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trying to prevent trauma
So, we're going to try to have a cat. In our house. With our Border Collie. Last time we tried, cat was freaked out by Border Collie, who pretty much kept it confined to one chair for about a week, unless we hauled him off and crated him. Neuroses for all. So, I'm trying to be proactive and surfing around for cat/Border Collie detente articles on the internet. This little blurb was entertaining:
There are many households where Border Collies and cats are living in peace and harmony (my own is one of them). But for this to work there has to be several key features at work. First, you need to have a very tolerant cat. The cat has to accept being herded twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Many can be quite tolerant of this and even come to enjoy it but there are some individuals that don't appreciate being "stalked" their entire lives. Not every Border Collie may be so intense with herding the cat but there are quite a few that will take it on as their mission in life to make sure that the cat doesn't leavea room without an escort or doesn't cross the threshold to the living room. Anytime the cat moves, the dog is there. I have one that will creep up to about an inch away from the cat's nose and stay that close until someone calls her off. We recently placed a rescue in a home with three cats and a three-story house and each floor is occupied by a single cat and the dog spends its entire day racing from floor to floor, just to ensure that no one has moved out of their designated spot. Every Border Collie needs a job and this is his.
Many cats are smart enough to figure out that it is movement that triggers the herding instinct in Border Collies and when being herded will freeze motionless to "turn off" the little herding switch in their heads. Many Border Collies will lose interest at this point and wander off until the cat decides to move once again. This becomes a back-and-forth game and I know many cats that will take passing swipes at a Border Collie and then run in the opposite direction for a quick chase, only to freeze when the dog gets a little too close. Unfortunately, Border Collies are brilliant in their own right and some soon figure out that if the cat freezes and won't move to be herded, that you can stomp on their heads to get them moving again. It's a wildly amusing sight to see Border Collies and cats trying to outfox each other in a modified version of a game of "cat-and-mouse".
If anyone has personal experiences to share, or other resources that might be useful and/or amusing, send them my way. I think Jasper will be fine once he gets swatted a couple of times. We'll see.
There are many households where Border Collies and cats are living in peace and harmony (my own is one of them). But for this to work there has to be several key features at work. First, you need to have a very tolerant cat. The cat has to accept being herded twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Many can be quite tolerant of this and even come to enjoy it but there are some individuals that don't appreciate being "stalked" their entire lives. Not every Border Collie may be so intense with herding the cat but there are quite a few that will take it on as their mission in life to make sure that the cat doesn't leavea room without an escort or doesn't cross the threshold to the living room. Anytime the cat moves, the dog is there. I have one that will creep up to about an inch away from the cat's nose and stay that close until someone calls her off. We recently placed a rescue in a home with three cats and a three-story house and each floor is occupied by a single cat and the dog spends its entire day racing from floor to floor, just to ensure that no one has moved out of their designated spot. Every Border Collie needs a job and this is his.
Many cats are smart enough to figure out that it is movement that triggers the herding instinct in Border Collies and when being herded will freeze motionless to "turn off" the little herding switch in their heads. Many Border Collies will lose interest at this point and wander off until the cat decides to move once again. This becomes a back-and-forth game and I know many cats that will take passing swipes at a Border Collie and then run in the opposite direction for a quick chase, only to freeze when the dog gets a little too close. Unfortunately, Border Collies are brilliant in their own right and some soon figure out that if the cat freezes and won't move to be herded, that you can stomp on their heads to get them moving again. It's a wildly amusing sight to see Border Collies and cats trying to outfox each other in a modified version of a game of "cat-and-mouse".
If anyone has personal experiences to share, or other resources that might be useful and/or amusing, send them my way. I think Jasper will be fine once he gets swatted a couple of times. We'll see.
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We have two cats and two beagles. Bonny (alpha cat) is totally independant and doesn't pay any attention to the dogs, who don't pay her any attention except for when they get the occasional cat rubbing when she comes inside after a long day of cat work. Then they just do a little butt sniffing.
However, we have a scaredy-under-the-bed cat that hardly ever leaves the bedroom. The newest (2 months with us) beagle just saw her the other day and got really excited about a new friend to play with, which of course, will send the scardy-cat under the bed for another 2 months.
Generally though, everybody just ignores each other and vies for attention. I never thought about cat-herding though, should be interesting.
I wonder if it will help to get a kitten, so she will just grow up with a new mommy/herder?
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One of my lj friends is trying to find a home for a cat that she just adopted that doesn't get along with her other cat, so we're going to see if we can make that work. Said cat is fairly dominant and used to live with a dog, so the hope is that it knows how to defend itself. We'll also crate Jazz and let the cat wander about for awhile initially, and then just monitor them all weekend. At worst, we can always sequester one on one floor of the house and the other on the other, but I'd rather they all just learn to live amicably together.
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I have a friend who got an australian shepherd. He would herd the kids but left the cats alone (I think.. never heard of herding problems with the cats). The kids werer bigger and made more noise. The more noise they made, the more he would herd them (sheep settle down when herded and quiet down accordingly.. kids are... the opposite of sheep in that regard.)
So thanks for the great mental images for the morning. Cats and dogs can be alot of fun.. I think that any cat who already knows dogs can probably do very well with your dog. :) good luck.
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"trying to prevent trauma" and "will be fine once he gets swatted"
It's more like you are trying to prevent nature, so rather than swatting, I would suggest looking up TRAINING border collies and teach him some "off" or "release" commands. It's his nature to herd, so as long as you can teach him when to stop, you should be ok.
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I wonder if a kitten would be the way to go... you know, let it know no other way.
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(Anonymous) 2006-11-03 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)-the girl-