inne
Posted : 7/15/2006 2:54:13 AM
I do not think getting a dog in this situation sounds like the best choice, but here's my experience with introducing my puppy to my three year old cat who was not cool with dogs at all prior to this.
A few months ago, I shared my flat with a couple that had a small, adult dog and Robin (my cat) did not like it at all. I basically didn't see him for the first two weeks. I absolutely did not want this to happen when I got my puppy, so I was super vigilant about the introductions, especially because we live in a small one bedroom apartment and need to share all the floor space we have. First of all, cats need easily accessible places that are just theirs, both for their comfort and their safety. Ideal places are spots they can jump up on easily that the dog cannot reach. I made sure Robin knew how to access all those spots (he already spent a lot of time on many of them, like the mantle, the credenza, etc.) and still give him treats on them.
The first two weeks of having my puppy at home, I put a baby gate at the bedroom door and kept her in there. I supervised her at all times and if I couldn't, she was crated. Robin was on the other side of the babygate, they would sniff each other and my husband and I would sit on either side of the babygate, petting the animals, talking to them and passing treats through the gate so each would associate the other with something good. He was also allowed to jump over the baby gate whenever he wanted and the puppy and I would go do something else or I would hold her in my lap while Robin did whatever it was he wanted to do in the bedroom (usually just sleep on the credenza). I don't know if this is just me overanalyzing my cat, but I thought it was important for him to know that this was still his home and he wasn't being restricted. I also tried the smell-rubbing stuff, but I have no idea if that helped. I made sure that we had "our" time just like normal.
After the two weeks, I took the babygate down from the bedroom door and put it in the kitchen door. His litter box and food are in there and I did not want the puppy to have access to either. He has multiple entry points to the kitchen, so he can get in at any time and I take the gate down when we are going out with Louise or she's in her crate. I put the puppy (Louise) on a leash and stood in the living room with her. She started to chase him, he batted her on the top of the head (claws not extended) and she realized chasing full speed like that wasn't a good idea and he realized that he can tell her to shove off and she will. Now they do play chase; it looks like the Louise is terrorizing Robin, but as soon as Louise stops, Robin comes back asking to be chased again, sort of like how puppies play. When Robin gets tired of it he bats her on the head lightly or hops up on one of his safe spots. He's also established a few new spots on the floor that are just his and Louise will play-bow to him and obviously wants to run up to him, but knows that it's not her space to enter. Animals are pretty amazing in how they can work things out between themselves. Right now I can't see them curling up and sleeping next to each other ever, but they can coexist peacefully and even have some fun together in a non-contact way.
Once her training started, "leave it" became one of the best commands ever.
Since Louise came to live with us, Robin has become more needy and that time where it's just us is SO important. For some reason, I also pet them both at the same time a lot, which seemed to calm them both down while being in very close proximity to each other.
I read a lot of articles about introductions on the internet and you might want to google some of those.
I personally would be concerned about having a declawed cat around a dog, by the way.