Our male Cavalier King Charles Spaniel will not pass the cat in the hall. The cat knows it and will sit in the middle of the hall taunting him. Poor dog whines until we come rescue him.
My Cavs can’t wait for cat intrusions on our yard, makes for the best day ever, aside form rabbit, bird, and squirrel intrusions. Perhaps the cat would get the better of them, were they to stand ground, but the cats always run away.
These stories of cat domination of dogs within a household have more to do with dog Emotional Intelligence (EQ) within a household order than with some superiority of cats over dogs (as our friend with the Dobies pointed out — those cats were not part of the dog’s household, therefore were free game). Cats have little EQ — they are not social animals.