Interesting Behavior From One Of Our Dogs...?

[1 bruce 1]

One of our dogs has decided they're Keeper of the Kitties and spends the majority of their semi-retirement snuggling them, herding them, and breaking up spats by standing between them and giving the aggressor a "hey man, what the hell" look until it's diffused. She prefers the cats to any other dog and spends most of her time with the cats.
Yesterday, this dog was sleeping on the bed when one of our girls jumped up. She woke up, but her back was to the cat. The cat went to lay next to her as usual and she leapt up, air snapped loudly and scared the cat. No contact was made no hair out of place on the cat, and 2 seconds later she acted like nothing had happened but to be safe I crated her as I was unable to watch them (plus, I was kind of mad at her). Since then, no issues. We've watched closely for signs of pain, nothing, and they've been the best of pals since.
This dog is still training and working but not as actively, but she's never been one to snap at anyone or anything. No health problems, no arthritis, no nothing except a previous bout of gastritis in her youth that was resolved many years ago.
Vet visit will be done if this happens again, but this was really weird.

 

[Lilacat >(^.^)<]

Maybe dreaming that someone was after one of her babies?

 

[tinydestroyer]

It's common for dogs to be startled and snap if woken up abruptly. Kinda like how you should never vigorously wake up a sleepwalker, because of the potential for aggression if they're disoriented. A dog may respond similarly if woken up from a very deep sleep. My dog is also a "keeper of the kitties," type, and would never hurt anyone, but has air snapped at my husband once when he was woken up from a deep sleep. I actually believe this is where the phrase "let sleeping dogs lie," comes from. Since your dog is also obviously trained as a working dog, and hasn't shown aggressive tendencies to the cat since, I would be surprised if there's any serious issue between them. I think the cat just startled the dog awake too quickly.

 

[neely]

Since your dog is also obviously trained as a working dog, and hasn't shown aggressive tendencies to the cat since, I would be surprised if there's any serious issue between them. I think the cat just startled the dog awake too quickly.

I completely agree, just out of curiosity what type of dog is it? We had a herding breed and he loved to herd the cat but never once harmed her in any way, shape or form. Do you happen to have a pic of your dog and the kitties?

 

[1 bruce 1]

I completely agree, just out of curiosity what type of dog is it? We had a herding breed and he loved to herd the cat but never once harmed her in any way, shape or form. Do you happen to have a pic of your dog and the kitties?

Herding breed(s) here too! We also have a group of a non-herding breed that are like the anti-herding type (our herding dogs are like "OMG I live to do whatever you want, LOL work work work" and our non-herders are like "LOL, sit, stay? You're joking right? Sorry, we only work when it's 40 degrees or lower, talk to us in the fall, LOL BAI!" They keep things interesting though they all do their own work and have a purpose here!)

What struck me as weird as the dog woke up when the cat jumped onto the bed, but didn't really lift her head. She just kind of opened her eyes, like "oh, the cats here" and the cat went to snuggle and she was like "NOT NOW I HAVE A HEADACHE" and just snapped her jaws so firmly and loudly it kind of weirded me out. Maybe she wasn't even fully awake, or woke up thinking she "just woke up" and didn't really realize the cat was there.
Today things were fine. No issues, no tense stuff, no avoidance or staring (WHY do herding dogs stare at stuff, LOL, it's weird) and nothing struck us as odd.