Letting new Ragdoll kittens loose in the house

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes.... My husband am I have had our new Ragdoll kittens, Jack and Charlie for two weeks now. They are 12 weeks old. We also have a 65 pound three year old Goldendoodle (Dewey) that is loose in the house during the day and two slightly over a year old rescued cats (Lucy and Lily) that are loose during the day. We also have a 6 year old minature pinscher (Val) that stays in a crate during the day. We've had Jack and Charlie in our library as they've been getting adjusted to us, Lucy, Lily, Val, and Dewey. I've been wanting to wait until they are 4 months old until we let them loose, but they're restless to run!

We have a 3,000 square food house with 3 finished levels. The only thing that worries me is the open bannisters on the 3rd floor and the possibility of them falling. I want to try leaving them loose this weekend while we're home to see how they do.

Am I just over-protective? Should I just let them loose?

I'd only allow them very supervised time out to run. Are ALL the dogs very well trained in commands? You don't want the dogs to be chasing the kittens in excitment. If they would tend to chase, you must kennel that dog for awhile or put him/her on leash.

We only had one dog to deal with (labby) and she's well trained in commands. If you tell her no, down, sit she will do it without question. Even now if we feel she's chasing the cats too much (at times she likes to break up any fights between the 2), we will correct her and she stops and lays down.

Good point! I forgot to mention that Dewey is very well trained and listens to commands. He knows and obeys: sit, stay, down, and place. He doesn't chase the cats or kittens. Val is more inclined to play with the kittens because she's small and will chase them on occaision, but she's in the crate during when we're not home.

Dewey, Lucy, and Lily all get along very well.

I would make sure to watch the kittens with the dogs especially if the kittens venture near the dogs food dishes. There was a Ragdoll breeder whose kitten approached her dog when it had a rawhide treat. The dog suddenly grabbed the kitten and shook it. The kitten nearly died. Her dog has never shown that type of aggression towards the kittens before.

Good luck with your babies

Funny you mentioned about food/bones. Keno did growl once or twice when Charlie would try and steal food out of his bowl. But she was repremanded by us - WE are the pack leaders.

As far as bones. Charlie likes to share (have pics to prove it) and if Keno gets upset she simply picks up the bone and runs off to the other room with her bone. Most times Charlie doesn't follow.....

I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thinks that it's a good idea to keep them contained in one room and supervise their excursions through the house. All of my co-workers think that I'm nuts.

The problem is that labbys don't realize HOW big they are sometimes