Jill Bowen

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas and has taught at Texas A&M. She lives with her veterinarian husband and two cats in Blacksburg. If you have a question, please write to her in care of The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 540, Christiansburg, VA 24068, or send an e-mail to mjbowen@radford.edu

Recent columns

• Invisible fences aren’t best option for every dog
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• Column archive

I have a 3-year-old male German shepherd who is fine with our cat at home but tries to chase cats that we meet when out walking. Any suggestions?

When a dog has been well-socialized as a puppy with different types of animals, it will usually accept their presence without a problem. However tolerating one cat in the home does not necessarily mean that he will accept all cats that he may meet. Unfortunately, the experience of chasing cats in the street is fun because the cats run away. By running away, the cats reward the dog's chase instincts, setting an enjoyable precedent.

You need to improve your control of your dog without increasing the excitement and tension, so no shouting or sudden wild tugs on the leash. Try your dog with a Halti or Gentle Leader. These look rather like a horse's halter and do not restrict panting or drinking. The leash fastens under the jaw and when tightened turns the dog's head toward you, breaking eye contact with the fleeing cat and giving you much more control of the situation. Before venturing out, get your dog accustomed to the new restraint at home. In some cases, when the dog is strong, a double leash is useful, one connected to the regular collar and the other to the Halti.

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My friend's bitch has had a litter of puppies and I am going to take one. She says it is OK to take the puppy as soon as it is 6 weeks old. Is this a bit young?

Six weeks is too young to take a puppy from its mother. Many puppies are pretty well weaned by that age, but others are not. I much prefer that puppies stay with the bitch and its litter mates until they are at least 8 to 9 weeks old (12 weeks is even better). It is important to socialize them during this period, getting them used to people and other animals. They should not be raised in isolation.

It is also important that they should have the first round of their puppy vaccinations before moving to a new home and they should be kept away from other dogs and all public places until after the second round of vaccinations, as they are not fully protected until then.

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I have an 8-month-old West Highland white terrier that attacks the television whenever there are animals on it or if the program has weird noises. We now shut him in the bathroom all evening to avoid his behavior, but that seems hard on him. Our other dogs never ever behaved like this. Is he a bit mental?

This is not the first time that I have heard of this problem, and it seems to be more common in the excitable breeds such as terriers. This is a learned behavior reinforced by your reactions to him. Laughter, shouting or even direct commands can make matters worse, as the dog associates its behavior with your response.

Treatment relies on ignoring the behavior, hard though this may be, especially in the early stages. Distraction techniques help, as this will give you the ability to interrupt the dog without direct interaction.

A stimulus that startles, such as shaking a can of pebbles, may stop your dog from attacking the screen. Instead, it will investigate the can and look to you as to what to do next. Whenever your dog watches the television calmly, reward it with a small treat and ignore it when it misbehaves. This will all take time and a lot of patience.

Another technique is to use a small cage placed in the television room. Put your dog in the cage at the start of the evening's viewing. Ignore it while it is noisy and praise it whenever it settles down and does not react to the usual stimuli. Eventually it will learn to watch all TV quietly.