Cat Sniffing Dogs

There's a beagle up for adoption at the shelter I work at. He's a really cool dog, really laid back. I got to thinking that he'd be a good dog to adopt. While trying to justify bringing another animal home I decided he might make a great cat finding dog and that if he had a job he wouldn't technically be a pet so my husband could fuss too much. I imagined how I'd train him to find lost cats and go into business. I'd buy him a little vest to wear while cat sniffing and we'd be the heroes to so many people with lost cats.

Of course, I came to my senses shortly thereafter and did not adopt the dog but it did get me wondering about cat sniffing dogs. Does anyone have one or know if they work? How do you train a dog to find cats? What could you possibly say as a command that wouldn't make you giggle? (I've a strange sense of humor so perhaps I should say, "that wouldn't make me giggle."

Thoughts?

I'm not sure I understand your post. Why would you want a dog sniffing cat? If you trained any dog to do that, all it would accomplish is scaring the bejeebers out of a cat and they'd high tail it away.

I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback that's by nature a cat hunter and will sniff out Maggie (my kitty) when she's hiding or napping in my basement but they're good friends. Actually, she comes out and rubs against my dog lol If the cat was feral it would frighten the cat and being the dog didn't know the cat I would think it would get aggressive towards it. I could be wrong

Oh, sorry! Some dogs are trained to sniff out lost cats. Like if they get out and panic and hide under the house and won't come out. You know how hard cats can be to find when they don't want to be so some people started training dogs to help find them. They are services you can hire.

Never heard of that, but thats really cool. I was trying to think of a command to use and they all made me giggle. What would you say "Sniff"? "Meow"? "Find the cat"? I guess you could use any word really but all the ones I came up with made me laugh.

Originally Posted by Emy4cats

Never heard of that, but thats really cool.

I was trying to think of a command to use and they all made me giggle. What would you say "Sniff"? "Meow"? "Find the cat"? I guess you could use any word really but all the ones I came up with made me laugh.

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Exactly my point! It seemed silly no matter what I came up with. Can you imagine doing this as a business and standing there in your "Cat Sniffers" polo shirt and khakis in front of clients going "Cat, boy, find the cat!"?