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Edited on Fri Jan-28-05 03:37 PM by radfringe
but it still can be tricky.
we have the living room and loft area barricaded off from the dogs so the cats have their own "safe rooms" -- when new dog is in the house the cats hang out in there most of the time.
we don't force the introductions - pretty much let them meet on their own and under supervision. We keep the muzzle on the foster dog until we feel we can trust it, and if the dog goes after the cat we yell "NO - Leave it", and bring the dog into another room and make him/her lay down and praise for laying down. Same goes if it looks like the dog is even thinking about chasing the cats.
when we are not home we keep the dog in a big kennel -- large enough to move around in, and still have room for food/water bowls, pillow and toys
after a couple of days, we will leave the dog out of the kennel and go outside for 10-15 minutes, and then gradually increase the "unsupervised" time.
every dog is different, so alot of it depends on the dog and how well they respond. If a cat walks by and the dog doesn't react -- we praise and give treats.
With out previous foster dog - it took 2 or 3 days before we felt comfortable enough to leave her running around the house without a muzzle or under tight tight supervision.
The greyhound organization we work with knows we have 2 other dogs and cats -- so they try to match us up with a foster dog that is laid back or one they already know has been exposed to cats and is ok with cats
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