Cats and Dogs Chasing / Swiping

[bela]

When I am not around to supervise, I keep a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dog and cat separated. But, when I am home, they both have free run of the house. The cat has her own safe room, which used to have a gate on it, but now the dog knows to just stand in front of the doorway


even if I am in the cat's room.

The 2 of them love to chase each other. Dog chases cat into cat's room, cat chases dog into my room, dog chases cat down stairs, cat chases dog upstairs. When the dog is ready to chase, she will playbow with her tail wagging, so I am not worried about it being a prey-driven chase.
They never have contact when they are playing chase. One of them will jump onto something (bed, couch, etc) and then the "game" is over.
I watch them very carefully when this is all going on and see no reason to worry about either getting hurt.
I was just wondering if anyone else has a cat that chases the dog...and vice versa.

Also, unrelated to the chase games,  the cat also loves to block the dog on the stairs and in doorways. When the dog comes near her she WILL swipe at the dog. I have never hear the dog yelp in pain or anything, so I'm trying not to worry about the swiping. Do I just let them work it out themselves? Or do I try to stop the swiping?

Sometimes the cat even backs the dog into a corner and swipes at her. Nothing that would make me jump up and worry that someone got hurt....it seems to me that the dog just takes it and that it does not hurt her (swiping without claws?)

Is there such a thing as "playful swiping?" Or is it her being mean and trying to hurt the dog?

 

[petcrazy76]

It's probably her showing your dog who is the boss. I would let them be as long as no one is getting hurt. How long have they been together?

My cats have stare downs and swipe at each other also. My "grumpy old man" Peanut swipes at his people too. He's always surprised if he actually hits one of us and he never hurts anyone.

My in-laws had two dogs and one cat. The cat loved to hit the dogs (especially the chiwawa) because they would start barking and run around the room like crazy. Then they'd go back by her and she'd hit them again. Cats can be very loving and they can also be jerks. That's part of what makes them so great.

 

[bela]

It's probably her showing your dog who is the boss. I would let them be as long as no one is getting hurt. How long have they been together?
 

They have been together since Oct 27, 2013.

Thanks for your advice! I was worried that I SHOULDN'T let this behavior continue, but my heart tells me that as long as nobody is crying that they are hurt, there's nothing wrong with some fun between the two. Plus, Béla the cat can stand to use a few pounds with exercsie, so that is another reason I was hoping I could let them chase! I've never seen her run around so much -granted it is only for short stints and then she plops somewhere. Typical Béla! She's like that with the string toys, too - she will chase it for about 3 minutes, then plop like, "Oh, Enough. I'm bored and too good for this right now."