My dozer has the same issue. But I have found a few things with him, one positive clicker training works wonders. Two let them calm down, I had to lock the cats in the bedroom when dozer was out of the crate at first but now it is a happy home. But I would go with the positive training rather than the yelling, or leash corrections.
I knew that sounded wrong when I posted =/ I am definetely of the positive training mind. I said that to illustrate that nothing will get through to her because she is in such a state.
Seconding this. You can train them to get along nicely, but only when you can be around to supervise. My dog, for example, loves to hang out with my bunny, but I would NEVER leave them alone together. Your dog may be unhappy locked in a room while you're not home, but it's better than her killing your cat while you're away (or sending her back if you think she's otherwise perfect for you). I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you had to rehome one of them, but I do think you have some options.
As an aside... your dog has my dog's ear freckles!!!
I am so sorry to have to come down on the Doom & Gloom front, but I came in to say pretty much just the same thing that housedog said. My (otherwise pretty high prey drive) pit mix adores my cats and they coexist very well, but a few years ago, I tried to foster-to-adopt a schnauzer-poodle mix who turned out to respond very much to my cat like Jaycee is responding to Siren; when my cat was out, he paced and drooled and fixated and obsessed and basically could not think, and when he knew the cat was behind a closed door, he would just station himself outside the door and nothing could persuade him to come away from it. He caught my cat once, and if I had not been right there, I am certain he would have killed her. I worked and worked and worked on this problem for months (he had a similar issue with small dogs); I went to a (wildly expensive) veterinary behaviorist, we tried medication for the dog, I did months of private lessons with a trainer I really liked and respected and we worked a ton on desensitization. In my case, it did not really
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Siren and Jaycee would never be left alone, ever. That has been something I've come to terms with, if this works out and we can all co-exist peacefully in the house together. I am inspired by wendykh's story. I will definetely keep you all posted on how it goes over the next few weeks. I won't give up on Jaycee, but I also don't want to (as you said) have it be a stressful, non-optimal life for them both.
For what it's worth, I have a friend whose American bulldog/pit cross was absolutely terrible with cats when he first got him. It took years of training, but he did get to the point where he could be left alone with "his" cat ( but NO others) without terrible consequences. We made the mistake of thinking his new attitude towards felines extended to all of them and it resulted in my cat being attacked when I was dog-sitting. If I recall correctly, my friend and his partner would muzzle their dog and have him lay quietly on his bed while they held and doted on their cat. It took a loooooong time of these short, supervised visits before the dog was calm enough to be around the cat to even considering taking the muzzle off. Lots of treats and positive reinforcement for the dog being calm, not lunging/shaking/fixating etc. At this point, 9 years later, the dog and cat are best friends. They cuddle and play and you'd never know that there was ever a problem. Best of luck to you!
This is pretty much what we do, only with baby gates rather than crates. It takes a bit to get used to, but it's a good way to manage them and it takes away a lot of stress on all parties.
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As an aside... your dog has my dog's ear freckles!!!
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