Dogs & cats

[incendium04]

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I am planning on adding a dog to my family consisting of myself and 2 cats and I wanted some advice to make the transition smooth. The dog I already know fairly well, my mom adopted her from a family that couldn't keep her any longer... and now I'm adopting her from my mom. She's a 60lb mutt (looks sort of like a spaniel/shepherd?), 9 yrs, calm, very people oriented and has visited my apartment and met my cats and basically ignored them. However, she has chased neighborhood cats according to my mom. What I really want to avoid is my cats triggering any predatory behavior in her... when Tina (the shepherd) visited the cats in their own home, my cats were sneaking up on her to bat at her or hiss then run away. I hope to avoid what appears to be territorial behavior by introducing them in a new house, after I move in. Neutral territory for all. But how should I go about it? I also want to crate train Tina (already housebroken), since I don't think she's even seen a crate before.

So my concerns are
- How to introduce cats & dog
- How to crate train dog
- How to be a happy family 🙂

Also, there may be a roommate with her own dog & cat to make things really complicated...

 

[Caninerepro]

The crate training is really very easy, all of my dogs are very comfortable with their crates. In a nutshell, you put a soft bed in the crate, put the dog in and shut the door. Really that is all you have to do! If they whine/bark, ignore them and they will eventually see that it is not going to work. My dogs learn as puppies that they sleep in a crate at night. Then, when they are older and allowed into the house, they have already learned that crates are where they go sometimes, and have no problems with it. One of my dogs, a new to the house kid, goes into her crate while I am gone during the day -- not a peep. Of course when I am at home she gets to run with everyone else and sleep on the bed like a normal dog. I just do not yet trust her unattended while I am not home. No big deal. The hardest part is ignoring the possible whining or barking for the first day or two. After that they get over it just fine, and it becomes their personal bedroom. When I am home I leave the crate door open, and my old dogs will go in there to lay while I study they like their crates so much. 😎

 

[cozycleo]

I just brought a dog home a few months ago to my house full of cats (3). We put up a baby gate with a kitty door in it, and left that open. The cats were able to come and go as they pleased, and when they were ready they came over to the other side and slowly got to know the dog. It took about a month before they were walking around with confidence again. The dog did very well, but she's lived with a cat before.

The key is to really give them their own dog-free space. Let them guage their own comfort around the dog, and don't rush the introduction. Worked well for us. 🙂

Best of luck!

 

[incendium04]

The baby gate with a kitty door in it sounds like a good idea. I was considering buying a baby gate... but I don't think it would work if I was in the "cat only" space a lot since Tina is very people oriented and has some separation anxiety. I was hoping that I could crate Tina for the day, let my cats roam and when I am home, I can supervise their activity.

Thanks for the ideas 🙂

 

[Caninerepro]

Hey now, how about a doggie door where the better species can escape from those awful felines!!!! 😱😱😱😱

sounds like a good idea, but why is everyone protecting the cats?????

 

[nyanko]

^^I dunno about anyone else, but I have a 115 lb dog and when I brought my cats home, they were kittens and about 3-4 lbs each. For one, I'd have a pretty tough time procuring a baby gate that the dog could get through and not the cats, and for two, he could pretty much snap them in half with one bite, so I'd say it's good to be concerned for the smaller ones. 😉

I've had both situations, OP. When I first rescued my dog, I had a 16 year old cat that I'd had since I was a kid. She was the sort of cat who wasn't afraid of anything and didn't back down, though, so the second we walked in the door with Sam she arched her back, hissed and growled, and from then on he stayed clear of her. She was, unfortunately, in chronic renal insufficiency at the time and the next year, she took a turn for the worse and I had to euthanize her. A couple of months later, I took home two kittens from the research colony where I work. The introduction was a lot more difficult, because first of all it was bringing new pets into Sam's already established territory and second of all the kittens were much more unpredictable, friendly and overall annoying to the dog. I did the introduction very slowly, first keeping them completely separated at all times and only letting them smell each other through doors, then taking Sam out on a slip-lead with a basket muzzle on and keeping him tethered when the kittens were out for short increments of time, then ditching the lead but keeping the basket muzzle on him, then taking off the muzzle but not allowing them together unsupervised. Now I trust them all together, though I still don't trust one of the kittens on her own when we aren't home. 😉

The only times Sam ever actually growled or snapped at either of the cats was when they got too close while he was eating or while he had a pig ear or bully stick. Both of them learned to stay clear of his food bowl and he pretty much just tolerates them, or gets up and walks away if they are being too rambunctious too close to him.