New puppy introduced into my cats home: PLEASE HELP!

Hello everyone, I am new here

Here is my situation. My cat, Kitah, is about 4 years old. For the most part, she has never been around any other animals, except when visiting my parents house (They have a small, older dog). For the most part, the two of them got along really good, for the short periods of time they had together. Well, that was 2 years ago. Just this past saturday, my wife melted when she saw this 10 week old puppy, so, we got him (from animal rescue). The puppy is a sheltie, shepherd mix and we named him Luke.

My wife and I decided to crate train Luke, and do so out of the spare bedroom in our house. We have only been in this house about 2 weeks now, and it took the cat about 2 days to finally move from the master bedroom to roaming around the entire house. Well, ever since we got Luke, Kitah (cat) has not eaten, taken a drink, or moved from under the bed. I think she is scared of the sounds that the puppy is making. I don't want to force them to meet, but I feel HORRIBLE that the cat is so scared. It makes me cry. Please help me, I don't know what to do. Should I bring the dog's crate closer to the bedroom the cat is hiding in but close the door so she can sense him? Right now they are on opposite sides of the house. Any advice at all would be so appreciated, thank you!

Hi. Congrats on the new puppy. First off, do you have somewhere in your home that you can make Kitah's? Here is why I'm asking..You just brought in a "herding" dog (Shepherds & Shelties are both herders), which could get big and could try to herd Kitah. I have 3 herding dogs...1 Border Collie and 2 Shelties. As you know Shepherds aren't small dogs and all Shelties aren't (my girl is 19lbs and my boy is 41.5lbs), so we definitely want the pup to have good experiences when meeting Kitah. In our home, we have a room strictly for the cats. We keep a baby gate up at the door, so that the dogs can't go in. This gives the cats a place where they feel safe and they can "escape" to anytime they need a break. Our adult girls were shelter cats, so I don't know how much they were exposed to dogs prior to meeting ours. We made sure to do it the way we did that way they didn't get traumatized by the dogs the minute they got here.

Now the next thing I recommend is teaching the "leave it" command to your pup. Nykie, our 6 month old BC, is fascinated by the cats and she doesn't know when to back off. If she's pestering the cats, I tell her to "Leave it" and she will walk away. This command works for a variety of things. Just like if I'm cooking and I drop an onion or piece of chocolate or anything else that is toxic to dogs, I can tell them to "leave it" and they won't grab it, so it's a very valuable command to teach. I use it all of the time when they're out in public, etc. It's very easy to teach, and I can help you with that if you need assistance. This is where I would begin. Oh, one last important thing. A crate is extremely helpful as well during the training process.

Good luck!!

Crating is good. Never leave them out together unless you are there.

I am dog sitting my son's rescued Blue Heeler during the day while I am off for the summer. She is a strong Alpha, very hyper and a natural "nipper." But not a mean dog, just a baby.

The puppy is always wrong - for the first two months anyway. This is going to help him learn the people rules and the hierarchy of the house.

The cat is always right. See above.

"No" should always be spoken in a deep voice. Do not say "No, Luke." (You want his name to be a positive thing) Only say the command once and make him obey it.

Reward and praise should always be in a high pitched voice.

Use a baby gate to keep them separate and give each other space. Kitah can sit on one side, in safety, and observe that noisy thing.

Keep Luke on a leash in the house and with you at all times, unless in the crate. It will actually make potty training easier too as you learn his signals. (They usually have to go 10-20 minutes after a meal, when they wake up, when they stop an active game/activity session)

Start teaching Luke "down" and "stay." The goal is this is the position you want him in when Kitka comes around.

Do not allow biting. Encourage toys in the mouth.

If Kitka chases the puppy, allow it. She will be able to defend herself with claws and teeth. All it took was a swat on the nose for my dogs to be terrified of Zoey.

Don't worry if it takes awhile for them to become friends. My three large dogs were terrified of Zoey when we brought her home. They still are very respectful. Zoey doesn't mind them at all - she even drinks water from their bowl while they are drinking. When we leave the house, we put the dogs in their room - Zoey is the first to run in there. She has claimed their dog beds.

Hi Kitah,
How is your cat otherwise? I mean if you have human guests, does she hide too? Because it sounds normal to me that Kitah would hide for a while until she has the chance to scope out that smelly new fourlegged thing in the house. And Luke will want to play with Kitah, probably in a way that Kitah does not understand or like.
I would say leave them on opposite sides if that is where they want to me. Kitah will in her own time explore and checkout the new arrival when she is good an ready and sure that nothig bad will happen. As long as she has her claws and can escape by going UP she will find a way to communicate to the puppy what she will tolerate and what she will not tolerate. At 10 wks your puppy is a baby and does not know what to make of Kitah excet that she is a potential playmate.
It can be done, Kitah will have to eat eventually. Maybe try wiping the puppy with a clean rag and leave that near Kitah's food bowl so she gets used to the smell. Also vice versa, wipe the cat with a rag and putit in Luke's crate so he gets used to the cat smell.
Good luck!

Thanks for the posts so far. I will try a lot of the advice that you all are giving.

2dogmom, yes, sometimes Kitah likes to go and hide when there are people here. And then comes out when she feels ready or doesn't come out at all. I guess this is a similar situation.

As for the long run, do I always keep the dog behind some kind of gate, to give Kitah a "leave me alone place"? The cat is VERY used to having the "ENTIRE" house all to herself, should I just make the master bedroom a "no no" place for the dog? Since that is the place Kitah always feels very safe. And let the dog eventually roam the house freely and the cat can jump the fence if she wants to and hang with the dog?

On a side note, Kitah does not have her front claws, she is an indoor only cat, she has never been outside.

:"I can tell them to "leave it" and they won't grab it, so it's a very valuable command to teach. I use it all of the time when they're out in public, etc. It's very easy to teach, and I can help you with that if you need assistance. "

I would love all the help I can get at the moment!

Thank you sooo much!

Click to expand...

Normally I would think that a cat would figure out how to find her own "leave me alone" place, say by going under a chair, udner the bed (when the dog is too big to follow) or by climbing up on the furniture. And a cat hiss goes a long way to fend off a puppy (usually).
Teaching the "leave it" command is a great idea, but keep in mind that you pup is very young and for now it might be a bit too advanced. My advice would be to start off teaching the puppy to "sit"-they can pick up about one command a month on average. Also practice "NILIF" (nothing in life is free) for interacting with Luke so that he learns that you are boss.
http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

:"I can tell them to "leave it" and they won't grab it, so it's a very valuable command to teach. I use it all of the time when they're out in public, etc. It's very easy to teach, and I can help you with that if you need assistance. "

I would love all the help I can get at the moment!

Thank you sooo much!

Click to expand...

As far as the gate, we have an extra room that we turned into the "cat room", so we keep it up at all times. We did this, also, because our dogs like to go after the cat food and the litter box (YUCK! lol). Plus, we have a 10 month old baby, so this will give the cats a way to get away from her when they don't want to be bothered. It's entirely up to you how you want to handle it, but it works well for us.

Ok, I'm going to do my best to explain this clearly, but if it's confusing at all, don't hesitate to send a PM. On the "leave it" command, it's very simple. The way I trained our dogs is starting out with the dog leashed. I always use some type of treat. There are 2 different ways you can do this:
1) The method I preferred to use. For sake of explanation, I'll use Nykie for my demonstrator. I put Nykie's leash on her, then I took a treat (whatever kind you want to use as long as it's tempting) and laid it on the ground near her, but not close enough for her to grab. When she went for it, I told her to "leave it" and gave a very gentle pull on the leash. You don't need to jerk it, because you don't want to hurt the pup. When Nykie would look away from the treat, I would give her lots of praise. I would do this 4 or 5 times in one sitting, and at the end of the session, I would pick the treat up and tell her to "take it". You don't want to overdo it during training, because, especially with a pup, the pup will lose interest. I usually do training sessions no more than 15mins in one setting, but I use different commands throughout the day. It won't take long before your little one will understand that "leave it" means that whatever it is is off limits.

2) The other method is basically the same, but some trainers will tell you to put the treat in your hand the first few times you try this. If we were doing it with Nykie, I would put a treat in my hand, show it to her, and anytime she went for it, I would tell her to "leave it", close my hand and take it away. I, personally, have found the other way to be more effective, but some people have better luck with this way.

Just remember, it's never too early to start training. I do use other commands throughout the day like "sit" (for food or for leash to be put on), "wait" (before going out the door), "leave it", "down" (when I need them to be calm), "stay" (if I'm taking care of our daughter and need them out of the way), etc. This way I don't necessarily have to stop for 15mins or so to do the training (considering it's hard with a baby), but I can keep my dogs on good behavior.

Hope this helps!

~Michelle~

A some point, you will want an area where your cat can go to get from Luke, without having to worry that he will come in. It can be a room or even a closet.

Even without claws, Kitka should be able to go over the gate as she wants to - and she will. Keeping them separated will give them time to get used to each other. It's not a punishment, it's for their safety.
Luke is going to want Kitka to play before she is ready, so the time frame is dependent on her. She will start coming over the gate and approaching the puppy. Your job is to limit the pup's rush to get to her.

Zoey, who also doesn't have claws, will hiss and bop the puppy on her nose and chase her through the house (think the old cartoon chases). Even though her ears are back and sounds mean, I think she likes to play attack/teach the puppy. She has picked out a couple of places in the house where she hides and waits for the puppy to come by - then the attack is on. Other times she sleeps up high and ignores her.

The bottomline, don't rush it and protect them from each other. It will work out in time.

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

Normally I would think that a cat would figure out how to find her own "leave me alone" place, say by going under a chair, udner the bed (when the dog is too big to follow) or by climbing up on the furniture. And a cat hiss goes a long way to fend off a puppy (usually).
Teaching the "leave it" command is a great idea, but keep in mind that you pup is very young and for now it might be a bit too advanced. My advice would be to start off teaching the puppy to "sit"-they can pick up about one command a month on average. Also practice "NILIF" (nothing in life is free) for interacting with Luke so that he learns that you are boss.
http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Click to expand...

That's true with some, but it depends on the dog. I started our 3 herders immediately. Dreamer was 10wks when we brought him home, Presley was 7wks, and Nykie was 9.5wks.

NILIF is something that I use all of the time. Definitely something to work on with this pup.

Also, obedience classes do not train only one thing per month (at least not in my area and I've never focused on only one thing a month). They introduce something new every week. This is very good, especially if you're working your dog towards agility, obedience competition, or therapy work. I have a therapy dog and am working one towards agility. Nykie will be competing in agility when she's old enough, and it is a must that this dog has a reliable sit, down, stay, and recall by the time she hits full agility training. She'll begin her actual intro to agility training at 8 months. Once again, it depends on the dog, though, and the key to having a well-trained dog is patience and consistency.

I knew I came to the right place! I can't thank you all enough for the good advice. As for the "Leave it" command, I will give the #1 example a go, sounds like that should work for Luke. And I guess with the cat, I will just let her do things at her own pace. I wont force them to meet. Whenever she is ready.

If i have any more questions, which I know I will, lol, I'll post in here within the next few days. As for right now, I have a "crate training" DVD to watch. :O

Thanks everyone!