Dog and cats issue

[FourFangs]

I have two cats and I recently got a 5 month old Shiba Inu puppy. He's a great dog except that he likes to go after my cats. I can get him to sit still if he's next to me and if the cats are stationary, but as soon as they run he goes off after them. I'm aware that Shiba Inus have a high prey drive but I'm hoping that he's still young enough for me to teach him to get along with the cats. I was wondering if any could offer any tips or anything else that will help my animals to coexist.

[WitchyLady506]

See about training classes for him, as if he's doing this at home, when you take him out, he's going to do it too. It would probably benefit him to go through those classes and be around other dogs and learn all the basics. Also, the trainer may have some professional advice for you to help.

With the cats, I would just see about doing the same thing you would a child, discipline it when it does something wring and reward him for the proper behaviour to encourage it. Try holding him while the cats go around and telling him how he's good for staying and letting the kitties go about. Have someone help you in actually having the cats and the dogs right by each other.

Since he is still a pup, it could be he just thinks he's playing, not trying to hurt them, so it could grow out of him, but I wouldn't personally wait and hope that happens. I think the best it to do what I said first, and talk to a professional trainer.

[Fie]

This is a more common problem with shiba inu's... I know that everyone who i've know to have one has said they get into hunting mode very quickly over anything that runs. You definitely should either get him trained completely by a dog trained or attend many obedience classes.

One thing I would probably do, that you might not want to do is keep the cats and dog in the room with you and when he goes after them, let him (but monitor him closely) and let the cats just lay it on him. As a puppy he'll probably learn real fast that going after the cats means he's going to get a good scratching.

Thats what I would do, that and train him like crazy.