Hi everyone,
I know there've been posts on this before, and I've been reading up, but I wanted advice on a specific situation.
My mom just found out that she's going to need to travel for work. She'd planned for this, and was told that it would only be a few days at a time, but she just found out she's going to be away for 3-4 weeks!
The problem is that she has a dog. He's about 1.5 years and 40 pounds. He's a mutt, but watching the way he runs I suspect he's part border collie. Usually my mom's sister would take him, but she's already made plans to be away.
My boyfriend and I would be thrilled to have the dog for a month. He's very quiet and extremely well-behaved. Unfortunately, whenever he sees feral cats or wild animals, he is hell-bent on chasing them! It's the only time he barks. What we're hoping is that his chasing behavior is due to his being part herder, and not a prey drive.
We have two adult cats, and though we can lock the animals in separate rooms for a month if necessary, it's far from ideal. For one thing, there will likely be times when one animal gives us the slip for a minute, and that's all a dog needs if he really wants to hurt a cat. Also, the dog is still sort of timid from his time without a family (recently adopted), and we don't want the month to be unbearable for him.
So here's my question: is this a foolhardy endeavor? We know all the different approaches we can take to introducing them and keeping them all safe, but do you think it's not even worth the attempt with a dog known to chase cats? He's never met one in a person's home before, but it still makes us nervous. We're doing a trial intro this weekend, but it'll be hard to learn much from that.
I know there've been posts on this before, and I've been reading up, but I wanted advice on a specific situation.
My mom just found out that she's going to need to travel for work. She'd planned for this, and was told that it would only be a few days at a time, but she just found out she's going to be away for 3-4 weeks!
The problem is that she has a dog. He's about 1.5 years and 40 pounds. He's a mutt, but watching the way he runs I suspect he's part border collie. Usually my mom's sister would take him, but she's already made plans to be away.
My boyfriend and I would be thrilled to have the dog for a month. He's very quiet and extremely well-behaved. Unfortunately, whenever he sees feral cats or wild animals, he is hell-bent on chasing them! It's the only time he barks. What we're hoping is that his chasing behavior is due to his being part herder, and not a prey drive.
We have two adult cats, and though we can lock the animals in separate rooms for a month if necessary, it's far from ideal. For one thing, there will likely be times when one animal gives us the slip for a minute, and that's all a dog needs if he really wants to hurt a cat. Also, the dog is still sort of timid from his time without a family (recently adopted), and we don't want the month to be unbearable for him.
So here's my question: is this a foolhardy endeavor? We know all the different approaches we can take to introducing them and keeping them all safe, but do you think it's not even worth the attempt with a dog known to chase cats? He's never met one in a person's home before, but it still makes us nervous. We're doing a trial intro this weekend, but it'll be hard to learn much from that.