I call the hour before the cats eat at night the witching hour. They know what time dinner is supposed to be, but they seem to like going in and out between the kennel and the kitchen in hopes of finding food earlier. Sometimes I swear that they sit out there talking, saying “no, you go, I went the last time”.

This would all be fine, except for some reason, it drives the dogs nuts. The dogs and cats generally tolerate each other, but during the witching hour all bets are off. Gizmo will poke his head thru the cat flap, and the dogs will take off growling.

Although we have worked hard on “leave it” and “stop”, they just seem to lose it when the cats are active. When the boys fight, or when they run up their cat tree to scratch, are other triggers. It’s very aggravating. It’s very hard to train “stop” with cat distractions, for instance, because it’s not like I can say to the cats “now, go and run out into the kennel” when I have a moment that I could restrain the dogs & treat them for acting calmly.

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