I often wonder when seeing videos what dogs make of cats?
They often seem both put-upon and yet also curious about a creature with a very different communication style.
A dog I used to dog-sit hated cats. Could not be allowed near them. Her opinion? "Destroy on sight." In her defense, as she was a sweet dog otherwise, she *did* come up as a stray. Maybe she had some bad experiences.
I wonder if dogs recognize cats as a category in the way they recognize humans?
@catsalad @futurebird Lucy was not keen on Maddie when Maddie first arrived. But it was in the âbark! bark! bark! You are a strange live thing in my territory! Get out! bark! bark! bark!â kind of way. Maddie pretty much ignored Lucy until Lucy acclimatedâwhich took a couple of months. Now we have cute photos of them snuggling together.
Maddie initiates play occasionally. And she does it with canine signalingâfront crouched down, butt up, tail waving. I suspect she learned this from Lucy. Maddie was very young and feral when we got her, so I donât think she got much in the way of feline role models.
@hal_pomeranz @catsalad @futurebird Our cat also loved our old dog. Then he died, and she hates the new one. Both of them tried hard to ignore her.
Good side-effect: Now she mostly wants pats from me.
My sister had a large-but-harmless dog and two cats.
One of the cats very quickly established that she was the boss (the other cat was an orange tomcat and therefore harmless).
The three were a heist crew:
Opening doors, cupboards, fridges, etc.
The dog was the designated "I can pull stuff out and open packaging" team member.
(Apparently not so good with doors or complex mechanisms.)
Tried to help leader cat with her offspring once. Never tried that again.
This could be my George as a kitten. He likes meeting dogs when I take him outside on a leash. Most of them have no idea about cats, & a few have cat friends at home. One, a Jack Russell, Pomeranian, Shih Tzu cross, canât understand why George isnât frightened of him. The dog growled at him the other day, from inches away, & George ignored him. But I reckon George would give him what for if pushed.
One dog did the play bow after touching noses, but George didnât get it.
Cat đđ„ (D.Burch) 
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myrmepropagandist
Hal Pomeranz
George Liquor, American
lemgandi
Not a Spring Onion
KrazyKat
MikeH
Looking for explanationsâŠ
Dan