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AITA 9w
My family has a rescue baby. A pitty mix. She’s very sweet but has very advanced arthritis and resource guards. I was making it’s food and a cat walked by. Dog started growling and pushing towards cat. I “smacked” dog gently on the back. AITA
#poll
Abuser! YTA
NTA. You gotta protect the cat
137 votes
comment

12
upvote 3 downvote
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Anonymous 9w

not even all about protecting the cat lol. just from a dominance standpoint. the dog isn’t gonna change its behavior if it thinks it can get away with things. they don’t tend to learn subtly either

upvote 16 downvote
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Anonymous 9w

Important context: this dog has bitten cats in the past over food!

upvote 12 downvote
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Anonymous 9w

There’s definitely a better more forceful yet harmless way to go about it, but if it works, it works!

upvote 4 downvote
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Anonymous 9w

You shouldn’t hit a rescue dog, let alone for resourcing its food. Why don’t you put the cat away when it’s meal time for the dog? Put the cat away when you’re making food for the dog

upvote 3 downvote
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Anonymous 5w

Don’t think you’re the asshole. But I’ve found that getting between the dog & victim is better and allowing the dog to bite you instead. Let them bite your hand and then grab their jaw, they will back off. And before anyone assumes I grew up with tiny dogs, no. I grew up with German Shepard’s. My parents had 6 of them while I was growing up. It works because they are not trying to hurt you and they realize you are protecting they other animal

upvote 2 downvote
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Anonymous 9w

The NTA option says: NTA. You got to protect the cat

upvote 1 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #2 9w

Sure, and we’ve tried it! We’ve tried everything to curve her resource guarding. And she’s improved to the point where we can have cats.

upvote 6 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #3 9w

even if the dog has improved, it still has a history of biting cats. It does not seem productive or safe to keep cats around this type of dog.

upvote 5 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #4 5w

*May not work with an older dog. But also, the myth busters did prove that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks, so it might!

upvote 6 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #4 5w

DISCLAIMER: I am not a vet, doctor, dog trainer, psychologist, or anything like that. Just a guy who grew up with large dogs and giving my experience.

upvote 0 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #3 5w

I think it is important to remember that not all rescues were abused, so you may be able to hit some rescues for discipline. But to your point, many rescues are traumatized and hitting one is likely to trigger a fight or flight response

upvote 1 downvote
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Anonymous replying to -> #4 5w

Also to be clear, when I say “grab their jaw” I DO NOT mean fucking yank that shit. Just grip it firmly but with care. Dogs (and probably most animals) do not like having their weapon immobilized and they will (typically) try to back off. It might hurt you, but the tiny cat might live another day. And also, if you move your fingers between teeth, it probably will not hurt much at all

upvote 0 downvote