{"id":3771,"date":"2021-12-21T06:56:15","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T12:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petpundit.com\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2021-12-21T06:56:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T12:56:15","slug":"reader-takes-right-steps-towards-dog-cat-introductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/21\/reader-takes-right-steps-towards-dog-cat-introductions\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader takes right steps towards dog\/cat introductions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Cathy,<\/p>\n<p>We just took in a five-year-old dog from a family friend who could not keep him anymore.\u00a0 All is going somewhat well, but he does not get along with my three-year-old cat at all. We have tried to introduce them with him being held back on a leash, but he constantly keeps going after the cat.\u00a0 The cat pays the dog no mind.\u00a0 But the dog doesn\u2019t seem to be improving at all.\u00a0 It has only been about three weeks, but some of my research suggests this may never change. Are there any tips or suggestions you may have on how to get the dog to just be able to live in the same house with my cat?<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Graig, West Babylon, New York<\/p>\n<p>Dear Graig,<\/p>\n<p>I applaud you for keeping the new dog on the leash these last few weeks. I know it\u2019s inconvenient to \u201cwalk\u201d the dog around the house, but it gives the dog and cat time to get to know each other without the dog chasing and scaring the cat.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, use a baby gate around the house to keep the dog from chasing the cat. The baby gate provides the dog and cat some much-needed nose-to-nose time, which can help further cement their friendship. Animals learn a lot through scent.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, reinforce \u201csit\u201d and \u201cstay\u201d commands with your new dog all throughout the day, so he learns to listen to you. He doesn\u2019t have to love the cat (and vice versa), they just need to respect each other.<\/p>\n<p>Once they are comfortable together, keep the leash on the collar for a few more days, so you can grab it if needed. If after all this, the dog is still acting like he wants to hurt the cat, then you may have to re-home the dog. But generally, if the dog is just anxious and highly-interested in the cat, and not growling and showing signs of aggression, they should eventually learn to get along.<\/p>\n<p><em>Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to <\/em><a href=\"mailto:cathy@petpundit.com\"><em>cathy@petpundit.com<\/em><\/a><em>. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Cathy, We just took in a five-year-old dog from a family friend who could not keep him anymore.\u00a0 All [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cathyrosenthal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}