Sherry is on a roll this week, first she was attacked & ended up with stitches, then she went lame yesterday afternoon (all right by bedtime, though) and today she barked at a wee cat that was hiding under a car and it ran out straight under the wheels of another car. The poor guy driving it had absolutely no chance to stop. It wasn't killed straight away, but I don't think it knew anything about it, it was unconcious and the driver of the car said half it's face was missing.
Fortunately we managed to find the owner, who was very nice about it, she said she wasn't surprised as he was always going on the road. I'm just glad it wasn't concious and suffering that would be so much worse.
Guess I'll just have to up the "cats are your friends and if you bark at them you will get a face full of water" training, took Sandy about a year and half to grasp this, I do hope Sherry cottons on a bit quicker after this.
Jackie, you really are having a week of it aren't you. I know these things happen but it is so distressing for all concerned. Hopefully that's your share of bad luck all done in one go and things settle down for you now.
Hope Sherry and you will be having better luck next week. The cat thing is a worry, and round my way on his "toilet" walk and he is safely on a lead - I let Biscuit stop to look at cats I know who are quite brave and just sit and look at him. I keep saying "leave", keep it all calm, and then we walk on, giving him a treat. I'm probably kidding myself, but hope it's something.
Let's hope everyone concerned has recovered from this distressing incident. Even tho no-one can do anything about these things, it's still upsetting. Chin up luv.
Posted this in the wrong thread, there is no hope!
Well, some people really take the biscuit (no offence, Biscuit!).
I went past the Evil Dog's house today, and saw said dog out in the garden with the children. I shouted across to them from the other side of the road (because Sherry won't walk past their gate) to ask their mum or dad to come out. Kid went in, duly reappeared saying that mum was "on the toilet" and dad would be back later. In other words, they knew why I was there and didn't want to know.
So I guess it will be a letter after all. I've got a good mind to add the cost of the day's holiday that I had to take.
You can't blame Sherry or yourself for this accident. Your dog was on a lead and under control - dogs WILL bark at cats. The cat's owner understood that if you have an outdoor cat, the chances of it meeting an accident and getting run over are fairly high. It's horrible - for the poor driver too - and in fact could have caused a traffic accident where people got hurt as well, but none of that is your responsiblity; the owner of the loose animal should be responsible IMHO.
My Oscar barks like a lunatic at cats, but that's just too bad really. I have tried to train him not to with a Leave It command, giving him a food reward when he looks at me instead of barking, and sometimes this works, but not always. I don't use aversives like squirting water - for one thing, I don't want to be fiddling about with a water squirter when keeping control of the lead is far more important! For another - things like that may temporarily suppress the barking, but won't change the attitude. Your dog is unlikely to look at you automatically on seeing a cat if it gets a squirt of water in its face.