"Shelly" wrote in message:

It's hard to tell. If they're a boisterous, busy family with a lot of
comings and goings, then the cats might be gregarious.

I hadn't thought of it that way. It's likely true that shy, retiring
kitties wouldn't fare too well in that sort of situation.

Pan, for
example, runs to the door whenever anyone knocks, but she's kind of a
mutant.

My brother's Lady cat does that as well, but she's brain damaged. I think
that in all these years, there has only been two HVs were the cats didn't
make themselves scarce.

A future lion tamer?

If he makes it that far. Sticking body parts into mouths of assorted
animals is probably not such a great idea. He's the one that is going to be
under close scrutiny. I need to know how respectful he is around the dogs,
and what the parents do when he isn't.

I don't get it, either. But then, I'm not a huge puppy fan, so what do
I know?

From what I can tell, I think that a lot of people are under the impression
that a dog that fits in with their zoo would need to have grown up in said
zoo. Of course, there are plenty of dogs that are adaptable, and may even
have that sort of background, but people tend to not think of it that way.

I'm really glad I get my puppy fix at the dog park. Otherwise, I might be
tempted.

Suja

Janet Boss wrote:

In article ,
(William Clodius) wrote:

While Aria is now safe and interacting well with people, we
ar making little if any progress on introducing the dog and cat to one
another. Are there any suggestions on how to procede?

Where do I begin? Cat food needs to be located so dogs cannot get to
it. Period. As does the cat box.
For now we are going to keep them in my oldest daughter's room. The dogs
have not generally been allowed in there, so it does not have the
automatic assumption that it is their place that the den had. She's
safe with the door closed. What we do when the daughter goes to college
next year we'll see.

Cat needs to have a place she can
retreat to where the dogs cannot reach her. Dogs need to be wearing
leashes. They need to have awesome recalls and stays. They need their
obedience worked on, every day.

Right now we have been letting her out when the dogs aren't around so
that they get acustomed to her smell. Peanut has an awesome stay and a
good recall. Smoky has a poor stay, a very good recall, and an excellent
leave it. We will resume work on their obedience. The den in principle
has lots of excape surfaces, which is partly why I was surprised she got
caught, but they are cluttered. I think my daughter's room and the
kitchen have the best escape surfaces. One of the best surfaces is the
pano in the living room, but it got scratched last weekend when they
realized she had been watching them from its top. (I think it took them
almost two hours to realize she was there while we ate lunch, watched
TV, and then my oldest worked on their obedience.)

Right now my plan is to take them on leash one at a time at scheduled
times to my daughters room starting probably this weekend. Move the food
and cat box to the closet in advance. Move the cat to the top of the
bookshelf so she starts out safe, and work on stays with the dog for
five to ten minutes, then leave. Probably always have two people o
improve control. Maybe work up to fifteen minutes as the week goes on.
Should I attach the leash to my belt as a safety measure?

Note the cat loves the area under my daughter's bed, which is too small
for my dogs to fit under. Would it be better to leave the cat there or
put her on the bookshelf? While the cat would be safe there. it would
probably be more tempting to the dogs, resulting in more barking etc.

We went through a rough 2 weeks with my first kitten and my then 10 yo
dog. Since then, the intros have all been incredibly smooth, mostly
because the cats have lived with dogs and vice versa. The first kitten
had her own room when we weren't home for those first few weeks. Dog
was on a leash when we brought kitten out when we were home. He was
praised for ignoring the cat and sternly corrected for trying to kill
her. Go figure! After the 2 weeks, the kitten decided that she was
"all that" and was very bold with the dog, eating his food, taking
rawhide chips from his mouth. Another cat moved in 2 years later
without a blink from the dog. Dog lived to 15.5 with both of those cats
without the slightest incident.

Slow and steady with CONTROL in place.
I remember my parent's mix getting along well with their cat, but don't
remember the training. I don't remember them playing much together, but
whenever the cat wanted to go in or out of the house the dog let us
knwo.

Janet Boss wrote:

In article ,
"Shelly" wrote:

And make
sure that the dog is cat safe and trained *first*. If one of the two is
under control and obviously not a threat, it makes the job easier.

Ditto. A trained dog means that the cat is the only one needing work.
A dog who can leave the cat alone means a much swifter acclimation for
the cat.

I haven't brought a new cat into my home for almost 7 years. I brought
Skipjack home at about 12 weeks old, from the shelter. I put his
carrier on the floor and let everyone sniff. Then I brought it into the
laundry/cat room and opened it. The doorway had a gate that cats could
walk through, but dogs couldn't.

This was sort of my plan when I put the child gatte on the entrance to
the den. Roughly a dutch door the cat could get over, but the dogs
couldn't. I thought I put it very firmly in place, and was surprised the
dogs barged through it when I was not around. It seemed to work well on
the upstairs bathroom, but the fact that the door was on the side of a
corridor may not have allowed the dogs to build up their momentum the
way they did for the den.

Carey, 8+ at the time, immediately
came into the room and sniffed out this new little critter, and was
thrilled to see him. Skip approached the gate, as did Lucy and
Franklin, and there was no really big deal. The late afternoon and
evening progressed and Skip eventually climbed over a gate into the
office, and sat on the back of the loveseat where the 2 dogs were
napping. He growled the entire time. The dogs ignored him. By 10
p.m., he was asleep in a dog bed with Lucy.

The dogs make all the difference with many cats.

In article ,
(William Clodius) wrote:


For now we are going to keep them in my oldest daughter's room. The dogs
have not generally been allowed in there, so it does not have the
automatic assumption that it is their place that the den had. She's
safe with the door closed. What we do when the daughter goes to college
next year we'll see.

I hope you have stuff resolved well before that!

Right now my plan is to take them on leash one at a time at scheduled
times to my daughters room starting probably this weekend. Move the food
and cat box to the closet in advance. Move the cat to the top of the
bookshelf so she starts out safe, and work on stays with the dog for
five to ten minutes, then leave. Probably always have two people o
improve control. Maybe work up to fifteen minutes as the week goes on.
Should I attach the leash to my belt as a safety measure?

I think going into the room with the dogs is a bad idea. Basically,
talking that cat's safe space and bringing in animals who want to get at
her. Not very nice. You can't force this stuff.

Note the cat loves the area under my daughter's bed, which is too small
for my dogs to fit under. Would it be better to leave the cat there or
put her on the bookshelf? While the cat would be safe there. it would
probably be more tempting to the dogs, resulting in more barking etc.

Do the dogs not know quiet? Still - see above. I think forcing the
dogs upon the cat is a poor idea.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

In article ,
(William Clodius) wrote:


This was sort of my plan when I put the child gatte on the entrance to
the den. Roughly a dutch door the cat could get over, but the dogs
couldn't. I thought I put it very firmly in place, and was surprised the
dogs barged through it when I was not around. It seemed to work well on
the upstairs bathroom, but the fact that the door was on the side of a
corridor may not have allowed the dogs to build up their momentum the
way they did for the den.

Bite the bullet and install a hardware installed gate instead of a
pressure gate. They need to choose to meet at the gate under their own
terms.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com