[nagdu] German shepherds and cats

[L Gwizdak]

I have a friend who had two Fidelco shepherds and they both were fine with 
her cats.  Yes, they like to chase and play but the dogs have to be taught 
that the cats aren't for eating!

I, too, have heard about the high prey drive of many Fidelco dogs.  Back in 
the 1970s, I saw a TSE shepherd who had killed a cat.  In the kennels, there 
are cats but the dogs have no real access to them.  I know that in some of 
my TSE classes, we had an evening lecture and someone broought a mellow cat 
to the class and the dogs had to ignore the cat in the room and any 
agression or over interest earned the dog a stong correction.  Since those 
cats retired, don't know if they have new cats to use.

I think part of the problem is that the dogs don't appear to have been 
socialized with cats as puppies with their raiser.  I had a Lab that was 
really fixated on cats.  I spent two weeks with a friend and that dog was 
fixated on her cats.  After two weeks of being able to interact with that 
very dog savvy cat, my dog got it oout of her system and wasn't fixated on 
cats anymore.  My friend had two shepherds.  My dog actually played "soccer" 
with my Mom's cat!  That Lab never was agressive, just very curious.  When I 
baby sat that cat when my Mom was out of town, the two would sleep together 
on my dog's bed!

Lyn and Landon
"Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like 
asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy" <pigwidgin07 at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2013 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] German shepherds and cats


> Thanks for the replies Rhonda, Melissa, and CIndy.  It's great to hear a
> success story with cats and a shepherd.  I definitely intend to tell the
> school about our kitties.  At this point, I'm just curious to find some
> folks who have had good experiences with their cats with shepherds.  I may
> in the end be completely happy with a lab, golden, or lab/golden mix, but 
> I
> surely do love shepherds.
>
> Kathy
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> You probably will have to let them gradually get to know each other. Cats
>> are likely to hide o ut anyway for a while.
>>
>> CL
>>
>> On Jul 12, 2013, at 9:45 PM, Kathy <pigwidgin07 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Hello everyone.  This is Kathy in Seattle and I am in the middle of
>> > applying for a guide dog.  I'm waiting for the home visits at this 
>> > point.
>> > I agree that one should get the best dog (and breed) for your own 
>> > unique
>> > situation but I admit to being quite partial to german shepherds, 
>> > mostly
>> > because I grew up with and also owned collies and german shepherd 
>> > mixes.
>> > For those of you who have or have had german shepherd guides, have any 
>> > of
>> > you had cats in your household?  How did that work out?  With the prey
>> > drive that some shepherds are known for, I'm concerned about our 
>> > kitties
>> > becoming a midnight snack. :)  They are large Ragdolls and incredibly
>> > sweet, and the last thing I'd want to do is to cause them loads of
>> stress.
>> > I think in the long haul, they will love having a dog around because 
>> > they
>> > sort of act like dogs themselves.  But only if it doesn't eye them with 
>> > a
>> > culinary interest.
>> >
>> > Thanks for the advice!
>> >
>> > Kathy
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
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