Cats and Dogs

[ANNE SWANSON]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 12 week old (new to the household ) puppy, and two sixteen year old inside cats, and two 1 year old yard feral cats that adopted us. 

I'm trying for everyone to get along.  One of my inside cats has been curious about the puppy and while the cat swiped at the puppy a couple times (without injury), they can be in the same room (supervised).  Sometimes the puppy runs up to the cat excited wanting to play and when this happens and I see my cat is stressed I simply put the puppy behind a child gate in the next room.  The puppy still cannot be alone!

My other 16 year old cat doesn't want to make the effort, so I'm letting him take it at his own pace. 

In the case of the ferals outside, I (sadly) thought they would clear out as soon as the puppy showed up.  They didn't.  IN fact anytime I take the puppy out they get really close to her.  I was keeping the puppy on leash for fear these cats would hurt her.  I also didn't want the puppy chasing them and learning how to jump the fence and get out of the yard.  Really I didn't want these cats chased.  I like them.

Sometimes the puppy doesn't bother with the ferals and can walk right by them without issue.  Sometimes she chases them right out of the yard.  Since I don't want her to do that I don't know what the appropriate reaction is when she does it.  I've been talking her inside and just showing her playtime is over when she does that but is that the right thing to do?

Thanks!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Ideally, we want cats and dogs introduced as puppies and kittens, but that's not always possible. With your pup being young and full of energy and your indoor cats being seniors, it can be rather stressful on your cats which can react defensively. It is therefore important using lots of management when we can't train, and then, when we can, schedule various training sessions. 

Working with two-different species, you'll need to work on two levels. One of them involves working with your cats, the other entails working with your puppy. This can turn out being a good couples' project. 

Making Life Easier for the Cats

For a good part, helping puppies and cats get along involves making life easier for the cats. Following are several tips that can help the cats acclimate better:

Gradual introductions: cats do best if they are given some time to get used to seeing and hearing the puppy. Rather than letting them meet face-to-face and hope for the best, keep both in separated areas so they can see and hear each other, but without interacting directly. While, in general, a dog requires about a month to adapt to a new addition, cats may need many months to adjust. It is best to go slow. Slower introductions are more likely to succeed. 

Do scent swaps: while in their own areas, provide the cats with a blanket that smells like the puppy, and provide the puppy with a blanket that smells like the cats. Reward the pets for interacting with the blanket or simply place some treat on top. These scent swaps help all parties acclimatize to each others' smells. 

Ensure your cats keep getting attention: you had your cats first, so they can easily feel stressed by the presence of a new puppy. It's therefore important to continue giving the cat the attention they were accustomed to prior to getting the dog. Make sure  to dedicate some time in playing with the cats and giving them attention. 

Confine your puppy. If your cats used to have the full run of the house prior to getting your puppy, don't make their world smaller by confining them in a small area while the puppy enjoys the run of the house. Rather, confine the puppy in an x-pen or use baby gates. Puppies do best in smaller areas of the home for ease of potty training and to grant them a puppy-safe area.

Create a space with a double partition. If your cats seems stressed by your puppy continuously trying to get to the cats behind the baby gate, create a space with a double partition. This allows a sort of "buffer" "between the dog and cat.

Help form positive associations with the puppy. Feed your cats something delicious every time they see the puppy. You can use some gravy stuff to put on food on your finger and let the cat lick it every time he/she sees the puppy using the open bar closed bar method:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

Provide escape routes/safe areas. Cats need areas they can retreat to if they feel the need to escape. Baby gates/ pet fences that allow the cat to escape but keeps the dog contained, also lots of vertical options such as cat trees, tall furniture, cat escape hatches etc. 

Stopping a Puppy From Chasing Cats 

The cases of puppies wanting to chase cats pose challenges, because we can't remove a pups' instinct to want to play, chase and interact. It's sort of expecting kids in daycare to stay away from each other with each being kept in their own area. With puppies being super social, all they want to do is play, explore and interact. 

Your best bet in these cases is training your puppy some impulse control and obedience cues to follow and learning to respect kitty when she has had enough. Following are several general tips. 

Train your puppy. Puppies see cats as play mates to play and chase, and some cats get stressed if all the puppy wants to do is chase. It's very helpful to train the puppy some impulse control and basic obedience.

Many cats find puppies less threatening if the pups are able to sit and lie down on cue:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/lie-down/

Training your puppy to lie on a mat can also come handy for this:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

Leave its and recalls come also handy in case the cats appear to be want to be left alone. All these skills will be helpful for the pups' entire life

Leave it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

Recall: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/

Smacking sound. I find that many dogs respond better to a smacking sound rather than leave it when it comes to certain very salient distractions. Here is how to train it: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

Always start your training in non distracting areas and gradually move to more distracting areas slowly. If at any point you move to a more distracting area and the dog acts out, then you have to go back to the last spot she was listening and train longer there, before moving forward.

Also,  remember as you start moving to more distracting areas, you need to up the ante of the reward. So for non distracting areas you can use soft dog treats broken up to smaller pieces, but when it is more distracting you may need to up that reward to chicken or low sodium beef hot dog slivers.

Tip: if you ever find yourself saying "leave it" or any other cue repeatedly with no response,  take a step back and either manage or train for that situation to eliminate the need for saying it repeatedly. The more you say it with no response, the more your cue weakens. The more you get a response, the more you empower it. On top of that, if a dog hears us saying leave it, leave it, they start thinking the new cue is leave it-leave it and therefore won't respond to leave it any more when you say it only once. 

Practice with a remote-controlled car. You can introduce a remote-controlled car to practice training cues such as leaves its, recalls, smacking sound responses and down stays on a mat. Start with a leash and then practice off-leash. You can even put a stuffed animal atop the car so it looks like an animal from a distance.

Start with leashed introductions.  It is best if your puppy has exercised enough so that he has drained some excess energy. Keep the pup on leash in the house when around the cats and use your trained cues as needed rewarding accordingly with tasty treats. How long you'll need to keep your pup leashed will vary based on several factors, the most important being the comfort level of the animals involved and their safety. With older cats, you'll need to go more gradual as they may struggle to move away/jump as readily as younger, more agile cats. 

Have your pup drag a leash. When your pup and cats seem ready, and you want your pup to be around the cats but with still some level of control, you can let him free (always under strict active supervision) for short periods of time, but let him drag the leash so you can intervene swiftly as needed by holding on top or stepping on the leash. If all goes well, after several days, gradually increase duration. If you don't trust your pup to this point, and worry about not grabbing the leash too quickly, you can use an indoor tether clipped to the back ring of a harness, always under strict supervision. 

Watch your cat's body language. This may apply to younger cats... Puppies like to play a lot, and some cats can like to play too. Some cats do well playing with pups (some cats seem to purposely enjoy provoking pups) as long as they have a place to retreat to as needed and that the puppy learns to respect when the cats have had enough. There should be breaks within the play.

Use calming aids for cats. If your cats appear very stressed by your puppy, you can always use some calming aids such as pheromone diffusers (Feliway). 

Always put safety of your animals first! It is tempting to get complacent at some point an assume that all is well, but any time dogs and cats are left together there are chances for mishaps and even scary accidents. The cats kept outdoors may be at more danger as the pup develops as they may not be received as part of the social group. They may also be more likely to run around and trigger a desire to chase. Your pup's husky ancestry may come to life, and huskies unfortunately don't always have a great rep with cats, especially the outdoor ones or the cats of neighbors they haven't been raised with. 

Dogs and cats should never be left together unsupervised. Most dogs will want to chase fleeing cats and a puppy may react differently to a cat running in the yard versus in the home.

I hope this helps!

 

 

[LEAH CHREST]

Though I didn't post the original question, I have an adopted 10 month old puppy (have only had her 3 days) and two 4-year old cats.  This information is super helpful for when I do begin "releasing the hound" from her downstairs confinement. 🙂  Thank you!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Leah,

I am glad you found the info helpful, feel free to post here on the forums with updates, questions or if you need some troubleshooting. 

Welcome to the forums!

Best,

Adrienne