It's been nearly a year and...

[freyaandzelda]

I will have had the cats for a year in June and my daschund, Cricket, is still not comfortable with them. He will growl at them if they try to cuddle with him or try to come near him when he's relaxing, which I would get if they were mean to him but I lucked out and managed to get some of the sweetest cats in the world who would love nothing more than to curl up with him and groom him. When Freya groomed his ears the other day he allowed it but he had his upper lip curled the entire time. I will be moving to a bigger city soon and am hoping to sign Cricket up for obedience classes. Do you think that will help? I've also been keeping the cats out of the bedroom at night because Cricket sleeps with me and I don't want any accidents. Should I start crating him and letting the cats in the room or something? Will he ever get used to them or should I just resign myself to supervised interactions only?

 

[margd]

Have you seen this article yet?   One of the things that it suggests is obedience training for the dog so signing Cricket up for classes would be a step in the right direction.
[article="29682"]Introducing Cats To Dogs  [/article]
If the cats are okay with sleeping outside your bedroom, I wouldn't upset things by crating Cricket and letting them in.  That would only make Cricket resent and dislike them even more than he does already.  The armed truce you have right now might break out into open hostilities.  I'd wait until Cricket has been through obedience training and is more comfortable with his feline siblings before opening your bedroom door to the kitties.

 

[freyaandzelda]

The cats have never been allowed in the bedroom at night (I mean they would love it, they try to slip past me every night but they don't make a fuss) so as long as I don't sleep too long they're okay with it. I just wonder if him being allowed to sleep in the same bed as me makes him think he's superior or something. I'll definitely get him signed up for those classes though. It's ridiculous, my situation is totally different from most pet owners. My cats are sweet babies who love everyone, from grownups to infants to dogs, (Freya will let anyone rub her tummy and just loses her mind when my 3 year old niece comes to visit she loves it so much) while my dog just doesnt really like anything outside of his immediate family (has to be put in a separate room when 3 year old niece comes to visit). I want to have kids eventually so that means he has to get used to children and cats, ergo obedience classes.

 

[lykakitty]

I have to caution you about obedience classes. The dog training industry is in transition between "standards" right now and I highly reccommend looking very carefully into trainers and classes. I suggest avoiding traditional trainers who employ any sort of dominance or intimidation techniques or who use adversive methods like training collars (choke chains, shock collars, prong collars, etc.). These methods are not only based on VERY outdated information but are more damaging than helpful. They can cause trust issues, anxiety, and aggression in dogs because they focus on stopping bad behaviors by associating them with pain or discomfort. There have been far too many cases of otherwise happy dogs developing aggression towards people that comes from being taught that when a person approaches them they're forced into a very uncomfortable situation or have a collar that causes pain put on them. Look for trainers who keep up to date on research into canine behavior and psychology and use positive reinforcement techniques only.

How old is Cricket, and did he have any experience with cats before you got the ones you have now? If he wasn't exposed to them in a positive way as a puppy it's very possible he doesn't know how to interact with them. Cats and dogs often have very different body language so Cricket may be trying to read their body language as he would if they were dogs and it's making him uncomfortable because he's interpreting their interactions wrong. If he had a bad experience with cats as a puppy he may have learned that cats = bad things and them being around him makes him uncomfortable or nervous, even if they're being nice. Make sure that every time they're together he gets plenty of positive experiences. Give him lots of attention and treats so he'll begin to associate the cats with those good things. That should help at least some. If he seems too uncomfortable separate them as soon as you can so things don't escalate. Signs of this include showing his teeth, excessive growling, raising his hackles, tucking his tail, or backing away/hiding. Keep in mind that a bit of growling or teeth is his natural way of telling the cats he doesn't like what they're doing and it's fine, as it will help teach the cats to respect his boundaries as well, just make sure he doesn't go far enough to scare or hurt them. The same goes for the cats, if he starts to initiate interactions with them. Both sides have to learn to respect the other's boundaries but don't let either one correct too harshly, you don't want anyone to become scared of anybody else.

 

[freyaandzelda]

Trust me, if any trainer suggested something that would potentially hurt my dog, I'll walk right out the door. Cricket is 6 years old, and I think a large part of the problem is his inexperience with cats.

 

[lykakitty]

I'm glad to hear that Unfortunately a lot of trainers get clients by telling people that the "only" way to train a dog is with a prong collar. If sounds like the root of the problem is socialization rather than obedience. Some obedience training won't hurt, but to really fix it ypu need to get Cricket comfortable with and used to cats, which is what all the treats and attention stuff in my last post will do. If you do work on obedience I'd suggest teaching him "leave it", since dachshunds are hunting dogs and can be known to chase small animals like cats. He may start once he gets comfortable with them, probably not out of aggression but out of excitement or play, and because dogs' natural response to a friend running is to chase them (another instance of clashing dog and cat language), and "leave it" will help him stop before he scares the cats.