Attacking the dog

by Stephanie
(OK)

After 5yrs. of living with the same dog my cat (female) started viciously attacking him the last two days. If he stays in one place and doesn't move, she doesn't bother him but if he wants to go outside or get something to eat, she stalks him then attacks. My hands and arms are all scratched from trying to break them up and I've taken to shooting water at Phoebe to stop going after Philbert and locking her away from him for twenty minutes but it's not helping.

There have been no new changes or additions to our apt. Nothing stressing is going on, so I'm clueless as to why this sudden turn of events. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like a dog in the neighborhood happened by or while you were out your dog did something like cry or bay. This can set up a cat to no longer trust the dog. Also, if the dog mistakenly stepped on the cat, the cat would remember and attack the dog's feet. My suggestion is to use the shaker can instead of the squirt bottle. Get Phoebe's attention and stop the behavior. Once you have that working, move to a clicker and begin training her to it. Read Karen Pryor's site for specifics...

http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/KPCT-Site

~Morgen