Dog help-

[Nephythys]

Hey Lisa!!! (or anyone with knowledge)

We are considering a dog- we visited with an Australian Shepherd and Australian Kelpie mix at the shelter today. He is 5 months old and about as big as he is gonna get (medium size)- sweet dog, likes cats and kids. Only drawback- a nervous pee-er but he is just a baby and with age and time with us I am sure that would stop.

Anyway- we have two cats- well established male cats. Any suggestions on introducing?

Is a smaller dog a better idea?

How do you keep a dog from eating from the cat box?

There are suggestions for feeding a cat above floor level- how does one accomplish this?

Help?

[CoasterMatt]

Well, if the dog eats the cats, you won't have to worry about it eating from the cat box...

I don't have much experience introducing dogs to cat households, but I've always just made sure to be there and supportive of both the cats and dogs.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I introduced a cat to two dogs but I expect introducing a dog would work the same way. I supervised them the whole time they were together and let the cat get up away from the dogs if she got scared. It takes a while for them to get used to each other but now the cat sleeps on the dog bed with my girl dog and they play.

As far as the cat box goes... I haven't had much luck keeping the dogs out except by putting it up. My cat has her litter box, food, and water on top the dryer and it works out nicely. She can get up, dogs can't.

Good luck! And congratulations on your new addition.

[mousepod]

Nephy,

Our little family has had several combinations of dogs and cats throughout the years. When Heather and I first got together, she had two boy cats and I had a new shelter puppy (a medium-sized lab mix).

Our experience was that dogs and cats can get along fine as long as there are ground rules.

Make sure to diligently train your dog. A dog who sees you as the boss will respect the cats.

Don't get mad at the cats for being territorial. They're cats. As long as they don't claw at the puppy, they're just training him, too.

Feed the cats on the counter - that way, they won't gobble their food in a panic in fear of the dog. There are no tricks to doing this. If the cats get hungry, they'll eat as long as they know where their food is.

Keep the litter box in a place the dog can't reach. If he develops a taste for cat poop (or "almond roca" as Heather and I referred to it), he'll keep coming back. We put a little doggie gate at the bottom of the basement steps and the litter box was right on the other side. The cats had no problem clearing the fence, but the dogs couldn't.

When we moved to SF, our dog was full grown and we had a chihuahua puppy along with the two cats. They all got along great (if I was home, I'd post some pictures of them cuddling).

Congratulations and good luck!

[Capt Jack]

you could always teach the cat to use the toilet.

[Nephythys]

Right now there are 3 cat boxes in the house- one in the bathroom downstairs, the bathroom upstairs, and one in the basement. Do I whittle that down to one and keep it gated off? My older cat will not like hurdling the gate-but I could try.

I think I need a cat tree- I dread teaching my cats to jump on the counters to eat.

I was all excited earlier- now I feel nervous, especially about a bigger dog.

I'm torn- Rose and the cats would likely prefer a smaller breed. But I like the idea of having a medium to large dog in the house for protection (woof woof rather than yap yap)

If I am not sure- I won't do it- there are so many questions. Thanks for the input- keep it coming

[alphabassettgrrl]

The dog does not need to be large to be a security feature- any dog reduces your chances of a break-in. The security of a dog isn't that it will bite an intruder, but that it barks.

[wendybeth]

We have an Aussie Shep/Akita mix, who was intro'd to our three cats with little problem. (Now they're all buds). I love our dog- we were looking for a small one, but I fell for Mellie the second I saw her. She sounds ferocious, but she's a total love bug, although I do think she'd kill anyone who tried to harm us. Aussie sheps are so funny- they try to herd you all over the place, and it's an instinct that never stops. We all now walk down the hall to the left, because Mellie cuts left and has us trained.

Get the dog- you won't be sorry!

(and covered cat boxes help reduce the scrounging for Kitty Rocha).

[CoasterMatt]

You could always teach one of the kids to bark

[Capt Jack]

I have two dogs, one of which is a breed that was purpose bred by monks in Tibet to be an 'alarm dog' (Lhasa Apso) to call the bigger Mastiffs to deal with said intruders . basically, I think they bred all the courage out of them, so he barks at pretty well anything...imaginary or otherwise. It works really well, except like I said, he barks at any and everything.

I get to play the part of the Mastiff.

WOOOF!

anyway, my point being, smaller dogs have their uses. you just have to be willing to be a mastiff.