!!!Cat and Dog Advice Needed!!! LONG POST!!!

[ShrekDawg]

I agree you have to be the pack leader and you should watch "the dog whisperer". Also I think that the loud ATT may very well be effective. you should also watch Victoria Stillwell's "It's Me or The Dog". also very good show. I think you should use a combination of both correcting bad behavior and rewarding good behavior. I definately think that that is the MOST effective route to take/go with. I had a pretty similar situation to you when we first got my cats. My old dog (we had to put him down just yesterday, he was a 13 yr old Yellow Lab) hated cats so when we got the kittens he would like always snap at/attack them but then every time he did it my dad would yell at him and/or hit him on the nose (snout) and eventually he learned to tolerate them and that they were family. They eventually became best friends although he still occassionally snapped at and/or corrected them if they got too close or did something wrong (or he just felt like scaring/teasing them and making sure they knew he was boss haha) but most of the time he just loved them, licked them, shared his dog bed/slept with them, taught them dog stuff/how to be a dog

, etc. They were best friends and in fact I think my cat is probably gonna miss him the most of all.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Wow that's a lot of info. LOL and the ranking in my pack is the following...

1. Me
2. Negrita (chiweenie had her 7 years motherly dog)
3. Prince (chiweenie had him 7 years occasional sniff no real interest.)
4. Faux (long haired chihuahua? Doesn'T really care. more afraid than anything)
5. Chance (lab cross the mouther)
6. Yoshi (Swiss mtn dog chicken killer)
7. My mom

Any ways Negrita just whines and tries to mother them she has learned to back off. Chance is definitely a work in progress. For every three good meeting he has a bad one, I let him sniff and lick the girls then reward him when he does that. When he tries to bite I smack his rear hard. It hurts my hand more than his bum but he still gets the idea. We are closely bonded so anytime I feel negative towards him he can tell and doesn't want that to happen. He learning I'm happy. The funny this is that if he close and Yoshi is close to them he will bite her neck and bark so he makes her leave them alone. Hes trying poor guy he just doesn't know how to get them not to hiss (I really don't believe he means harm). For Yoshi the shaking has stopped and she just wont stop sniffing them although when she walks away I reward her

. So that the update. The other two boy just leave the cats alone with the occasional sniff and or growl (not serious grow Faux just duz that. He literally argues with me when I get mad at him LOL)