- Joined
- Apr 2, 2014
- Messages
- 64
- Purraise
- 102
Let me start out by saying mods please move if this isn't the right place. I genuinely wasn't sure where to post!
For those of you that don't watch the kitten thread, a few weeks ago my dog Odin started acting very strange, dancing around the edge of our pool. I found and fished out a little black kitten (roughly 6 weeks old). The kitten, Jiji, is doing amazing! She has been given a clean bill of health and is getting on pretty well with our 7 year old cat Luna. She is also getting along fine with our 9 year old dog and 10 year old dogs! The issue we are currently working on is my 7 year old husky pitbull mix, Odin (the one who let me know she was in the pool).
He's over 100lbs so we have kept them mostly separate just because one accidental step could kill the little kitten. Jiji is 8 weeks old now and full of fire and fight. We have been letting her out a few hours each day, but have kept Odin locked up. I've now began introductions with him. Odin has grown up with cats his whole life. 2 were already in the house when we got him and Luna was added to the house when he was roughly 1. So its been a long time since a new kitten entered.
So far, Odin has acted VERY interested in Jiji. We cannot tell if it is just curiosity or if it's his prey drive since she is just a tiny thing. After seeing him following after her the first time acting like he was trying to catch or play with her we have slowed the introductions way down. Last week I have him a bully stick and let Jiji out. He didn't even blink at her but Jiji wouldn't stop trying to grab his chew and Odin has been food aggressive in the past so I quickly called a stop to that attempt.
Sunday I collected up a massive bowl of treats and let Jiji start out running around then brought Odin into the living room and kept him focused on me doing his trick routines. I started out keeping his whole focus on me then slowly began to spread out the treats giving him time to look at her and interact with her. Jiji is pretty sure that Odin's nose floating over her head is a toy waiting to play with. Odin was very patient with her but eventually did nip her. Not hard, Jiji yelped, jumped away then was bounding back to play again.
Tonight I let Odin out and put him in a down stay on his dog bed. Jiji ran around acting her wild and crazy self and Odin was a good boy and stayed on his bed but he moaned and whined the whole time and watched her unblinkingly unless I pulled his attention back to me. I used a feather teaser to keep her away from him. Odin doesn't like feather teasers (he thinks it is a puppy that needs protected. I always put him outside when I play with Luna) but I didn't have another easy way to keep her away without sitting between them. If she got close he'd jump forward towards her but with his mouth closed so I don't think he was trying to grab her but again it makes me wary.
I am very open to suggestions! I don't think Odin would ever hurt her intentionally but he's such a big boy I don't want to risk the new baby!
Odin right after finding Jiji.
My big pupper
For those of you that don't watch the kitten thread, a few weeks ago my dog Odin started acting very strange, dancing around the edge of our pool. I found and fished out a little black kitten (roughly 6 weeks old). The kitten, Jiji, is doing amazing! She has been given a clean bill of health and is getting on pretty well with our 7 year old cat Luna. She is also getting along fine with our 9 year old dog and 10 year old dogs! The issue we are currently working on is my 7 year old husky pitbull mix, Odin (the one who let me know she was in the pool).
He's over 100lbs so we have kept them mostly separate just because one accidental step could kill the little kitten. Jiji is 8 weeks old now and full of fire and fight. We have been letting her out a few hours each day, but have kept Odin locked up. I've now began introductions with him. Odin has grown up with cats his whole life. 2 were already in the house when we got him and Luna was added to the house when he was roughly 1. So its been a long time since a new kitten entered.
So far, Odin has acted VERY interested in Jiji. We cannot tell if it is just curiosity or if it's his prey drive since she is just a tiny thing. After seeing him following after her the first time acting like he was trying to catch or play with her we have slowed the introductions way down. Last week I have him a bully stick and let Jiji out. He didn't even blink at her but Jiji wouldn't stop trying to grab his chew and Odin has been food aggressive in the past so I quickly called a stop to that attempt.
Sunday I collected up a massive bowl of treats and let Jiji start out running around then brought Odin into the living room and kept him focused on me doing his trick routines. I started out keeping his whole focus on me then slowly began to spread out the treats giving him time to look at her and interact with her. Jiji is pretty sure that Odin's nose floating over her head is a toy waiting to play with. Odin was very patient with her but eventually did nip her. Not hard, Jiji yelped, jumped away then was bounding back to play again.
Tonight I let Odin out and put him in a down stay on his dog bed. Jiji ran around acting her wild and crazy self and Odin was a good boy and stayed on his bed but he moaned and whined the whole time and watched her unblinkingly unless I pulled his attention back to me. I used a feather teaser to keep her away from him. Odin doesn't like feather teasers (he thinks it is a puppy that needs protected. I always put him outside when I play with Luna) but I didn't have another easy way to keep her away without sitting between them. If she got close he'd jump forward towards her but with his mouth closed so I don't think he was trying to grab her but again it makes me wary.
I am very open to suggestions! I don't think Odin would ever hurt her intentionally but he's such a big boy I don't want to risk the new baby!