Mabel, the black & tan cat hound

Q. My three-year-old mutt sure loves cats. Mabel’s dominant breed is black-and-tan coonhound mixed in with some Lab,  Weimaraner, and who knows what else. She’s never met one up close but she chases them with enthusiasm that I would really get a kick out of were it not the fact that she often chases them into traffic. It’s happened maybe five times in the two-and-a-half years I’ve had her.

She, has a very strong prey drive for many different animals (deer, wild turkeys, squirrel, etc) but I’d be happy just to curb her desire to chase cats. I’ve heard that I can get a remote-controlled cat decoy for our house and use it to desensitize her to them. I heard about this electronic cat third hand, and so am not sure where to get one of it they even exist. She said it’s used in combo with clicker & treats.

Obviously, I do not let her walk around outside off leash in my neighborhood unless I know we’re in a catless area (dog parks, mainly) but she has snuck past me and run across our street to a house where, like, five frickin’ cats live.

The other night we were driving home from the country–-where she has spent two days chasing critters–-and we stopped for a bite to eat. While we were eating in the parked car, she spotted a cat in the parking lot and was going nuts, wanting out of the car to chase it. About two hours later we pulled into the driveway at home and when I opened the car door she bolted out and ran like nuts down the block, at nothing in particular, then bee-lined for the cat house. She was a dog possessed, but I believe it was the adrenaline from the weekend and the cat in the parking lot. —Mary Catherine

Sorry to be so long-winded. Just looking for advice on curbing this obsession of hers.

A. A cat hound, hey? This is going to be a tough one. What we have here is a dog bred to instinctively do exactly what she is doing, pursue game. To her the cat is legitimate prey. Cats do indeed offer a bit of sport to the hound breeds. Take a look at my post on the various breeds. Basically you’re working against this dog’s instinct. But that said, we, too, in the retriever business do the same. Our dogs pursue game, pick it, flush it from cover, track it, etc. But they have to learn to be steady and only perform these skills when directed. Here’s your task:

1. An enormous amount of obedience control is needed: heel, sit, stay and recall must be impeccable.
2. When these skills are thoroughly entrenched and your dog’s behavior is calm and focused, we can start introducing distractions. Naturally do not start with the ultimate, a cat (fake or otherwise). Simply walk your dog down the drive bouncing a tennis ball or rolling it in front of you. Have your dog at sit, throw her favorite toy past her and and then require her to stay seated while you pick it up yourself. (This is called a denial.) Only when your dog has mastered one level of distraction can you move to the next level.
3. De-sensitize your dog to more active distractions: kids running around the park, squirrels playing about, ground birds such as robins that would flush in front of your dog as she walks on lead. Get your dog walking around other dogs that are running, playing and retrieving. Practice recalls, stay, etc. with all these distractions moving about. Add a check cord for security so you can add distance between you and your dog–another big disctraction.
4. Finally, after several months of incremental training with lesser distracionss, it’s time to introduce a cat. See if you can find one that you can place in a cage and work your dog around–seeing it from a distance, then gradually heeling or loose-leash-walking toward the cage, and finally walking right past it. In all trials, your dog’s attention must be on you and not the cat. If she wavers, go back to a lower level of distraction and build up slowly. When heeling, a quick snap of the lead or treats can help put her attention back on you. If your dog likes to retrieve, you might have a bit of a game on the check cord rewarding the good behavior with a fun retrieve and keeping her focus off the cat. With our bird-crazy retrievers, we do a similar exercise using caged quail and pigeons. In order to get a reward, the dog’s attention must remain on the handler and not wander to the bird.
5. Once she’s solid with the cat in a cage, it’s time to have a friend release the cat while your dog sits patiently on lead. If your hound attempts to chase, give a firm correction with a “no” and heel in the opposite direction.

There are a lot of exercises you’ll need involving a cat. Desensitization takes a great deal of time, positive reinforcement (treats), a check cord and a slip collar or choker chain for firm corrections and, finally and most importantly, a willing friend with a cat. You can’t just expect your dog to start ignoring cats. It’s a slow and gradual progression. With consistency, patience, and a lot of time, I’m confident you and Mabel can do it.

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