Just bragging about my "boys"

Sam and Spike have always lived with cats and do a good job protecting them. Our neighbors got a puppy late last year and he likes to squeeze between the gates and come in our back yard to play. He's part dachsund, so I know he has some hunting instinct in him. I think his name is Bowser and he's a very short dog. Sam and Spike play with him, but tower over him at 75 and 95 pounds respectively.

Yesterday Lucky (my semi-feral) was out in the yard finding a good place to go and nibbling on grass. Bowser sees Lucky but Lucky didn't see him. Bowser starts to run at Lucky and I yelled at him to stop. He paused, sat down then being the puppy he is, started going after Lucky again. He had that "play" look about him so I wasn't concerned about him harming Lucky, but I wanted to teach little Bowser that it's not OK to chase my cats. I give him a sterner "stop" and he pauses again.

Sam and Spike were up on the deck looking down at all of this. On the second "stop" (it was firmer and they knew I meant business this time), they run down the deck and go straight for Bowser. They got between Bowser and Lucky and wouldn't let him approach Lucky. Every time Bowser tried to run around them to get to Lucky, Sam & Spike herded him away.

And Lucky knows that my boys will protect him. When we moved here, he wouldn't go into the yard at first unless the boys were out there playing.

Just bragging about my boys. They are such good protectors!!

Awww, that's awesome!

Extra doggie treats for your boys!

Lucky is part of the "pack" and they know it. It helps that Lucky spends most nights inside the house now that he is taming up.

What great boys!!

That is absolutely wonderful! You've obviously trained your doggies very well. I love hearing positive stories about cats and dogs, I know they can live together very happily and it's silly that people have such entrenched ideas about them.

Originally Posted by pushylady

That is absolutely wonderful! You've obviously trained your doggies very well. I love hearing positive stories about cats and dogs, I know they can live together very happily and it's silly that people have such entrenched ideas about them.

Click to expand...

Thank you - I think they are incredibly well behaved boys. They funny thing is, that when I yelled at Bowser, my boys were smart enough to know where I was directing my discipline - not at them but at the puppy. I've seen dogs that freak when their owner raises their voice at anything. Mine have the discipline to know when they are doing something wrong - a raised voice at that moment gets a positive response from them. In fact in the house, a raised eyebrow can get the right response from them. The great thing about them: they are the happiest dogs that I know. They know their place in the pack and are happy to have those boundaries set for them.

Lucky is very lucky to have such helpful big brothers. They sound like great dogs!

Cool story

Keno will break up the wrestling sometimes between Charlie and Ling Like a big older sister should.