Dog intro to existing cat - going ok, but feel stuck now (w/ pics)
Hi all - this is my first post.
We have a male cat, Hemingway, who tolerates my dad's little dog (she's a very gentle/submissive cockapoo), but we're having issues with the new dog, Harper, who we adopted late last week, rescued from a high kill shelter.
They're both fixed. He's a polydactyl cat (not declawed) about 3 years old, very loving with people, and was a stray until he was 1 year old. He lived peacefully with my 16-year-old cat (after several expected fights), but my old cat passed away last year from old age.
Harper is a small beagle mix, about 20 lbs (to his ~15 lbs), also very loving with people. She gets along with other dogs and was more relaxed than the other dogs at the shelter. She was bred but she's spayed now, recently fully healed. In the "cat room" at the shelter she just wanted to kiss all the cats, tail wagging. So, we brought her home.
She is always on leash in the house and is crated at night. I work from home so she stays with me in the office all day. She has separation anxiety (if I leave the room to e.g. refill coffee she whines and digs under the door) and still pees on the carpet from time to time, but those are simpler issues.
She barks at our cat when she sees him, tail wagging/play bows, and barks harder if we're holding him. He hisses at her but not as much as he used to. She wants to chase and play with him, but he's of course not into that. She's never growled or snapped at him, except when it's dark and she sees him pass by her mostly-covered crate, or when he sits on the dresser (a favorite spot of his) where she can see him. I'm unsure if we should take more measures to avoid that. Is that a red flag?
As far as the barking/wanting to chase, we leash her to the coffee table with him in view and sit on the couch next to her. We ignore her when she barks/pulls at the leash, and click/treat when she ignores him and settles down - we're unclear on *exactly* when to click/treat. The cat lays there about 10 or 15 feet away, and seems completely unfettered at this point by her loud barking/whining at him - he just slow blinks as he watches her, eyes usually half closed (like when he's at rest), and other times he looks away. I'm checking to make sure we're on the right track.
He's an awesome cat, and she's an awesome dog. I want them to get along, so any advice from here would be much appreciated. Also wondering about the red flag question above.
Clarification - when she sees him from her crate at night, she barks/growls/barks, but still never snaps nor does she snap/bark simultaneously, etc. I think it's fear partly because he's still mostly an unknown and she's "trapped" in her crate, but I'm not sure.