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Jahzara joined our family in 2003 when she was about 1.5 years old. She was a Greyhound bred to be a racer but never actually raced.
Her paperwork indicated that she was retired because she would not chase anything. We always thought was hilarious, because she LOVED to chase things! Apparently, she just did not want to chase the things they wanted her to chase in the environment they wanted her to do the chasing. All the better for her and us!
When Jahzara joined us, we had Joxer, our Smooth Collie, and three cats. Jahzara had tested “cat safe” in her retirement evaluation. But we still didn't know how she would be with our particular cats in our house.
Buster was familiar with dogs and knew how to handle them. She learned quickly to just let him be, because he never let anything rile him up.
Sweet Pea was not as used to other dogs yet, so when Jahzara would get playful with him, Sweet Pea would hiss and snarl and swat at her. She soon learned that he was not much fun either.
Freighter, though, was not as familiar with dogs and was not quite sure what to do. Jahzara would try to play with Freighter and she would run. I can't really blame a little cat for running away when a big dog pounced at her. But of course, that was all the more fun for the dog who really did love to chase moving objects!
At first, I was concerned that Jahzara would hurt Freighter since she was so much larger. Although she clearly just wanted to play, it's very easy to hurt someone in play if you don't realize how much bigger and stronger you are.
Initially, I would redirect Jahzara to a toy. Freighter would run one way, I would toss a toy the other way and Jahara would chase and pounce on the toy.
Gradually, Freighter was less afraid once she realized that Jahzara was not trying to hurt her and that she would not pounce ON Freighter. Once I taught Jahzara that she could pounce near but not on the cat, they both started to realized they could have some fun together.
Eventually, I realized that Freighter actually started to seek out and instigate play with Jahzara or other dogs who stayed with us once she felt safer. She actually started to enjoy being chased as long as it was a dog who knew it was just a game and that no one intended any harm.
Jahzara and Freighter had fun playing together once they both understood the rules and made sure everyone stayed safe.
Do you have a dog and cat who like to play together?
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