meal time.

I can't speak for any other problems but that should solve this one.

We do not free feed. We used to, but she over-ate & got fat. So now we control her diet by feeding her a controlled amount twice per day. The cat food is in a different room, upstairs, where Sokie cannot get to it (otherwise she would steal it).


Apparently, new cat = new problem and more training. Time to revisit our original method of breaking the bad habit.

I will not separate the animals in my home. Locking up one or more of the animals just to feed them is not an option. They will get along & tolerate each other, or drastic measures will be taken. My animals are never locked up or caged for any reason. They are members of the family.

 

[tbgunner88]

That's a tough call, and one you will have to think on and decide what is best. Like others have said I would try separating the dog from other animals during feeding time. If you decide that one has to go, I would probably say seniority rules and try to find a good home for the kitten, because it would probably have an easier time adjusting to a new home than the older rotweiler. I can tell from your post that you have became attached to the kitten and I'm sure with this incident probably have hundreds if not thousands wrapped up in it. I'm sorry to hear that this happened and has put you in a tough spot, I know how it is with animals and how they become just as much a part of the family as everyone else.

 

[WC145]

You can't expect a dog to not be a dog. My dogs (bullmastiff, Bordeaux, alapaha bulldog) are not food protective/aggressive with people or each other but if our cat tried to get into the bowl while any one of them was eating I would not be surprised if it got the same treatment as the OP's cat. The lesson here was for the cat, he got lucky this time, sounds like it cost him one of his nine lives, but I would not be penalizing the dog for what happened.

 

[mac2]

Out of interest, what SHOULD the dog's response have been when a cat jumps into their food?

 

[smokey04]

Maybe the title to this post should have been "what to do when a good cat" turns stupid? My guess is the cat has learned the law of the "pecking order" and will not intrude on the dogs food again. Try it out and see if the cat is too stupid to live in the "real animal world". If it hasn't learned its place then the cat would be
movin' on down the line". It seems the cat brought the disharmony into the home why should the dog suffer for protecting its own? JM not so HO. Let me know if you want to give the dog away, I wouldn't have the cat if it pooped gold turds. Nick

 

[captorquewrench]

This is not a dog/cat thing
This is food aggression beyond a normal domesticated animal's behavior. Talk to your vet for a referral to a trainer or behaviorist for the dog and who can help you change what you might need to change about mealtimes etc.

 

[PA Reb]

I made my post above at 12:28 P.M. and rottweiler disaster almost took place a half hour later. I have the back of my property fenced in and I keep a tamed whitetail deer and a goat back there. I bought that deer when she was one day old ten years ago and the little goat is there to keep her company. At about 1:00 P.M., I heard a ruckus going on back there and when I investigated I found the male rottweiler from two doors up doing his best to get at the animals. He never did get in but the deer hit the unrelenting fence at least ten or twelve times trying to get away (cut her face up in the process). I know this dog well and he is a good dog BUT, it took all I could do to overcome him and his "prey drive". I legally could have shot him dead but I finally got him under control after he tried to bite me twice. My point is - I know rotties well and knew I was in for a fight to convince him to give it up. Man they are one stubborn and strong willed dog but I love them anyway!

 

[cowart]

Happened onto "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Milan.

Cesar Millan will also sometimes use a tennis racquet as a guard between himself and the dog. With food aggressive dogs, he likes to approach the food bowl and cover it with one of his feet to assert his dominance/ownership. I suppose with a rottweiler, you might want to have steel-toe boots...

 

[cass]

That's going to be a very expensive free cat. I'd be inclined to do three things for starters. No free-choice food, feeding time is private time - no other animals around, and for the first couple of weeks muzzle the dog until you're sure that they can live peacefully. (As a side note, I've been seeing a huge hog on my game cameras with a clearly defined white 8 on a black hog.)

 

[soFlaNative]

(As a side note, I've been seeing a huge hog on my game cameras with a clearly defined white 8 on a black hog.)

Could you cue that up and possibly bank that shot on over to a TrailCam thread somewhere around this place?

 

[BarbC]

My Rottie, the one mentioned above, also tried to get the caged rabbit, whose cage was about 3' off the ground with a metal sliding catch tray under the hardware cloth wire bottom. The dog slid the plate over and tore a hole in the hardware cloth so as to stick his head in the cage and try to catch the rabbit.

He tore through 3 layers of hardware cloth with his teeth. He was relentless. Finally, my father-in-law hooked the electric fence up to the metal plate. One ZAP! and that was the last time the dog tried to get the rabbit.

Maybe a shock collar would work on your dog. I had one for another dog who wouldn't stop digging up the garden or running across the road and after she very quickly learned what it was about, all we had to say was, "You want the collar??" and she'd stop her bad behavior.

 

[307-Niner]

Here's a video from earlier this year. My wife's cousin has sheep, and they were lambing. This bum lamb wasn't gonna make it, mama wouldn't take care of it. So my wife brought it home so we could bottle feed it & give it a chance. Here is Sokie's reaction.

Sokie's bum lamb - YouTube

 

[307-Niner]

Quick update.

Two week checkup for Niner is tomorrow morning. His skull bones are healing, I believe, because he head-bumps everybody to get them to let him. He is slowly regaining control of his eye. He can blink it now, and he can close it when he sleeps now. He is still wearing the brace on his jaw, which was broken in 2 places. It has healed crooked, so his lower jaw is misaligned & his tongue often hangs out.

The jaw brace is also causing problems. He can only eat watered down soft canned cat food. It gets trapped between the brace & his skin, and the fur traps it. His fur is falling out, and the skin now has open sores. We clean them best we can 3 times a day, hoping it won't get infected. Hoping that the brace can come off tomorrow. We shall see.

He's as playful as ever, and none of this seems to bother him at all. He got another bath tonight, and he seems okay with that too. He's a strange cat....

 

[SW01SS]

That's a tough call.... I can't tell you to go one way or the other. It's pricey usually, but there is extensive behavior modification classes you can put the dog through and it should certainly correct the food aggression and more. Being that aggressive over food is not normal, or ok. I don't understand how people are blaming it on the kitten. Key word KITTEN who is only a few months old and certainly couldn't know any better. Not one of my personal dogs that I've had over the years all the way back to since I was 5 years old have ever been this aggressive about their food or thrown any of my cats around the house. Definitely a behavioral issue on the dogs part, not the cats. It's not going to change with the snap of a finger either, I'm certain of Niner doesn't keep his distance it'll happen again. Professional training and behavior modification, as well as what was mentioned above (shock collar, show that YOU own the food, private feeding, ect. ect.) is the way to go IMO. If that doesn't work then you may have to make the tough call of letting one of them go.

 

[quneur]

I think the OP should rename Niner to Eighter; he spent one of his lives.

I would never own two pets if one was food aggressive. I would never own a dog who was food aggressive. It may be okay but it just takes one episode like what happened and now he has to make a hard decision.

We as owners are responsible for their safety. Personally, I would seriously think about giving up one and letting someone else have the enjoyment of a pet.

Every pet adopted or raised since my childhood has never had food aggression. I trained my dog at seven weeks not to eat until I let her. It was a lesson on standing still on command - needed for pointing dogs.

 

[Kinman]

If that dog ever demonstated anything approaching that level of violence again with any animal I would either find him a home where he can be alone defending the property or have him put down. Make a choice, the dog alone with no other innocent animals around or take a chance on him doing it again and maybe one day doing what a friend of my wifes beloved Rottweiler did to her, he literally ripped her face off. He had never shown any inclination towards that level of violence, after ten years from puppy to full adult dog, no other pets and no adult males around, no competition anywhere. They were sitting on the porch together and she reached over and gave him a big hug, he turned and looked her full in the face and the next thing she remembered was waking up in the hospital in bandages that covered her entire face. With polite and understanding consideration the police told her the best thing to do would be to put him down and I would have to agree, a tough call.

 

[dcxplant]

This feeding protection is normal for a lot of dogs. Now you know.

My two Labs are as sweet as can be, but don't, I mean don't, get in the way of food. I feed them separately, far away from themselves.

Put up the cats, feed the dogs, then let out the cats.

Supervise the dog and Old Number 9 socializing, and always make sure 9ner has an escape route available so he feels and is safe.