get the choke collar and use it appropriately...that gentle leader thingy looks gay and maybe it is affecting her breathing. or maybe she is playing you like a fiddle. tee hee. you are two fine parents and need to stop worrying so much.

The Gentle Leader isn't gay, and if worn properly, should not affect breathing. You should be able to get 2 fingers under the neck strap, and 2 finger under the nose loop. If the GL isn't fitted properly, it will not be effective. Also, a choke collar can make your dog think that the cats are bad news, and make him want to chase them, because if you correct him w/the choke every time he sees the cats, the cats will come to = 'oh crap, here comes trouble'. Stick with the GL, or get a SenSation harness. The SenSible harness is great, and doesn't go over the nose, so some dogs have an easier time adjusting to it.

I started using a gentle leader on my German Shepherd about a year ago. The dog was already a year and a half old when I started her on it. She really hates it -- she's constantly trying to pull it off (good thing we had her dew claws removed, or she'd succeed). I think it bugs her when she feels like she can't open her mouth all the way and defend me or herself properly. That said, the gentle leader has been an absolute godsend. It allows my husband (who is handicapped) and I to walk her without her tugging us down the street. I tried other methods of controlling her before we got the gentle leader, including a Sporn halter and a choke chain. None of them worked as well as the gentle leader. Although the halter gave us some measure of control, the dog decided there was a pain level she was willing to put up with, so she pulled anyway. Also, we couldn't control the dog's head with the halter, and as long as her head was darting around, she was contemplating where to lunge off to next. The problem I had with the choke chain was that due to the shape of the dog's head and neck, and the way she usually holds her head, I had a really hard time keeping the chain right up behind her ears, where it wouldn't hurt her. The gentle leader controls the dog's head without hurting her, so notwithstanding the fact that she would much rather take walks without it, I'm a big fan of it.

I've always heard that if you stick to this motto everything will work out:

A dog, a woman, a hickory tree;
The more you beat 'em the better they be.

/jk

/not responsible for any lawsuits involving the use of said motto.

Oh for cryin' out loud! Its a damn dog, not a cool animal like a chetah or a panther.

I have found the easiest way to control a dog is to turn their head around 4 times. They struggle for the first time or two but after the third twist they calm right down. The 4th turn is just 'to be sure'.

(Makes blending them easier too)

Don't worry about the choker collar. Put it around your own arm and pull tight. You can see that it doesn't actually hurt. Kind of like lying on a bed of nails, you know, very little pressure per point.

Frank,
About the AC. On the external unit there is usually a small button around the base. It is basically a reset button. It's not gauranteed to work but its worth a try before you call an AC repairman.

thanks sburch. i didn't see the button. :-(

A few years ago we got a four year old mutt. He's 85 pounds and has a strong prey drive - IOW he wants to hunt and/or eat just about any animal smaller than him or perhaps anything that moves but isn't human. I used the gentle leader on him for a while and it worked well enough to largely break the dog of those habits. I stopped because he eventually learned how to twist his way out of the gentle leader on a taut leash (it reverts to a collar if they do that, so there's still a modicum of control). It's a decent product.

Be sure to check the breaker before calling a repaircreature. I felt...Um....I mean I heard that someone felt awful silly paying a repair bill for an HVAC guy to check it for him.

Frank, just so you know complaining about your AIR CONDITIONING being down in FEBRUARY when you have readers in Rochester is just plain evil. Especially since the defroster in my car doesn't work so the windshield ices from the inside.

Fer cryin' out loud, don't tell me your cats are declawed? When we got BootzDog (a shepherd/not sure mix) we just let him learn that only one of our three cats would cut his puppyness any slack. He chases all three on command, but never corners the two ready to tear his nose a new hole.

Penguin,
That cats have claws, but I'm not sure letting Rowdi run around chasing the cats until she finds out what happens if she corners one is the best solution.

All the poor doggie wants to do is play. The best thing to do is let the animals hash it out themselves when you are there to supervise (so that there is no agressive behavior) The gentle leader is a good tool, but only for heeling at walk time. It is not an effective behavioral training tool. The pup will begin to equate both the cats and the leader with unpleasantness, making it difficult at walk time. Try using a plain old flat collar and a long lead so at the moment the animals become inappropriately engaged you can give a corrective yank or reel the dog back to your side to settle down. Your pup should lear to "leave it" when you give the command. This will make the cats more comfortable and the dog will also learn to back away from whatever harmful items you ask him to leave.

BTW I am new to the site and you crack me up. (a compliment)

We have a gentle leader for our Lab and it works well. Did you get a training video with yours? It says that breathing changes are normal and it hasn't killed our dog yet. She was neurotic to begin with so I can't say if it kills brain cells though. After a few walks with it she actually became calmer in the house if we put it on her as well.

Let the animals interact while you supervise. A couple of bellows, pull backs on the leash (regular old collar is fine, Mr. Fancy Dan the dogcollar Man, its a dog for cripes sake) and back in the cage if things get too rough, and the dog can go from having to read your mind to understand the cat interaction expectations, to realizing that, though tasty, eating the small clawed things ticks Mom and Dad food source off a tad.

Your cats biggest issue is most likely that the dog won't lie down in the sun long enough for them to nap on, or that they are certain the beast will eat all the food in their dishes before they get a chance to saunter on over and eat it whenever they damned well please.

Dogs dumb, cats snotty, both rock when potty trained.

Good luck.