Well, today just to see how determined Keoki may be to get to the cats, I took him over the gate and upstairs, on leash and with the clicker and pocket full of chicken strips.

The cats were not in the family room, but their scent was. He was insane.
It was like he didn't even hear the clicker while he was sniffing and pulling against the leash {I didn't 'let' him do that, but he kept trying}. He was deaf.

He saw one of the cats at the end of the hall and it was all over. I could have had a whole chicken in front of him and he wouldn't have seen it. He was whining, straining, sniffing, twisting; totally ignoring me, the clicker, and the chicken I kept waving under his nose to distract him.

I was hoping this summer to do some work with him on this issue, but now I don't know. I think I'd need professional in-home help.

Jazz was never this bad. Until Keoki moved in, the cats had run of the house w/a gate to allow them to get away on the few occasions Jazz would take off after one of them. Now, there's no way in helk I'd let those cats downstairs.
I'd hoped we could change that…....