Introducing Hounds To Cats 101.2

[LBass]

Saturday (12/15) I adopted a young greyhound. He was tested with cats by the adoption group and has been in a foster home with cats successfully for the last couple of weeks. Bearing those things in mind, it seems reasonable to believe he'll do well with our 3 cats. However, we're off to a bit of a rockier start than I'd hoped for, and I'm here looking for a refresher course in introducing hounds to cats--it's been 10 years since I last did that. There is an additional wrinkle to everything with this boy. Bertie has PRA, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and is losing his sight rather swiftly. He currently sees better in daytime than at night. He clearly sees the cats' movements in the house (these are strictly house cats) and gets excited and chases them. He also stares at the cats when they are out and about. In any other dog I'd be more worried about that, but I think its just that anything that he still sees right now is "precious" to him and he pays attention to it.

 

What we're doing now:

1) he wears a muzzle

2) he's either crated or

3) attached to a human with a leash

4) he gets scolded with the VOG if he chases a cat

5) I'm not scolding him for staring at cats but my sister is.

 

The crating and tethering are also useful since he's very new to home life and needs house training as well. We've got lots of baby gates deployed around the house to manage both dogs and cats.

 

I'd appreciate some ideas about helping this boy ignore those tantalizing cats.

 

TIA

Lucy

 

 

 

 

[Remolacha]

Part of it may your cats. If one or more of them is skittish, it may be different behavior from what he has been used to from the cats he has known before. Fletcher was listed as cat safe and he did fine with the confident, self assured cat in his foster home. He did fine with my cats that were either confident or ignored the dogs (attitude? You and what army dog-boy ) But, one of my cats was skittish, didn't like dogs, or much of anyone else except me. She was a true spook. It was so, so tempting for him to chase her when she went creeping past, belly to floor. He learned quickly though, no kitty chasing in the house. I think if you keep up with the correction, and are watchful, he will learn the cat rules. As you know, this is still all very new to him, with the added complication of his sight going

 

It was funny, though, to see Fletcher catch movement out of the corner of his eye, roll off the couch all prepared to chase, and realize it was the forbidden-to-chase cat. You could see him think, oh crap, that’s right, I can’t do that.

[LBass]

We've got 2 "runners" and 1 "stand your ground" cat, so I am sure you're right about different cattitudes having a lot to do with the different reaction Bertie is having to our cats. We're trying hard to get confident Seiko to take the lead among the cats in training Bertie.

[LBass]

This poor boy doesn't stand a chance of settling in. I've decided to change his name to Nate.

[Remolacha]

He's young, he can adapt

[macoduck]

A friend I know used a large feather duster to desensitize any new greyhound. She'd hold it across her lap and stroke it while also flicking it's "tail". Eventually the tail flicking drew less attention from the greyhounds.

[LBass]

I'm happy (delighted!) to say that last night and this morning we've had 5 good dog/cat interactions, or lack of interaction. He's beginning to see the cats walking around and not barking, lunging, or trying to chase. Yippee! We're a long way form taking off the muzzle and taking down the crate, but I'm so pleased with him and with the cats, who are getting braver. And perhaps more desperate for their humans' laps.

[Remolacha]

:yay

 

(that feather duster idea is great!)