12/15/2023 0 Comments Premack principle![]() The goal was to teach him to automatically look at me when he saw a cat. Just saying.) I taught Skip “Look” (at me), first with no distractions, and then gradually worked up to using it around the cats. ![]() (Sorry Nellie about only coming in the house when Skip’s crated, but please remember I’m allergic to cats and you’re not supposed to be here at all. I’ve done all the obvious, including keeping Skip and the cats as separate as possible. Needless to say, this is something I’ve been working on ever since we got him. ![]() He’s lunged at the cats when they got close to him, and I’m pretty sure he would have bitten Nellie the time she dashed through my legs at the door to the house if she hadn’t had a cabinet to run under. He sits at the window and waits for one to appear in the garden. He goes into full stalking posture when he gets anywhere near one. “Get out of my face and move away.”Īfter that, Skip became obsessed with the cats. It was the exact action you’d see a BC perform, appropriately, toward a sheep that faced him off. (Nellie, aka Golden Retriever Cat, has never met a stranger.) The snap didn’t appear to be defensive. And then he dipped into a stalking posture when she came over to rub against him. Oh good, I thought, he’s not going to be one of those dogs. Then he was curious, and approached Nellie with his tail wagging. He was mildly frightened of the cats the first few days, clearly never having seen one in his life. They are best buddies to this day.īut Skip? Ah, no. After being here just a few weeks, and having just recently become comfortable enough with Willie to be loose in the house with him, she darted between Willie and the Nellie, nose bumped Willie, and returned to sit beside Nellie like a body guard. Maggie came into the house at 14 months, having not been exposed to cats either, and immediately became protective of the cats when Willie began stalking them. Others don’t, and it seems to be hard wired. Frenzied Feline Focus Syndrome, or FFFS, (I do hope it’s clear I made that up) is common in Border Collies, some of who categorize cats as weird, mutated livestock creatures without hooves. New dogs always bring new challenges, and besides poor Skip’s leg injury, one of ours is his obsession with the cats.
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