Is your Dobe good with other small animals? - Doberman Forum : Doberman Breed Dog Forums

Nala5 · 11-12-2012, 04:36 PM

Nala is fine with the cat. She annoys him, but will leave him alone and come to us when we call her or say "leave it", but is starting to seem too excited about the rabbit. She follows us around everywhere and when I go to feed the rabbit she is starting to get more and more intent on him and it is way more intense then her attitude towards the cat. I definitley wouldn't be comfortable having the rabbit out with her even though she has been around him since we got her. She just turned a year and is noticing birds and squirrels on our walks a lot more too. Interested in other Dobermans behavior towards small critters..

LVdobe · 11-12-2012, 04:38 PM

To small dog two of my three are good.
To other small animals.... I worry for thier safety(the small animal), I would not trust any of my three with cats, rabbits ext.

Jonesy'sMom · 11-12-2012, 04:46 PM

Jones is pretty good with small critters
Sonic vs The Doberman
A thread about Dobes and cats
Are Dobes Ok with Cats?
However, I would NEVER leave him unattended with a small critter no matter how good I think he might be.... I know given a chance he would kill one of hundreds of wild rabbits that come into my yard (if he could catch them)

DogsR4Life · 11-12-2012, 04:56 PM

Chase LOVES small animals, except squirrels.

Here he is with a hairless rattie

Horses (not small, but can test a prey driven dog)

Loves cats, even if they don't like him

More rats

With him, I just encouraged calm behaviour. If he got too excited, the small animals go back into their home until he settles down.

Coco Loco · 11-12-2012, 04:57 PM

Coco is pretty good with her cat, Tiki. Coco loves Tiki although the feelings aren't as mutual. Coco still wants to play with Tiki who obviously does not want to play with a big dog. Coco sometimes will still chase Tiki but never runs as fast as she can bc she never "catches" Tiki. She loves to sneak up and lick, kiss and poke Tiki.

Coco's bestie, Scarlet (red dobe) was over for a sleepover and she gave Scar proper hell for chasing Tiki in the house. Whatever Coco said to Scar worked bc Scar did not look at Tiki again for the rest of her visit lol.

zorianak · 11-12-2012, 05:05 PM

Jaina likes to try to play with our cat, Panda (Panda being very large for a cat, but still only around 1/4 Jaina's size). I always intervene, though - even though the cat sends the dog running. I'd hate for Jaina to accidentally step on her, or get one of her eyes clawed out (even though Panda never uses her claws, if she ever felt threatened she might).

I know some of my family members disagree with me having a playpen for Jaina when we're at home, but I just don't feel safe letting her loose in the house. By which I mean, I know I can't watch her 24/7, so if I'm doing something around the house, the playpen comes out in case I turn my back for the 5 seconds it takes for her to start trying to play with the cat. It's large enough that she can roll around and stretch out in it, and I've caught her chasing her tail, but small enough I can set it up almost anywhere on my own

Elzajpn · 11-12-2012, 07:21 PM

Elza annoys my cat. Luckily cat is stronger and bossy, so no harm. I have 5 cockatiels. When Elza approaches to the cages to sniff my birds, my cat dashes as if she protects birds from Elza! My cat never tried to get my birds. It apparently has friendship. However for my birds play time, Elza and cat are out of the room.
When walking outside, story is different. When Elza sees a cat or dove, prey drive is on! I'm very careful to find the small animal first before Elza finds.

Rambo_007 · 11-12-2012, 08:01 PM

We were fostering a kitten when we first adopted Rambo. He was very interested in Stitch and Stitch being bottle raised and growing up with our other two dogs wasn't afraid. On the contrary she asserted her dominance immediately, and under close supervision we let her. Rambo quickly learned that it was not ok to invade Stitches space. Stitch kicked him out of his kennel multiple times and was helpful in teaching him boundaries. By the time Stitch went to her new home they were friends. Rambo got scratched on the nose a couple times but they worked it out. I think it's important to let them work these things out on their own (under very close supervision) so there isn't a continuous attempt to find out boundaries. At least this is what has worked for us.

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NINKOjIN · 11-12-2012, 09:02 PM

Riley wants to play with our cats SO BAD! But they wont have any of it! They used to run away from him all of the time, causing a chase to start, of course... but for a while now, one of our cats has taken to just sitting there... and if Riley bothers her she'll swat (claws not out) at him and hiss, and Riley's like "What did I do?!" and whines. I typically intervene. He's still a puppy and very energetic and loves to chase. I don't believe he'd ever hurt the cats... I've seen him corner one before, and all he did was play bow a bunch of times and block her from running, but never nipped or anything. The cats really don't like it, so, I just pull him away or block him when they are around.

When he's tired, or just wakes up, he'll often walk up to a cat and sniff them and wag his tail, and then walk away. The cat just squints. I love those moments... where everything's good... can't wait for it to be like that all of the time (here's hoping).

Nala5 · 11-12-2012, 09:05 PM

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. I love the pictures of Chase with all his friends. What a sweet boy!

Dobes&Hounds · 11-12-2012, 09:11 PM

They are just biding their time till they can "get" the cat.

My kitty lives with 2 dobermans and 2 pharaoh hounds. Training the dogs was challenging, but honestly this cat is so bold he walks all over the dogs.

Beaumont67 · 11-12-2012, 10:58 PM

Our past girl was friedly with the outside love birds, squirrels, chipmunk and occasional bunny, plus next door neighbors inside cat.
- a stray outside cat was game on, to run off the property...real quick though
We even baby sit two YorkiePoo's occasionally (ine is sons dog) and Amy was very gently, around the little ones.

madmyk · 11-13-2012, 06:46 AM

So far Malia seems just fine with smaller animals. She once went after (just to investigate) some baby chicks, Momma chicken came after Malia like hell on wheels and Malia has been very timid of chickens since. Several times Malia has had the chance to be around cats, she shows interest until the cat shows ANY aggression, at which point Malia will hide behind me.
Magnum on the other paw has been instant death to all non dog critters he can get. Due to this we have limited Magnum's 'visits' with most critters.

Rouleaux · 11-13-2012, 07:22 AM

Rou is really good with the cat. I caught him petting the cat with his monster feet and the cat ran through his deer legs rubbing his face all over him, then went back to eating... I was shocked! I try to encourage him to meet and greet all kinds of animals. I have a quaker parrot who likes to bite him on the nose- with no provoked excitement- he just looks at me as if to say "why, ma?". These meetings however are to attempt to get the bird used to the dog rather than the dog to the bird. Rou is also good with my little sister's hamster.

But for the safety of all involved, everyone is caged (except for the cat- old man goes outside) when I am not home.

SoCalGirl · 11-13-2012, 09:12 AM

Elke is good with small dogs (especially puppies) but I would not trust her with anything else. Whenever she sees a cat I know she is trying to figure out how to kill it. Same with squirrels and other little things.

ddvv · 11-13-2012, 06:44 PM

Brie is 2 and grew up with 2 yorkies so she loves small dogs; she chases the cats but no harm meant; she is even fine with my small conure, she lets him walk all over her.

Elzajpn · 11-13-2012, 08:29 PM

I have a muscle pain today. As I wrote I always check whether a cat is around. However, yesterday Elza found him earlier.
She dashed and I saw a cat running into the yard. My Flexi leash was accidently unlocked and I couldn't pull her back. As a result it was better because I wasn't dragged or fell down. Just my posture became odd so I've got a muscle pain.
Another dog walker was stunned to see us.... I was a bit embarrassed.
Before it happened, Elza walked very nicely, geeee!

Asmit · 11-13-2012, 09:23 PM

Great with small animals and a firm LEAVE IT! Command

**MeadowCat** · 11-13-2012, 10:11 PM

It doesn't really matter if other Dobermans are good with small animals...it sounds like your girl isn't. For the rabbit's safety I would not allow them to interact.