Why does my female rotty stare down my female cat?

Question

We recently picked up a medium to large 5-year-old Rottweiler, and she is very well behaved. Rarely barks, loves to cuddle, quiet, timid, knows release, heel, and sit. When handing her treats she gently takes it from your hand. She isn't protective of toys or food either. She also walks next to me when I take her for walks.

She loves to play with my Jack Russel who is a little over one year old, and she "tolerates" my male cat. When it comes to my female Blue Russian cat though, she will stare. and stare. and stare. My Rottweiler could be laying on the bed, and the cat in the other room. She will sit on the bed for literally hours and not move. Just staring at the cat. She will not react to commands. The only way to break the focus is to close the door or literally grab her and pull her closer to us.

When both animals are near each other, be it on the bed or elsewhere in the house, she will tower over the cat and look down just staring at her. In this case though her focus breaks when the cat meows. Then she'll move, lay down, and just whine. We aren't sure if this is her looking for the alpha female or what.

Edit: last night she stood over my cat while staring at her, but her tail was wagging. Once my cat meowed, she laid down and whined for a short period. She does not show any sign of aggression. It seems more like she wants to sniff the cat, but the cat doesnt let her so she simply stares at her.

Answer 1

Your dog wants to play with the cat. Desperately. To the point of whining. Your cat, as you’ve observed, wants nothing to do with the dog. Your biggest clue to your dog’s intent is how your cat is reacting. If the cat knew your dog wanted to attack, she wouldn’t rest in an accessible place. And she’d be more aggressive.

Best bet is to train the dog to ignore the cat.

I once had a female Russian Blue, too. A female black lab desperately wanted to be friends. The cat wouldn’t have it. So we trained the dog to ignore the cat. You could tell the dog was really sad about being rejected and sometimes when she walked by the cat, she’d pause for a moment, look over briefly as if she was deciding whether or not to say hello, give off a feeling of sadness - maybe even let out a small sigh, and keep walking. She never got over it completely but she learned to accept it. We got her to focus on treats, smiles, and hugs from the family instead.

Answer 2

It sounds like a possible dominance issue. If you've ever seen two dogs fight, there's a split moment before the fight where they are very still and intensely focused on each other. In dogs, hovering over something is an act of dominance. Does the rottie ever lunge? The most important issue here is safety. If there is no lunging, then it's mild dominance, and clicker training can be beneficial.

You stand by miss Rottie, or sit, with a bag of her favorite treats. You let her stare at kitty. The second she breaks focus, you click the clicker, and give her a treat. You say she can sit for hours sometimes, so she may need "help" breaking her focus the first few times until she realizes what you are doing. This is better with two people.

There is a chance that this behavior is not a dominance issue, but it's definately better to be safe rather than sorry.