Dog obsessed with cat

[Casey's Mom]

My sister is a foster mom for a shitzu named Oreo. She has had him for about 3 weeks since his owner moved away and couldn't take him - he will eventually come to live with me but I cannot have three dogs right now. He is a great dog that I have babysat often but he is a different dog at my sisters. He is totally obsessed with her cat. He stares at the cat under the bed all day and won't interact with my sister, her son or her dog. He doesn't want to hurt the cat and seems to want to play but the cat ignores him. This is becoming an issue because my sister is not happy and the dog is not happy. He comes here and is exhausted and sleeps the whole time he is visiting.

Any advice gladly appreciated. Hope you are out there Sas and can put in your input as well.

Love and hugs,

[Rene]

Ellen,

Is it possible that Oreo has bonded with kitties in his former home?

My Snoopie has lived with dogs, horses, turtles, you name it but she has always bonded with her kitties! She grooms with them, sleepes in the same bed and protects them. Her last kittie was Arnie.

Snoopie recently lost her Arnie to an owl. She scared the owl away then guarded Arnie's body all night until we found him in the morining. She is still heart broken and won't go into the area at night where the event occured. She even tries to sleep in Arnies teenie little covered bed and smushes the roof all down and spills over...so sad & cute my husband had to put it in the garage.

Oro may be missing his kitty too :(.

Rene & Snoopie

P.S. It could also just simply be that cats overstimulate him with their alouf nature. When he eventually comes to live with you will there be a dog fiendly cat?

[Maya]

I'm afraid there is not much you can do about this....
Maya had always been obsessed with cats even though I myself do not have one. Everyday I am forced to go down a particular street where there is a colony of them and Maya will just stand and stare at them for as long as I let her. It's like she goes into an almost hypnotic state and she will not listen to me when I call her. I have to physically drag her away because she slumps to the floor-dead weight..refusing to leave!! If I do not take her to see the cats every day ,she is depressed, will not have anything to do with me and refuses to go in any other direction! When I go to my friends house (who does have a cat) Maya will follow the cat around constantly and will stare at it without a break right up until we go home. the cat gets pissed off because obviously it feels observed. She does not want to hurt them, she does not chase them, she just has this morbid obsession....I guess that's just the way she is!:)