Questions - one behavioral and one health related...

[Newly Newfed]

I have two questions:

1 - How can I get Sierra to give my cats a few moments peace?  She won't stop bothering them whenever she sees them.  She doesn't hurt them, she just follows them around and slobbers them up.  I tried baby gates so they can sniff at each other, I've tried to let them figure tings out themselves by not seperating them..  I figured she would check them out, get bored and leave them alone, but she just won't leave them alone.  I've tried praise and reprimands.  Nothing works.  Any suggestions??

2 - Sierra gets the mucus build up in the inner corners of her eyes.  For lack of a correct term, my sister and I always called them "eye boogers".  I know, gross, but it's habit.  Anyway, I'm constantly wiping them out her eyes, and 15 minutes later there they are again.  Is this a Newfie thing that  I just have to accept or is there something that can be irritating her eyes?

[jabear]

For question #1 I'd suggest teaching her the "leave it" command so that she knows when you want her to ignore them. This works all the time with Bear various situations. You can also have her sit & stay while they walk by and not allow her to move. This will teach her that she can't play with them just because they are moving.

For #2, I think you should just resign yourself to the fact that eye boogers are part of life. Bear gets them everyday and after naps I have to clean them out. No biggie, just life. 

[Duramax]

as for the cats needing peace, i would be very consistant no matter how long it takes or how many times while teaching. and as for the eye boogers....wel l, it's kindof the same thing as the dog hair, you end up wearing it around on your shirt and have no idea it's there alot. it's just some dogs i guess, Max has em too.

[Newly Newfed]

For question #1 I'd suggest teaching her the "leave it" command so that she knows when you want her to ignore them. This works all the time with Bear various situations. You can also have her sit & stay while they walk by and not allow her to move. This will teach her that she can't play with them just because they are moving.

For #2, I think you should just resign yourself to the fact that eye boogers are part of life. Bear gets them everyday and after naps I have to clean them out. No biggie, just life. 

Ok.. I can handle the eye boogers as long as it's normal and she's not getting anything in her eyes.  That's a relief.

As for the cats, we have been teaching her the "leave it" command and she's been doing very, very well with it.  You should see how she pounces on the treat when we give her the ok...hee...hee ... 

Anyway, back on track.  Maybe we just need to keep practicing, but when she sees the cats, that's all she focuses on.  It's like she doesn't see or hear anything else.  One time I kept telling her no, she didn't respond so I went over to her still saying her name and the word no.  Finally I was right next to her and tapped her on the back.  She jumped and ran a few feet with her tail between her legs until she realized it was me who touched her.  I really don't think she even knew I was next to her until I touched her and scared the daylights out of her.  It doesn't help that the one cat has a very squeaky meow that sounds like her toys and the other one fights back which Sierra sees as a play invitation.

And she's not the brightest dog.  Outside yesterday she got blood all over my hand and of course I panicked until I saw it was only from a scratch on the nose from our outside cat.  Not two minutes later...guess who she was harassing again?? 

Dumb dog.

[Britz]

Eye boogers we call them that here to.. as for the cats I have the same problem  with  zeus... You could try the "look at me"  command that  seems to help  get  zeus attention away  and The "leave it"  but  He will leave a treat  better tahn he will leave the cat 

[newfie owner]

hi,
 we also use the command leave it with molly when she tries to carry the kittens by the scruff of the neck,it does work! eventually haha

  debi and ste

[VdogLover]

Since "leave it" in my house means you can never have, see, or touch it I use the "Enough" command with the cat. For real pesky dogs I use the water bottle as back up.

[Newly Newfed]

hi,
 we also use the command leave it with molly when she tries to carry the kittens by the scruff of the neck,

haha!  I'd love to see a picture of that!!  How cute!  I'm guessing the kittens and Momma cat don't think it's very cute though...  LOL!