I recently moved into a large house with a 9-year-old male cat and a 9-month-old male boxer that I rescued. I’ve kept them largely apart: the dog is on the first floor, and the cat is on the second and third. Since I haven’t purchased baby doors yet, a large mobile carton box is blocking the stairs that lead to the second story.
The issue is that the box occasionally leaves a tiny opening that the cat may use to poke its foolish head out to see what’s going on downstairs. This has repeatedly resulted in the dog spotting the cat and chasing him.
I’m afraid it will get past the box and take my cat while I’m not around. I’ve heard that the dog would whine and lick young stray cats throughout multiple encounters. Additionally, I’ve seen him run silently at an adult cat and watch as it fled while he simply stared at a younger cat and continued to whine.
Since canines don’t recognize babies the same way they do adults, I’d like to know if anyone is aware of a way to tell the difference and determine whether the dog wants to kill my cat or not.
It seems to me that your dog is either looking for something to chase or wants to play rough. If you would like to try introducing them, you might carry the cat to sit far away and gradually approach the dog while he is muzzled and wearing a leash.
Even if your dog would prefer to kill the cat, they might still come if their recall is excellent. Even if your dog doesn’t intend to murder the cat, they could not come if their recall is poor.
Furthermore, a lot of dogs don’t vocalize in the manner you describe.
I believe that body language—tension, hackles, tail, etc.—is the only thing that is truly global.
Absolutely true! You are correct that the most of the recall is actually in the body language, therefore I shouldn’t have thought the dog had a conventional recall. All dogs are different, but everything I said is based on what I have personally observed.
I appreciate you telling me, and I will look into this further to learn from my mistakes!
Many thanks for that! I neglected to mention something: during one of his cat chases, he abruptly halted, and the cat fled up to the third storey. That must not be a typical hunting behavior for a dog, right?
