Introducing dogs and cats...

I know all the proper things to do. Separate, be calm, etc...But have any of you had a dog to introduce to cats and the dog has that "must murder cat" look in it's eyes? My boyfriend and I are moving in together but we have one problem. His dog Sandy has never met a cat. She's a 2 year old, 90 pound Bullmastiff. Kinda makes me nervous.
She gets along great with Rain and Pedro. But yesterday, we brought her over here to meet the cats and I swear if it wasn't for us holding her and the help of baby gates, she would have killed every last one of them. I wonder if any of you have had similar experiences and if the dogs got better with time, and if so, how much time. We plan on bringing her over almost daily to get used to them, and them to her, and also I am taking my comforter over there which has a ton of cat hair and scent on it so she can get used to the smell in her home. I am moving in in 2 months.....

2 months should be enough time. Never let Sandy off leash, obviously. Oh & don't mind if I tell you "stupid" things, I don't mean to talk down on you, but it never hurts to have the reminder. Switching blankets should work well. Take Sandy out & exercise her big time before she comes over so she's tired. Pick a kitty who will be OK meeting such a big "monster". One that will be calm & not aggressive. Introduce her to only that one for now. Once she looses some of the "I want to eat you", you can try introducing her to the others.

I do not suggest taking any kitties over to "Sandy's house" yet, though. Once Sandy gets used to kitties, I would take one kitty over to show her that the kitties in her home requires the same behavior as at the kitties home.

That is so funny, we did it like you said to a "T"

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

That is so funny, we did it like you said to a "T"

Click to expand...

I kinda figured you knew most of what I would suggest....but it never hurts to suggest it anyways!

We kept our Springer, Fergus, on lead for a few weeks until he learned the correction "leave it" when he tried to chase the cats. He's three and we've had him for twelve weeks now, so it's a similar situation to yours, bringing an adult dog in with adult cats.

Clio loves him and grooms him, he doesn't seem to enjoy it, but has resigned himself to it, since Clio won't take no for an answer.

Sam waits for him to look at him, then dashes off so Fergus will give chase. I let them do it, since Sam chooses to play that game.

Pru, our shy feral has only been sighted by him a few times and it is making him crazy that there is a cat is the house that he barely sees. She is nocturnal and only comes up to our bed at night, so they have not gotten to know each other. I keep a close eye on that situation and am hoping for some advice from the cat psych., Kerri, here on the board this week.

Take it slow, and keep watch on the dog's body language when the cats are around. Be careful if he gets real still and stiff, that's a tip that he's getting ready to go into action. That's the time to intervene and get his attention and give a correction or even better, a reward for not giving chase.

One more piece of advice, dogs love cat litter goodies, sad but true. Barricade them, the boxes, not the cats. But you probably already know that with Rain and Pedro. I had forgotten with Fergus.

Yep, Rain and Pedro are already barricaded from the litterboxes, lol. I don't know how many times I gotta tell them, they're not tootsie rolls!

My neighbor's dog who just turned one year old is a Newfoundland (is that spelled correct??) Otis weighs about 150 pounds. He loves coming to "visit". Ox and Grizzly sit by the service door of the garage and he barks at them but starts to run if they make a move towards him. Bakker takes off hiding and of course if Otis sees that he goes tromping thru the yard, shrubs, flowers as its a game. He hasn't come into contact with Bobber yet-when he does he is going to get a surprise as she will put him in his place-she has done with with bigger dogs and she is a very small 9 pound cat-I hope I have my camera when she does this!

I have a 140 lb doberman who was 5 yrs old when I adopted the kitties from the shelter. I had the kitties in the bedroom and the dog was not and still is not allowed in there. I got a kiddie gate and put it up in the doorway of the bedroom when we were home. I spent some time in the bedroom with the kitties and the dog sat outside the room. They were able to see each other, and the cats could get as close as they felt comfortable. We only left the bedroom door open with the gate in when we were home. After 2 days one of my cats decided that he wanted to get out. Scared me to death, BUT, cats are quick. After a few days, the dog wasn't AS interested in the cats. Now, he likes to chase one of them occasionally, but never really seems aggressive. If Tiki doesn't want to run, he goes up to her and nudges her with his nose, until she takes off. Reggae is aggresive to the dog. He attack him and hisses whenever he comes near. The dog will show him teeth occasionally. Now when I leave, I put the kiddie gate about 6 inches off of the ground, so the kitties can go in there whenever they want. That is where their food and litter boxes are. If I leave the gate down, the dog will eat their food. I don't want them to ever feel threatened when going potty, so that will stay in there too. I don't really have many problems between them anymore. They just do their own thing. When the dog is feeling frisky, he will pounce at the cat just to make it run.

The animal shelter was worried at first that my dog would eat the cats, so they called every couple of weeks, to see how things were going. After I was sure it was OK, they quit calling. One of the things they always warned me of was if the dog was acting aggressive....growling, snarling, hair standing up, etc. He never really did any of those aggressive behaviors, so it was just a matter of time for him to get used to little animals. Sometimes he still thinks they are toys. I have had the kitties for about 1 1/2 years, and they all tolerate each other, and I don't think I will ever have the cute cuddly animals that all lay together and sleep together though.

If you have any questions about my situation with the animals feel free to PM me! Happy to walk you through how I did it. Seemed to work!