How do I get my dog to accept our new cats? HELP!!?

Question

Here is my story and problem...We have a Black Lab/Collie mix and she is a great dog...she never nips or growls at our 4yr old son no matter hoe much he bugs her. We recently went through a pregnancy loss and after months of debating on getting a cat we got 2, 4 month old kittens. We of course have fallen in love with them already. At first our dog was more curious than anything, just wanting to sniff them. Now that the cats feel welcome here they are out more. We have been introducing them slowly, we had to leave today and we put the dog in our bedroom which we commonly do when we leave the house anyways. Well when we got home we decided to work on more introduction and as I was holding one of the cats my husband had our dog on a leash and she sniffed and then tried to bite the cat. My husband was quick enough to pull her back... 

My question is....how do I get them to get along without fearing my dog will kill my new cats? I love them all and do not want to get rid of either of them. Please Please HELP!!!

amazinq · Accepted Answer

let your dog smell something that has the cats sent get him use to it slowly introduce him to the cat(s) -well thats wat i would do:)
i saw some one try this but instead of a cat it was a baby lol

K9trainer · Answer

Slowly, slowly, slowly. 

Whenever you are not around to supervise make sure that your dog does not have access to the kittens. When you are around don't try to "introduce" them, just let the kittens have the run of the house and keep the dog on lead if you are worried she will try to harm them. She needs to learn to respect their space and that kittens are not for chasing or rough play. 

Being a collie mix your dog probably has a high chase drive, so it is hard for her to control herself around the kittens. You need to teach her what is appropriate behaviour. The benefit is that with the collie lab influences she should be highly trainable and should respond well to reward based training. Hopefully you have already taught her the basics  so you can just build on these commands in the presence of the kittens.

If your dog gets excited around the cats then increase the distance she is from them and work on calm behaviour eg: down/wait. Don't get excited and yell at her, this in itself can be seen as rewarding. Reward her EVERY time she is tolerant and calm around the kittens (treats, pats, play). Reward her especially when she is calm without being asked. The bottom line is that you want calm behaviour around the kittens to be rewarding while excited behaviour can be ignored (you can do this safely if you have her on lead).

From what you have described it sounds like it is very likely that she will get used to living around the cats. I think you just rushed things by allowing her that close to the cat in your arms. Never restrict the cats movements when around the dog, they must be able to feel safe and have an escape route, this will give the kittens the upper hand. It will also mean your dog can't ever practise unwanted behaviour like chasing or biting the kittens.

Good luck, persevere and i'm sure you'll have a harmonious household again.

Burden of the State · Answer

The dog is giving suttle signs prior to the bite.  It is hard to see what they are to the untrained eye.  Most likely, the dog is being coaxed into a fight because the cat is being fearful.  Because the cats are essentially kittens, you should really have a trainer do this.  It is worth it.  The cats need to feel comfortable, and the dog needs to know that you, or any human is in control of the situation.  The trainer will teach you how to control the situation by making the cats feel comfortable while around the dog, and the dog will not want to attack them. Take care of this now, it will only get worse.  The only thing you may have on your side is that labs generally have soft mouths, because they are bird dogs. I would not rely on that if i were you!

Nicks · Answer

Oh I had this problem once. What you do is take a baby gate,now the dog(s) is on the other side and the cat on the other. Now when I was doing this,my cat was coming closer and closer to my dog. So do this everyday. And they will get tired of being mad at each other. And will like to be friends. At the last level of all of this non sense, my cat was on my lap while my dog was walking around and no baby gate! Excellent me!

Hannah · Answer

In all truth, it doesn't always work out. Cats can often act like 'masters of the house', which doesn't sit well with dogs. However, here are a few methods. Remember, it doesn't always work.
- Keep them together for short periods of time each time, keeping both on a leash. Do this for at least a week. While they're together, pet/comfort/praise both, or give  each a treat.

BulliesRock · Answer

First, I'm sorry for your loss.  Second, relax.  You are expecting way too much out of your dog in a short period of time.  It can take months to years.  You went too quickly with this.  You have two breeds (well, your dog does) that tend to have high prey drives.  You are doing the right thing separating them while you are gone.  

Scroll to the second page for dog to cat introductions:
http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PFL_PDF/Introducing_A_New_Cat.pdf

This is going to take time.  Your dogs first instinct is to chase.  The kittens first instinct will be to run.  Does your dog have the Leave It command down?  If not, it's time to start training and reinforcing that command.  This command has done so much for us in our dog-cat introductions.  Even after two years, our youngest dog will sometimes forget herself around one of the cats that loves to run and will give chase.  All we have to do is yell "LEAVE IT!" and she stops on a dime.  However, this took time and training.  Here is a great handout for the Leave It Command:
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/commands/leave-it.pdf

Actively work with your dog on this command daily, rewarding for proper behavior.  

If your dog is too tired to give chase, that can be helpful as well.  For the first three months we have a new dog in with our cats, we are walking for a minimum of an hour twice a day.  They are too tired to chase the cats even if they wanted to.  We find this is very helpful coupled with the Leave It command.  It's great to have your dog so well trained that you can yell "leave it!" from the couch and have them stop chasing the cat halfway across the kitchen.  We reward for ignoring the cat in the house.  Our cats rule our dogs and we have two pit bulls.  

Good luck.  Be patient.  No reason to panic.  Just take a step back and move forward slower in the introductions.  If it gets to be too much and you are really worried, bring in a trainer for a consultation.  Find a qualified trainer in your area here:
http://www.apdt.com

It's very important to find a positive reinforcement trainer.  You don't want someone putting a choke chain on your dog and yanking it every time the cats get near or he will associate the cats with pain then do his best to keep them away (chase them, growl at them, etc.).  A bad trainer can do more harm than good.  As the cats get bigger, they will be able to smack your dog good on the nose.  One or two good smacks and your dog won't want to get too close.

ETA:  Nicks is right about baby gates.  We still have one room sectioned off with a baby gate so the cats can jump over into their room and the dogs never have access to that room.  It gives them a safe haven away from the dogs, we can leave their small cat toys out without having to worry that the dogs will swallow them, their litterbox and food are safe from the dogs.  Now we have the opposite problem in that one of our dogs is obsessed with grooming the cats and loving on them so they jump the gate to get away from her mothering.  Baby gates are the best invention ever!

How do I get my dog to accept our new cats? HELP!!?

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