Taurus is the epitome of pitiful when it comes to the cats. He TOTALLY recognizes that the cats are the babies, and he must take care of them.
However, he so desperately wants to play with them that it's...well...kind of pathetic. I have three cats of varying ages. Kibitz is thirteen and a half, and is about 80 percent blind, and has no patience for him. She'll walk over him and as soon as she takes notice that she's walking on the dog, and he notices that she's walking on him, he gets this excited look on his widdle face as if to say, "She likes me!!! She likes me!" But then she hisses and swats him on the face as if to say, "Kid, I am too old for this crap." Bats, my ten-year-old tabby cat will have nothing to do with him. We have the sitting room blocked off, as it was one of his favorite pee spots when we first got him (my favorite room in the house...naturally). Bats stays IN THERE unless we are feeding them or she has a direct beeline under the bed. He tries to stuff his nose under her tail, and receives yet another swat on the nose and a hiss.
And then there's Mayhem. Poor Mayhem. Our two year old, fourteen pound, coal-black beauty. To Taurus, they probably look similar. He's probably never seen a cat before. Probably thinks they're really weird, pointy-eared puppies with severe speech impediments. He loves Hemi. LOVES him. He does the play-bow, makes that high-pitched whine-bark thing that makes my ears bleed, and Hemi staunchly refuses to come away from his hiding place. Then Taurus plops down dejectedly, huffs, and looks so damned pitiful. "Mooooom....the weird not-dog person won't play with me!"
I'm not worried about him hurting the cats. I'm a tad worried that one of them will rip his face open if I've gone too long without clipping their nails. I'll ask my vet about it tomorrow, and the trainer, and come back with any information that I happen to find out. I also dread the day that I find Taurus walking around the house with a resigned Mayhem dangling from Taurus's mouth like a puppy. Because then it's bath-time for kitty. It's bad enough that the cat drools, too....