training dog to ignore cat

I have a dog that lunges at my cat Miso when she gets too playful. I know I shouldn't reward the lunge, but I'm looking for a specific command that actually stops him mid-chase. We've tried the 'leave it' command but he ignores it when the cat is moving.

I used 'drop' for my dog when he was a puppy. It stopped him pretty fast. Also, my cat Whiskers has been shedding a lot lately due to the alopecia, so I keep her on the couch where the dog can't reach. Check out dealing with alopecia in calicos if you want to know more about that.

I worked as a vet tech for a while and I tell clients that the 'stop' command is better than 'leave it' because it's a negative marker. But honestly, it depends on the dog's age and the cat's health. If the cat is senior or has issues like Whiskers does, you need to be more careful. I posted about the commands in commands for stopping a lunge a while back.

I don't think commands are enough if the cat is hyper like Miso. I separate my cats Shadow and Sunny from the dog entirely using baby gates. It's the only way that works for me. You can read about my setup in physical separation for pets.