Cat Training Plan

[Guest Loki]

Hi

 

I am working on a cat training plan based on research both in the forums here and other sources. The goal for me is to be sure my wife and I are totally clear on how to proceed before adopting.

 

This is what I have so far, any suggestions would be welcome !

 

 

CAT TRAINING PLAN

 

1. ENTERING THE HOME ON DAY 1

a. Cat 1 must be secured in a room with litter box

b. Cat 2 must be secured in a room with cat box

c. dog enters house with leash and muzzle

d. gate is up to third floor, so dog can’t get up stairs

2. ONCE INSIDE THE HOUSE / DAY 1

a. Dog gets a few hours to check out the first two floors ( leash and muzzle stay on in case cats escape rooms ) and calm down

b. When calm , Dog is taken to bedroom and put in crate with door closed. DH hangs out with dog in there while DW lets cats out and returns house to normal.

c. Later when all is calm, Dog comes out of crate and DH muzzles and leashes dog in bedroom.

d. Dog is is led through the house by DH. When cats are encountered, "Introduction protocol” is followed.

3. INTRODUCTION PROTOCOL

a. Any act of aggression such as lunging, barking, growling, etc. by the greyhound should be discouraged with a firm “NO” and firm (not hard) tugging on the leash.

b. Every time the dog looks away or ignores the cat they get rewarded with praise and treats.

[rascalsmom]

Are you going to adopt from a group that fosters its dogs? We did, and we had no problems at all with our first two dogs. They came from foster homes with multiple cats. Third dog wasn't in a foster home with cats, but a few simple corrections were all it took for her to realize the cats weren't worth the trouble. Fourth dog we took as a foster, he was tested with a cat at the farm before we got him and he couldn't have cared less about the cats. Fifth (and present) dog was also not fostered with cats but was tested at the vets when she went for her spay...she passed the test and once she came home was a tiny bit curious but easily distracted.

 

While your protocol looks good, you may find it may be "excessive" if you adopt a dog who's already had a little cat experience. Foster families are invaluable in that respect!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Ok, I cut-and-pasted from a previous thread. I have been a cat tester for multiple groups as well as I foster greyhounds with my cats. Here is my method for the first few months I have new hounds in my house:

First week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Cats will be put behind closed doors for more than half of the day the hound is awake and I am home.

3) When the cats are around, the hound will have a leash attached (as well as muzzle, see above).

4) to work on desensitization, get some good small bites of food, such as cheese. Have significant other/friend help with the next few steps

5) One person has hound with muzzle and leash on one side of room, second person gets cat and walks into room holding cat. Person with cat sits on floor on opposite side of room and allows the hound to see the cat. Person holding hound calls his/her name, once the hound looks, give treat. REPEAT for 5-10 minutes. DO NOT allow cat to move or otherwise stir and make noise. If the cat gets upset, remove the cat, do not allow the cat to run or make noise as this may excite the hound.

6) do this multiple times during the day. After each session, the cat should be placed in a room, do not allow interaction.

Second week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Again, two people. One brings cat into room, one holds the hound with muzzle and leash. Person with cat should sit much closer to hound. The hound can be allowed to approach the cat and sniff. All the while the person holding the hound should call his/her name and treat when the hound looks away from the cat. If the hound does not look away from the cat, the person holding the hound on the leash should move away from the cat and get the hounds attention, if needed show the treat to the hound to break the hounds' attention.

3) REPEAT for 5-10 minutes multiple times during the day.

4) After each session the cat should be placed in a room, do not allow interaction.

Third week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD (see the trend?).

2) Again, two people. The hound still has muzzle and leash. By this time the hound should be nearly 100% reliable in looking away from the cat for a treat. If not, repeat second week until you have 100% reliability.

3) Second person brings cat into room, sets the cat down and allows the cat to move around the room. The person with the hound should be ready for the hound to try to move, do NOT allow the hound to follow or approach the cat when it is moving around. Instead call the hounds name and treat. If during this week the cat takes off or the hound starts to get anxious (barking, panting, drooling, excessive pulling) you need to go back a week.

4) If you can now distract the hound while the cat is moving around the room, good. Keep this training up for a week.

Fourth week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Two people, same drill (muzzle and leash).

3) Now you want to get the cat riled up when you have the cat and hound in the room together. If the cat is calm, then push the cat to run out of the room or otherwise get the kitty to make noise. Hold the leash and repeat treating when the hound looks at you. If you cannot get the hounds attention, go back a few weeks in the training.

4) Repeat daily.

Once you can have the cat in the room running around and making noise and be able to get the hound to look at you for treats, THEN you can allow the cat to have free run of the house. At this time, put up the baby gates at strategic places around the home (such as hallways and maybe doorways) about 6" above the ground. This will allow for the cats to move freely, but the hound cannot follow. Also as others have said, pull away the furniture from the walls to allow the cats to slide behind. At this time I may allow the cats and dogs to be able to move around at night, but have to see both how calm the cats are around the hound and vise versa. Before this I do not allow the cats and dogs to be able to be in the same room at night when I sleep, period.

This method of desensitization is much more effective at getting hounds and cats to live together as it reinforces the behavior you want, as opposed to correcting the behavior you don't want. For correction to work, you have to be present.

Do not allow your cats and dogs to co-mingle while you are gone for at least the first 3-6 months, you never know what can happen when you are gone. The muzzle does not guarantee that your cat will not be harmed. A greyhound can still kill small animals with a muzzle on.

**NOTE**

Do NOT allow your hound to be loose with the cat in the house when the hound is not under your direct control (ie leash) for at least the first 3 weeks of my regiment. Secondly, a baby gate is not enough separation when you are gone. You need to close the door where the cat is when you leave, or crate the hound, either or, nothing less. Drugs, I don't think you need to medicate your hound, you need to do some alone training (do a search in the forums here).

I don't believe there is an "excessive" training protocol when it comes to greyhounds and cats. There was an article that was floating around there years ago titled "Trust, the deadly disease". In an instant your hound can do something you would never expect and that could result in a very bad situation. The first few weeks the hound is in your house he/she will probably be shell-shocked and very subdued. After a few weeks of learning the ropes, their personality starts to come out and this is when interest in the cats can peak. I don't like the correction method of training (leash tug and firm "no"), this type of training has been proven to be less effective than positive reinforcement as well as it is a much calmer way of training.

Chad

[Guest Loki]

Thanks, Yes our last greyhound was very very low prey drive, but we want to be prepared with a good plan in case despite testing and fostering , the next dog is more aggressive than anticipated.

awesome ! many thanks !

 

Ok, I cut-and-pasted from a previous thread. I have been a cat tester for multiple groups as well as I foster greyhounds with my cats. Here is my method for the first few months I have new hounds in my house:

First week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Cats will be put behind closed doors for more than half of the day the hound is awake and I am home.

3) When the cats are around, the hound will have a leash attached (as well as muzzle, see above).

4) to work on desensitization, get some good small bites of food, such as cheese. Have significant other/friend help with the next few steps

5) One person has hound with muzzle and leash on one side of room, second person gets cat and walks into room holding cat. Person with cat sits on floor on opposite side of room and allows the hound to see the cat. Person holding hound calls his/her name, once the hound looks, give treat. REPEAT for 5-10 minutes. DO NOT allow cat to move or otherwise stir and make noise. If the cat gets upset, remove the cat, do not allow the cat to run or make noise as this may excite the hound.

6) do this multiple times during the day. After each session, the cat should be placed in a room, do not allow interaction.

Second week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Again, two people. One brings cat into room, one holds the hound with muzzle and leash. Person with cat should sit much closer to hound. The hound can be allowed to approach the cat and sniff. All the while the person holding the hound should call his/her name and treat when the hound looks away from the cat. If the hound does not look away from the cat, the person holding the hound on the leash should move away from the cat and get the hounds attention, if needed show the treat to the hound to break the hounds' attention.

3) REPEAT for 5-10 minutes multiple times during the day.

4) After each session the cat should be placed in a room, do not allow interaction.

Third week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD (see the trend?).

2) Again, two people. The hound still has muzzle and leash. By this time the hound should be nearly 100% reliable in looking away from the cat for a treat. If not, repeat second week until you have 100% reliability.

3) Second person brings cat into room, sets the cat down and allows the cat to move around the room. The person with the hound should be ready for the hound to try to move, do NOT allow the hound to follow or approach the cat when it is moving around. Instead call the hounds name and treat. If during this week the cat takes off or the hound starts to get anxious (barking, panting, drooling, excessive pulling) you need to go back a week.

4) If you can now distract the hound while the cat is moving around the room, good. Keep this training up for a week.

Fourth week:

1) Muzzle does not come off the hound unless the cats are behind closed door, or hound is in crate, PERIOD.

2) Two people, same drill (muzzle and leash).

3) Now you want to get the cat riled up when you have the cat and hound in the room together. If the cat is calm, then push the cat to run out of the room or otherwise get the kitty to make noise. Hold the leash and repeat treating when the hound looks at you. If you cannot get the hounds attention, go back a few weeks in the training.

4) Repeat daily.

Once you can have the cat in the room running around and making noise and be able to get the hound to look at you for treats, THEN you can allow the cat to have free run of the house. At this time, put up the baby gates at strategic places around the home (such as hallways and maybe doorways) about 6" above the ground. This will allow for the cats to move freely, but the hound cannot follow. Also as others have said, pull away the furniture from the walls to allow the cats to slide behind. At this time I may allow the cats and dogs to be able to move around at night, but have to see both how calm the cats are around the hound and vise versa. Before this I do not allow the cats and dogs to be able to be in the same room at night when I sleep, period.

This method of desensitization is much more effective at getting hounds and cats to live together as it reinforces the behavior you want, as opposed to correcting the behavior you don't want. For correction to work, you have to be present.

Do not allow your cats and dogs to co-mingle while you are gone for at least the first 3-6 months, you never know what can happen when you are gone. The muzzle does not guarantee that your cat will not be harmed. A greyhound can still kill small animals with a muzzle on.

**NOTE**

Do NOT allow your hound to be loose with the cat in the house when the hound is not under your direct control (ie leash) for at least the first 3 weeks of my regiment. Secondly, a baby gate is not enough separation when you are gone. You need to close the door where the cat is when you leave, or crate the hound, either or, nothing less. Drugs, I don't think you need to medicate your hound, you need to do some alone training (do a search in the forums here).

I don't believe there is an "excessive" training protocol when it comes to greyhounds and cats. There was an article that was floating around there years ago titled "Trust, the deadly disease". In an instant your hound can do something you would never expect and that could result in a very bad situation. The first few weeks the hound is in your house he/she will probably be shell-shocked and very subdued. After a few weeks of learning the ropes, their personality starts to come out and this is when interest in the cats can peak. I don't like the correction method of training (leash tug and firm "no"), this type of training has been proven to be less effective than positive reinforcement as well as it is a much calmer way of training.

Chad

 

[GeorgeofNE]

Sounds good, but my #1 request was "cat safe" dogs, and I did pretty much nothing except keep the muzzle on the dog for the first couple of hours.

 

Didn't even do that with the second dog. Neither dog had ANY interest in my cats from the get go.

[Annette]

One suggestion I read somewhere was not to carry the cat in your arms while you are standing because the tail twitching may resemble the lure in their mind. I don't know if anyone else reading this topic has heard that before?

 

That being said, in our personal experience we have never had a problem with cats and greyhounds living together. We have had retired racers as "kids" for almost 26 years. Our 6 pound, tripod kitty was the ruler of the hounds. She literally slapped the snot out of the dogs

[Feisty49]

Holy smokes! That's a lot of time and prep to cat test a hound, IMO.

 

I've written about this in at least one other thread Annie came to me cat proof. Henny Penny the cat and Annie were introduced immediately -- because I didn't put the cat in another room because I believed my group when I was told Annie was cat safe. I had Annie's muzzle on and leash attached. Cat jumped on arm of the couch to be at Annie's head height. Cat sniffed. Annie sniffed. Annie turned away. I took off muzzle. Sniff sniff again, only this time Annie did the butt sniff on the cat 'cause cat turned around. No reaction on the part of either of them. I took off Annie's leash, so in less than an hour after getting home, Annie and the cat were living together.

 

Cat would like to sleep with Annie, and has done so on occasion, but Annie shows no interest in cuddling... shows no interest in the cat at all.. so cat usually wanders away.

 

Soooooooo.. honestly, if you get a dog that has been tested cat safe, but you're still uncomfortable/concerned, I'd give it a couple of hours not weeks. M experience is that a high/medium-prey Greyhound is going to show that drive immediately. If this happens, then you will have to do training. If not, go for it.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Feisty49

[Fruitycake]

I think that Chad has a great, very detailed and careful plan for being extremely careful for the health of cat and hound. I also agree with the poster that said that you should never hold a cat and try to introduce (holding things makes them way more interesting, and holding a moving thing even moreso!). It may well look like a toy or something for them (we carry their food to them, carry toys for them, carry leashes, so how would they know that this moving thing isn't something fun and exciting and just for them?).

 

That said, we already had dog-trained cats (have your cats had experience with dogs, so you know how they will react?), so when we brought Monty home we did a more relaxed muzzle and leash and constant surveillance for the first 24 hours or so. Monty was somewhat curious about them, but in a "what the heck is that thing?" perplexed way, not reallly interested in them. The muzzle came off, but not the leash, and he still showed no real interest after a few sniffs in their direction when they would stroll right past him (a sniff-of-opportunity, as it were), and he only lifted his head and cocked his ears with perplexity when Fruity would go flying past after using the litterbox (post-pooping zoomies), so he was pretty darned cat safe. It helped that Fruity was also pretty certain in her ownership of the house and our laps, and when she was in our laps he was slapped if he even came near. ShadeMan was a bit more nervous (always has been), but I think that at first Monty thought that he, the larger black longhair, had to be some sort of crazy dog thing because Monty tried to get ShadeMan to play with stuffies with him. He would grab a stuffy, toss it around, and if ShadeMan was somewhere available he would go into a playbow and shove the toy toward ShadeMan and look at the toy like "let's play!" ShadeMan thought it was a trap and would carefully get up and mosey out of the room, and Monty would just plop his head and butt back down and sigh and look at the abandoned toy that he just could not convince ShadeMan to play with. Monty never once looked at one of the cats as a toy, though. We were prepared to do a longer introduction if needed, but Monty was so easy we didn't have to. We did, however, have him crated every time we were out, and at first the cats were also sequestered in the bedrooms with the door closed between them, just to be extra safe. We stopped the barricading the cats probably a week or two into it, and Monty was kennelled for longer just because of housetraining issues and a bit of SA that was doing some damage to some window frames.

[NeylasMom]

I really wish groups would use the term cat-trainable rather than cat-safe. I did convince my group to change their language because I think it's much more appropriate. Cat testing is not always reliable, and how long the dog has been in a foster home (if at all) will also factor greatly into how safe the dog is with your cats right off the bat. A good number of dogs also don't generalize well so the fact that the dog has done well with the cats in a foster home is no guarantee that the dog won't have interest in the new cat in the new environment. I think it's incredibly irresponsible for people to discourage a new owner from doing training to help their dog and cat acclimate to each other based on their personal experience with 1 or 2 dogs. Not to be dramatic, but we're talking about an animal's life being put at risk if the introductions aren't handled carefully with a dog that needs some training.

 

So to the OP, as someone who has fostered over 60 greyhounds and dog sat many more I think you are being incredibly smart to think this through ahead of time and take precautions. Aside from the factors above, each dog has his own individual level of "cat-safeness" and trainability when it comes to living with small critters. I've seen greyhounds that run the entire gamut from NO interest the moment they walked into my house straight from the track to dogs that could not ever be taught to live with cats. Most fall somewhere in the middle, requiring some training, but eventually adjusting well and living peacefully. The dogs on the extreme ends (absolutely not trainable and no interest ever) are in the minority. The other thing you may encounter, even if there is no prey drive interest there, is the dog, the cat or both having space or resource guarding issues. So your plan to introduce them slowly is great. I do recommend you follow something more along the lines of what Chad has outlined. Introducing them on your terms and being able to reward for good behavior is SO preferable to using punishment. Not only could you damage your relationship with your brand new dog, but you could also inadvertently cause your dog to associate the cat with bad things. You may find you are able to move more quickly through some of the stages Chad outlined, but I would stress 2 particular things that you shouldn't rush. The obvious one is leaving them together unattended. I wouldn't do this until you are absolutely certain your dog has no interest regardless of what the cat is doing - that means running, jumping, vomiting, etc. And then the second, which stems from that, is that you don't have the dog and cat in a situation where the dog might give chase even if you are there - most often when the cat does something (like running) for the first time. Getting to chase in and of itself is reinforcing to your dog, so it's best to prevent it in the first place rather than let it happen and have to backtrack. So baby gates, muzzling and tethering, and lots of treats for ANY good behavior (dog is sleeping on his bed and cat walks past and dog doesn't react, that is rewardable behavior!) are your friends early on.

One suggestion I read somewhere was not to carry the cat in your arms while you are standing because the tail twitching may resemble the lure in their mind. I don't know if anyone else reading this topic has heard that before?

I don't think it's so much that the twitching tail resembles the lure, but just that picking up an object of prey makes it more interesting/tempting. This is definitely true with a lot of dogs. The final stage if I was cat-testing a dog who was in a foster home without cats and thus needed to be tested at my house was to pick the cat up and wave it around a little. If the dog didn't react to that, I felt pretty good about listing them as cat-trainable.

M experience is that a high/medium-prey Greyhound is going to show that drive immediately. If this happens, then you will have to do training. If not, go for it.

And unfortunately this just isn't always the case. I've been on the receiving end of returns because the dog had been fine with the cat for weeks and then gave chase and killed it.

[Guest iconsmum]

Holy smokes! That's a lot of time and prep to cat test a hound, IMO.

 

I've written about this in at least one other thread Annie came to me cat proof. Henny Penny the cat and Annie were introduced immediately -- because I didn't put the cat in another room because I believed my group when I was told Annie was cat safe. I had Annie's muzzle on and leash attached. Cat jumped on arm of the couch to be at Annie's head height. Cat sniffed. Annie sniffed. Annie turned away. I took off muzzle. Sniff sniff again, only this time Annie did the butt sniff on the cat 'cause cat turned around. No reaction on the part of either of them. I took off Annie's leash, so in less than an hour after getting home, Annie and the cat were living together.

 

Cat would like to sleep with Annie, and has done so on occasion, but Annie shows no interest in cuddling... shows no interest in the cat at all.. so cat usually wanders away.

 

Soooooooo.. honestly, if you get a dog that has been tested cat safe, but you're still uncomfortable/concerned, I'd give it a couple of hours not weeks. M experience is that a high/medium-prey Greyhound is going to show that drive immediately. If this happens, then you will have to do training. If not, go for it.

Yeah, no I don't think your experience with a couple or 3 dogs makes you a safe generalizer. The op's list might be a tad paranoid but if you've ever seen a dog finish off a cat you might not be so quick to patronize him. Way better safe than sorry. Carry forward, op, your thinking's solid; there's no downside to overkill.

Edited January 11, 2015 by iconsmum

[Feisty49]

I really wish groups would use the term cat-trainable rather than cat-safe. I did convince my group to change their language because I think it's much more appropriate. Cat testing is not always reliable, and how long the dog has been in a foster home (if at all) will also factor greatly into how safe the dog is with your cats right off the bat. A good number of dogs also don't generalize well so the fact that the dog has done well with the cats in a foster home is no guarantee that the dog won't have interest in the new cat in the new environment. I think it's incredibly irresponsible for people to discourage a new owner from doing training to help their dog and cat acclimate to each other based on their personal experience with 1 or 2 dogs. Not to be dramatic, but we're talking about an animal's life being put at risk if the introductions aren't handled carefully with a dog that needs some training.

 

So to the OP, as someone who has fostered over 60 greyhounds and dog sat many more I think you are being incredibly smart to think this through ahead of time and take precautions. Aside from the factors above, each dog has his own individual level of "cat-safeness" and trainability when it comes to living with small critters. I've seen greyhounds that run the entire gamut from NO interest the moment they walked into my house straight from the track to dogs that could not ever be taught to live with cats. Most fall somewhere in the middle, requiring some training, but eventually adjusting well and living peacefully. The dogs on the extreme ends (absolutely not trainable and no interest ever) are in the minority. The other thing you may encounter, even if there is no prey drive interest there, is the dog, the cat or both having space or resource guarding issues. So your plan to introduce them slowly is great. I do recommend you follow something more along the lines of what Chad has outlined. Introducing them on your terms and being able to reward for good behavior is SO preferable to using punishment. Not only could you damage your relationship with your brand new dog, but you could also inadvertently cause your dog to associate the cat with bad things. You may find you are able to move more quickly through some of the stages Chad outlined, but I would stress 2 particular things that you shouldn't rush. The obvious one is leaving them together unattended. I wouldn't do this until you are absolutely certain your dog has no interest regardless of what the cat is doing - that means running, jumping, vomiting, etc. And then the second, which stems from that, is that you don't have the dog and cat in a situation where the dog might give chase even if you are there - most often when the cat does something (like running) for the first time. Getting to chase in and of itself is reinforcing to your dog, so it's best to prevent it in the first place rather than let it happen and have to backtrack. So baby gates, muzzling and tethering, and lots of treats for ANY good behavior (dog is sleeping on his bed and cat walks past and dog doesn't react, that is rewardable behavior!) are your friends early on.

I don't think it's so much that the twitching tail resembles the lure, but just that picking up an object of prey makes it more interesting/tempting. This is definitely true with a lot of dogs. The final stage if I was cat-testing a dog who was in a foster home without cats and thus needed to be tested at my house was to pick the cat up and wave it around a little. If the dog didn't react to that, I felt pretty good about listing them as cat-trainable.

And unfortunately this just isn't always the case. I've been on the receiving end of returns because the dog had been fine with the cat for weeks and then gave chase and killed it.

 

So in reality, no Greyhound can ever be considered cat safe. I lucked out, though, because mine is.

[NeylasMom]

 

So in reality, no Greyhound can ever be considered cat safe. I lucked out, though, because mine is.

Im not sure what you're getting at. If you're implying that that's what I was saying you are incorrect.

[GeorgeofNE]

I admit I did not read all your steps, but here is my suggestion based on my experiences owning both dogs and cats for many years now: if your cat is NOT familiar with dogs, keep the cat secured in a room for a week, at least. Visit often, but the cat is going to be totally freaked out by the dog unless you give it a lot more than a day.

[Susanval]

My problem is the hound seems fine but the cat is the one to be scared of! The cat jumps on the dog and the dog will run into his crate or another bed if the cat looks at him the wrong way. We have had the dog (Edge) for about 6 months and there have only been a couple of times the dog has growled. In another post I mentioned trying to get rid of my crate but I'm not sure it's safe for either of them if I'm not home (or at night) and the cat approaches the dog. I'm not sure who could get hurt worse because my cat has claws.