Hi there,
I am new to this forum and am looking for some advice or links. I have 4 cats - all female - 11 years, 14 months, 14 months, and 7 months. My fiance is adopting an 8 year old border collie. She has been through obedience training and agility training and is spayed and very well behaved. The owner is elderly and can't take care of her anymore, so there's no behavior problem with the dog. The owner did say she isn't the greatest with other dogs though. Not aggressive, just tries to make a point that - "hey, this human belongs to me", but from what the folks have said, a simple "no" stops the behavior immediately. They say she's ok with cats - doesn't chase or try to "molest them" as the lady put...haha. My fiance and I are living in two seperate houses right now, but we stay with each other 2-3 days per week at the others home (meaning we would have the opportunity 3 days a week to bring the dog to my home to do a slow introduction to my furry clan). Obviously I want to avoid traumatizing my little girls as much as possible in this situation and need some advice or links on how to do that. My oldest cat has lived with a dog before, but my 3 little ones haven't. As a side note though, they are little and are use to newcomers (we've had a couple other cats on the side that haven't worked out).
I think I'm most concerned about the dog because she's the newcomer - ok - I'm worried about the whole situation.
Any advice???
Thanks!!
I am new to this forum and am looking for some advice or links. I have 4 cats - all female - 11 years, 14 months, 14 months, and 7 months. My fiance is adopting an 8 year old border collie. She has been through obedience training and agility training and is spayed and very well behaved. The owner is elderly and can't take care of her anymore, so there's no behavior problem with the dog. The owner did say she isn't the greatest with other dogs though. Not aggressive, just tries to make a point that - "hey, this human belongs to me", but from what the folks have said, a simple "no" stops the behavior immediately. They say she's ok with cats - doesn't chase or try to "molest them" as the lady put...haha. My fiance and I are living in two seperate houses right now, but we stay with each other 2-3 days per week at the others home (meaning we would have the opportunity 3 days a week to bring the dog to my home to do a slow introduction to my furry clan). Obviously I want to avoid traumatizing my little girls as much as possible in this situation and need some advice or links on how to do that. My oldest cat has lived with a dog before, but my 3 little ones haven't. As a side note though, they are little and are use to newcomers (we've had a couple other cats on the side that haven't worked out).
I think I'm most concerned about the dog because she's the newcomer - ok - I'm worried about the whole situation.
Any advice???
Thanks!!