| Yes, that could surprise Vik at first. Right now I have neither a cat nor a rottie, but at my sister's home there are four rescued cats and two dogs (and that ratio has held for the past 20+ years). Some of the cats take great pleasure in the rear attack, or attacking a wagging tail. They should get to know each other better first though, to be sure that Vik isn't surprised. Try holding the cat around Vik sometimes, so the cat is higher than Vik and can look down on him. They do need to get used to each other. A behavior that I've seen frequently when either a new cat or a new dog comes into the home is that the cat will often approach a sleeping dog and sniff all around him to get to know him. One of my sister's cat's first real approach to one of my rotties was when he was sleeping. After a few sniff-visits, she started licking his closed eyelids. He liked that.
If you see your cat doing the rear attack approach again (which may not happen since all three of you were scared) try not to yell - say something to the cat that draws Vik's attention to the cat. As soon as he looks around, your cat will stop dead in his/her tracks and they'll look at each other. It would be nice if Vik knows sit/stay so the cat can stare at him for as long as the cat wants to. Again, since Vik does not want to eat the cat, I think it is very likely that the two of them will work out a comfortable lifestyle with each other. Where a dog wants to chase a cat for play - not eating - the dog needs to be checked until the two of them are comfortable with each other. Then they set their own limits. Cats often give dogs (not cat-eating dogs) a few face punches with or without claws as their way of saying they are finished with the interaction.  |