Timid hound and confident cat!

[Legendaryfrank]

Hi, I've had my 2 year old hound for half a year now, and upon meeting my 10 year old cat, he got a nice swat to the face, and a claw to the butt to let him know who is boss in the house.

I've had them separated with the dog upstairs and the cat downstairs (go figure right? haha) and they've been great with baby gates up. My dog tries to avoid the gates and when the cat is in sight he tries to run away or doesn't make eye contact.

At this point I'm fairly confident that they will get along in time, but I'm not really sure how to go about the next step, and I definitely don't want to rush things and move backwards. I've opened the gate and have the cat come upstairs, she will look around the room and even lie down in the same room as the dog, the dog pays no attention and has even fallen back asleep.

I'm afraid that my cat will think the dog sleeping is an opening and she will go at him for some free shots if she's feeling cheeky. Generally she is pretty low key, she's never bitten or scratched me once.

Should I just let them be under supervision and keep pushing the envelope farther? Or would I make better progress by getting them in a smaller more controlled space  with escape routes for each to properly say hi to each other?

[greysmom]

Give it a try, as it sounds like you have a cat tolerant dog.  BUT you have to *make sure* the cat doesn't bully the dog.  Just because the cat is smaller doesn't mean it can't behave properly with a housemate.  It has to learn new rules and behaviors as well.  So keep a squirt bottle handy for when the cat gets uppity or tries to be mean to the dog.

If you wouldn't allow your dog to behave that way, you shouldn't allow your cat to behave that way.

[Legendaryfrank]

9 minutes ago, greysmom said:

Give it a try, as it sounds like you have a cat tolerant dog.  BUT you have to *make sure* the cat doesn't bully the dog.  Just because the cat is smaller doesn't mean it can't behave properly with a housemate.  It has to learn new rules and behaviors as well.  So keep a squirt bottle handy for when the cat gets uppity or tries to be mean to the dog.

If you wouldn't allow your dog to behave that way, you shouldn't allow your cat to behave that way.

Thanks, I haven't even thought of the fact that my cat may be trying to bully the dog! I've never had to punish her ever so it didn't even cross my mind. 

 

Thanks for the little confidence boost!