I'm living with the world's dumbest cat.
Astro has prey drive. It has developed as he matures, and as of right now, he mouths cats that he catches - but he's pretty intense about it, and I would never trust him loose around a cat (and that's fine, because after this lease is up in September, I'll never have a cat again).
I have a baby gate up between the living room and the rest of the apartment; my room connects directly to the living room, so basically there's "Astro turf" and "kitty turf." The cat has now figured out how to get over the baby gate, but Astro can't. Astro is crated during the day while I'm at work, for added security.
There's never been a problem from Astro in this situation - the **** cat keeps clawing his way over the baby gate, landing on the other side, and thinking "oh ****" as the dog races over to him. But he'll do this 10 times in a row! I put him on the other side of the baby gate, and he just comes back over it, only to get hounded by Astro again.
Oh, and when I think of it, I shout "leave it," and Astro is a good boy and will do that. But sometimes I'M so flustered from having to deal with this situation for the 10th time in 30 minutes that I forget, and if not told an alternate command, Astro is after the cat in seconds.
This animal has claws. He is not declawed. Does he ever defend himself or put Astro in his place? No. Does he claw the heck out of ME when I rescue him? Yes. And I have to rescue him, every time. The last time, I grabbed him and held him up to carry him back to safety, and Astro started jumping up and grabbing his legs! I think the way this particular cat is - always runs, and then freezes and doesn't swipe when caught - is only making his prey drive much worse.
I don't know what else to do. This **** cat has all the protection in the world, if he would just STAY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BABY GATE. His food, litter box, and favorite person are all on the other side, but no, of course he has to jump onto the side with a dog that pins him to the ground. He has 60-70% of the apartment to himself, Astro has the rest. I don't know how to manage this situation any more than I am - I feel like, between the baby gate that Astro always obeys, and the daytime crating, the dog is micromanaged to within an inch of his life, but the **** cat wrecks it.
This is why I'm a dog person /rant.