predation

From Stalking and Chasing to Kissing

So I thought I would share a success story of my 2 year old English mastiff Butkus and his new feline friend I've attached a before video (bad behavior) and photos ( now good behavior) to show you the difference in 2 months with working with Butkus after reaching out to Roman Gottfried for some assitance . We had Butkus since 10 weeks along with his older brother bentley a yorkie . Butkus had always been a very well mannered sweetheart like a typical mastiff but after my husband brought home a kitten we couldnt get Butkus to snap out of "staring down" and obsessing over the kitten to the point he wouldnt listen to us very well . we werent sure if he had a high prey drive as he had never met a cat and were nervous he was going to kill the kitten. So we started with removing the two and seperating them and allowing butkus to sniff the kitten under the door. This was hard as both are very vocal when left alone behind a door. We never left the two alone and while at work shut the kitten in our bedroom as Butkus and Bentley are couch guardians during the day lol everyday my husband and I would bring the kitten out and hold him close to us letting Butkus know the kitten belonged to us and would shower it with affection so Butkus understood he was part of the family. We would make Butkus sit and call him over to us to allow a few sniffs and he'd eventually get so curious he'd gently lick the kitten . We repeated this for days until we felt we could set the kitten down . Anytime Butkus would run to chase the kitten we would snap our fingers and have a treat ready after he would come to us to sit to try and redirect his attention as he's very food motivated . After weeks and weeks and a cat tree to help allow the kitten to escape his height the two became buddies. I had a little help from my yorkie as well who leads the animals pack and would bark at Butkus whenever he tried to chase the kitten. I have zero issues now and can allow them in the same room with me gone. Butkus's typical behavior with the kitten now is to wipe his drooly lips all over his back causing for multiple self kitten bathing and walking away lol