Hi everybody!

I'm sure this has been talked about before, but maybe not from this perspective. (if so, just give me the link!)  My female GSP is 3 now and excellent in the house.  We had a small, starving cat dumped on our farm this past summer, and long story short, Skinny Minnie got "knocked up", i took her to the vet, and she is now my $300+ cat.  LOL.  She, for the most part, likes dogs.  She likes pretty much everything....my mudroom, our house, whatever.  Very agreeable, pleasant cat. 

Tillie, my GSP, has been around cats the whole time we've had her.  My parents have both outdoor and indoor cats, so she has cohabitated with them while staying at "Grammy's" house.  She doesn't want to kill them or anything (even when my mom's house cat launched an aerial assault), and is really just curious.  The thing is, being a GSP, she has that lovely neurotic GSP habit of "obsessing" over things (like when she pointed the maple tree for half an hour because she was SURE there were squirrels in it) and just not letting things GO.  That's how she is with the cat.  Sure, she's jealous (which i expected) and I'm careful to not 'play favorites' while they're both in the same room.  But, she tracks the cat, watches the cat, stares at the cat, points the cat, and if the cat is behind the sofa, stands there with her nose down, staring.    I separate them while I'm gone during the day (Tillie in the regular house, Minnie the cat in the mudroom and den), but I've been trying to integrate them at night after work. 

What I want to know is, do I let this go and let them work it out?  SHe's E-collar trained--do I put that on to make her give the cat a rest?  Do I tell her "Leave it" when she's obsessing over the cat?  Or do I just let them settle it for themselves?  The thing is, I keep thinking "Geez, what if the poor cat wants to go potty or something and can't get past her 'sentry' ?", etc.  The cat pretty much wants to be friends, but you know how dogs are 'pushy' and want to get right in their faces and sniff, and that kinda turns her off and she walks away, and then Tillie 'tracks' her.......

My family's dog was an old, agreeable lab that let the cats boss him around, and totally viewed them as good friends. So that's not much of a point of reference for me!

Any advice? 

I can only share my experience with adding a cat to our house with our 12 year old GSP, Poge.  At that time we were temporarly living in a farm house till we sold a house in another state in order to buy our present house that we live in today.  This farm house had a mouse, house problem as I was emptying traps everyday. So when a stray cat wandered to our house I welcomed him in. At first sight ,our GSP Poge chased and pointed him, the cat arched his back hissed ect..... I just let them be and they soon grew to tolerate each other. I even took the cat to the Vet and got him neutered and all cat shots needed. The cat got rid of all mouse problems in the house. He even got the pigeons to move out of the barn as he was an inside out side cat. So in my experience with GSP- cat mixing, I just let it be and all went fine.  Of couse my GSP,Poge was 12 years old. I don't know how my present cat sharp GSP 5 year old Rocky would do!!! Rocky is the biggest cat chaser I have ever seen Don't even want to think about bringing a cat into our house!!!

Good your cats are declawed so your GSP doesn't get a bloody nose. Rocky has gone after my friends cats with claws, has got his nose clawed and bloody a few times and it doesnot phase Rocky. He doesnot learn. So we now donot allow Rocky into her house with her 3 cats.... Now my other dog Chese /Lab female got clawed one time by my friends cats and she learned and didnot chase them again and even became pals with my friends grey stripped tabby. She was similar to your parents old Lab I did read in a GSP breed book once that GSP's if not raised with cats are cat sharp by nature and to take precautions as needed.

Chase was 15 months when we got him. We already had a cat for a few years and were concerned with Chases prey drive.  Max the cat just hangs outside most the day and sleeps with my son at night so the two never realy see each other. One morning Chase was in my room with me while I was folding laundry. Out of nowhere I hear a howl and the cat flew from under the bed about six feet and attached himself to Chases rear end. Poor chase ran from the room, down the hall to the back door, which was closed so he ran head first and flipped over sideways all while the cat was still attached! He now looks the other way when Max is around, LOL. I think they are able to work it out on their own sometimes, but I still dont trust them alone together.

Thanks for the input everyone.  Tillie has no idea how to kill anything; she even turns her nose up at crickets now---spits them out, lol.  Even on a groundhog that she caught up to, all she did was pounce at it--couldn't really figure out what to do.  (which is certainly fine with me!)

I think I'll just keep letting them work it out, and separating them at night and while I'm at work.  Minnie the cat has claws, but since she's only about 9 months old, I think she'd like to be friends......Tillie's just too "familiar" with that wet nose! LOL    They watched each other for about 1.5 hours last night, Tillie in the hallway and Minnie on an upper step of the staircase.  Too funny. 

Any other thoughts, keep them coming!  Thanks again!

Great picture. I love it. Both Spencer and Polly are cuties.