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| Shakir invites play |
In recent blog posts, Dave and I have discussed Tajji’s
progress in dealing with other dogs. Tajji is our newly (5 months) adopted
retired seeing eye dog, a 10 year old German Shepherd female who had major
reactivity issues, especially with small dogs. The extraction of a fractured
tooth has resolved her chronic pain, and enrollment in a reactive dog class
(“Reactive Rover” taught by Sandi Pensinger of Living With Dogs, using only
positive techniques, never punishment) has given us all tools to continue
progress.
It’s time for an update on Tajji’s adventures in Living With
Cats. For the 8 years of her working life, she did not live with cats, although
we assume she was exposed to them as part of her early socialization and
training. We introduced her to our two dog-savvy cats in stages, beginning with
barriers and progressing to escape-places for the cats and lots of human
supervision. After some initial confusion on the part of the dog, because cats
and dogs interprets many body-language signals in different ways, communication
was established and détente soon followed.
The next phase was entirely the doing of Shakir, our black
male cat who has a history of being extremely fond of large dogs. He adored our
previous German Shepherd Dog, who was too intimidated to let Shakir cuddle with
him. Tajji is of a much more phlegmatic temperament than our previous dog, and
it wasn’t too long before she would curl up at our feet at the dining table and
Shakir would come over, approaching her politely (no direct eye contact, curved
path, looking away, soft eyes). A sniff became a rub, and soon he was polishing
her feet, her muzzle, and the sides of her head with his jaw. Purring loudly,
he’d pass under her head, turn and repeat, and I’m sure the banquet of
kitty-butt smells was delightful to the dog.
One of Shakir’s favorite pastimes became chewing on Tajji’s
nails. This is fascinating for two reasons. One is that he loves to chew on his
own hind claws (never the front ones). The other is that she has hollow nails
and is sensitive about her feet. (We’re working on that.) We’ve looked down to
see him curled at her feet, his tail draped over her nose.
From time to time, we noticed that Tajjir would rush at
Shakir, often at great speed, and we became concerned that if her prey drive
were sufficiently engaged, she might injure him. All dogs have some degree of
prey drive, and German Shepherd Dogs tend to fall at the higher end, so saying
that Tajji has the lowest prey drive of any GSD we’ve known isn’t saying much.
For a time, we put up the baby gates across the division between living and
dining rooms. Then we noticed that Shakir would duck under the gate, turn
around, and with an air of feline insouciance, saunter back under it. In other
words, he was inviting her to chase
him.
Needless to say, our house is well supplied with places cats
can jump up on or crawl or behind that are not dog-accessible. The logical
conclusion is that any time either of the cats is running toward or away from
the dog, it’s because they choose to.
The cats are fully in control of the situation. The dog only
pretends to be.
One way Shakir invites play is to roll over on his back,
waving his paws, claws extended. He is extremely careful to retract those claws
once someone – human, canine, or feline – engages with him. (Incidentally, he
also strongly prefers to be stroked gently, and will enforce that preference.)
Tajji does not know quite what to make of this. I think she’d “get” a play bow,
but cats don’t do that. Shakir has been rolling over for her, at first on the
other side of a set of chair legs, then on the same side, getting ever closer
and closer. Once or twice, she’s responded by trying to place her paw on
him. This hasn’t worked out all that
well, as the touch is way too heavy and rough for him. He flips over and heads
for the nearest no-dog zone.
One of these days, one of them will pick a play strategy
(other than “Chase”) that the other will understand. Or we’ll find the two of
them fast asleep, cuddled against each other.
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