Anyone got any ideas???

Hi there.

We have had Basil about a month and he's been really superb. That is all bar one problem.............he's not used to cats!

Sonny the cat is a bit put out as he has to come in and out of the bathroom window rather than his catflap and eats up on the first floor......out of the way! He's quite a spunky old cat and has made Holly realise, he's not to be played with! She chases him but without any malice, all she wants to do is sniff and give him a wash!

But I'm a very concerned about Basil, I am very cautious when I know the cat is upstairs and hovering to come down to say hello! We have just had an incident where Basil has spotted Sonny and flown up the stairs in persute of Sonny. Severe talking to then happened. But feel so guilty at doing so, as he's is I'm sure still confussed as to his new home.

Has anyone else had this problem and at got there dog to tolerate a cat?

Hi Yvonne

I researched how to introduce a dog to a 'cat' house as we already had a cat when we were thinking about getting a dog. Basically the dog must be trained on how to behave around the cat (or it could lose it's eyes!).

Here's how...

If the dog shows signs of agression towards a cat it must be trained as so: Firstly the new animal must be confined to it's own room for a few days and the cat should be allowed to sniff 'under the door' to get used to the smell (and vice versa). Then the dog mus be crated when taken into the same room as the cat, and if the dog shows any sign of aggression towards the cat it must be told off (whether thats barking, growling, showing teeth etc). This must be done everyday and at all other times the dog and cat should never be in the same room. Only after a whole week of trianing goes by where the dog is well behaved can you move on to phase two.

Phase two (this is also where you could start as your dog is not aggressive towards the cat).

Dog must be leashed when taken into the same room as the cat. If the dog trys to 'reach' the ca (even to play) you must pull on the lead and say NO. You are training the dog basically not to chase the cat, and telling him the cat will come to him only and not vice versa. Once a wekk goes by of non pulling, the leash can be removed, but you must be positioned so you can stop the dog chasing the cat as you must grab hold of the dog and say no.

Bascially you are teaching the dog that under NO circumstances he/she can be boisterous with the cat.

Never leave a cat and dog together unsupervised.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for that.................I have been wondering how the hell to get this sorted!

It's great to know that there are people like you around that can offer such advise.

Thank you again........I'll let you know how it goes!

Basically see how it goes - you'll 'know' when it feels right to move on the next phase of training. I'd never take any risks tho and leave them unattended together alone, especially as Airdales are quite 'drivey'

Let us kno how it goes and post pics if you manage to take any!!

sounds like good advice

now a few years ago i bought a kitten in to the house (and planing to do so again) with 2 stafford and we done what azz said but the other way around (ie the cat was in a crate.)
it was all ok with in about 3 days but we never left the dogs and kitten on there own together.

I had to rehome my cat last week to cats protection, i did feel guilty as the cat was here first and he was only 7 weeks old when he came home.