The introduction process can be crucial in determining the long term success of integrating a new dog to the household.
🐱 Introduce new items 🐶
Bring new items such as beds, crates, food and water bowls, toys, leads etc., before your dog arrives. This will give your cat a chance to adjust to the change in territory in small stages and making it much more manageable for her.
🐱 Introduce scent 🐶
When your dog comes home, keep them separated and give him time to settle into his new surroundings. Help your cat get used to the idea of sharing her home with him by introducing his scent first. You can do this by swapping their bedding or “collecting” his scent on a glove when interacting with him. Leave it in your cats area for her to investigate in her own time. Watch her reaction, ignoring is great, any hissing, recoiling or slinking indicates you will need to move very slowly.
🐱 Introduce visual contact 🐶
When you cat is relaxed around the scent of your dog, you can begin to introduce visual contact. Set up a barrier to keep them both safe such as a baby gate, glass door, mesh barrier or similar. Drape a blanket over the top to limit how much of each other they can see. During short sessions, keep them distracted with toys or food to prevent them rushing up to the barrier and startling the other. Reward calm behaviour with something you know they like (treats, stroking, brushing etc.). You can gradually increase how much they can see each other by removing the blanket. There is no need for either to approach the barrier and both should be able to leave the meeting at any time.
🐱 Controlled meetings 🐶
When these visual meetings are going well, with both cat and dog relaxed and are generally uneventful, you can move on to face to face meetings. Keeping control of your dog is essential here as their normal friendly behaviour is to approach and sniff whereas cats are often more wary with animals they are not already bonded with. She may not take well to your dog getting too close at this stage. Have one person for each animal and place the dog on a lead or keep him busy with a toy or chew. Allow your cat to enter the room if she wants to. You can lure her with treats or by calling her name, but again, always allow either of them to leave if they choose to. The visual meetings will give you some idea of how both animals will react, so you can plan ahead for any super enthusiastic dogs. Constant supervision is required here, keeping sessions very short and their attention focused on you with food, toys, brushing or similar. Allowing the cat to hop up high during these meetings can be useful here.
🐱 Increase freedom together 🐶
As these meetings continue, you can begin to lengthen the time they spend together and give them more freedom around each other whilst still under constant supervision. For example, once they settle down near you or in their beds, you can let that meeting continue as long as you like, with you stepping in if needed to divert their attention away from the other as required. This still requires proactive supervision and preempting any negative interactions. Keep your distractions and rewards to hand to call upon when needed.
#catbehaviourist #catsanddogs
