Cats terrified of new dog

[StormChaser]

Originally Posted by ~Siameseifuplz~

Good luck with your pup, I'd love to see some pictures! My parents just got a puppy, he's 12 weeks old now. Gotta say he's confirmed that I'm an adult dog person lol. The constant dupervision is draining. But he's making good progress, especially with biting. He and the cats are already great friends, they even play (we've had him 2 weeks) Someday I'll be able to get myself the 3 year old pit bull I dream of, just gotta get through college.

Thanks

And yeah, I never thought we'd be adopting a puppy. I made sure Dave understood truly what this means, and to not just with his heart on the decision. We went over our game plan on training house rules (he's going to learn that the cats are not to be chased right off the bat, and we'll be starting him with the leave it command as well). I am a pretty big homebody as it is, so being home all the time with the pup is not a major life change for me.

Just got the update that "Dakota" is home now! Dave has the cats in the bedroom for now until I come home from work so we can manage the introductions together. Man we have got to figure out a name for this guy... I like Dakota, but Dave doesn't. We are having a hard time picking a name that we both like.

[StormChaser]

Puppy boy now has an official name... Riley!

The introductions went well between Riley and the cats. Asia is completely unfazed by him, except for when he walked up to investigate her while she was turned away... she jumped up about three feet hissing away. He's now very cautious of her. Zoe is much better around him that she was Kaya. She will tolerate being in the same room as him as opposed to running upstairs and hiding under the bed. However, he was up and playing a little in the living room when she boldly walked by him, and he thought she was trying to play with him. He started to chase after her with his tail up and head bobbling (he's a bobboler too - just like Zoe, lol) but she did not appreciate that. We told him no and redirected him with his ball. But now if he gets within three feet of her she lets out her most formidable low growl.

All in good time. I'm very happy with how things are going so far. Here are some pics of the boy. He has humongous ears!

[ZoeH]

Aw-right Riley! I love his ears.

(The semi-feral kitten was being kicked around by neighbourhood kids. I bathed her, cut burrs out of her fur, trimmed her nails and left her on the porch/balcony with litter, water etc ...and when I got home she was a mess again thanks to the semi-feral kids, so I've been shutting her in the bathroom when I'm not there.)

[StormChaser]

His ears are very adorable!

On your semi-feral kitty - I remember that post now. I wouldn't worry too much about the connection; maybe you are just supposed to rehabilitate her and then find her real forever home.

[StormChaser]

Well, things are going, and I know it's day 5, but I guess I had hoped Zoe would come around by now.

She really is scared of Riley. It doesn't help that Riley chases her... she was fine around him the first day or two - I mean, she didn't like him, but she'd stay in the same room that I was in. Now she's always upstairs, and only slinks down to eat or use the bathroom. I've been training Riley to "leave it" and he will naturally sit or lie down when one of the cats walks passed him, but his attention span isn't the greatest. Sometimes he is very good and listens. Other times he wants to play so bad that he just won't listen and tries to get the cats to play. Zoe will immediately run from him, which of course he interprets as chase. Asia will stand her ground and get herself as big as she possibly can and hiss something awful. He usually knows this to mean "back off" and he does (then he whines at me). But sometimes he doesn't care and continues to get her to play and she'll whack him.

I feel bad for Zoe (again). Last night she came downstairs when Riley was asleep next to me, and she went to jump up on my lap but then noticed him and walked away. The good news is she does still come down to eat and use the litter box. I wonder though if I should put one upstairs and maybe feed her dinner up there? She really is a nervous cat and I don't want to stress her out too much. She's already stressed that she doesn't have my attention all the time now. She only really sees me when I go to bed. This morning I went back to sleep after waking up to feed Riley and play with him for a while. She sat on my chest when I got in back in bed and it felt like she was trembling slightly. I don't know, it was cold in here this morning, and I could be just overreacting.

[StormChaser]

I am convinced that Asia purposely taunts Riley to get him in trouble.

He is not allowed to chase the kitties. When the kitties are near him or walk by him he is to sit or lie down. He is getting better at this, but when he's excited sometimes he forgets his newly learned manners. This is when Asia will dart back and forth in front of him, baiting him, waiting for him to get yelled at when he starts to chase. She will also sometimes walk passed him just to swear at him and throw a shadow paw. That's when Asia gets yelled at, so she doesn't really do this too often... mostly when she thinks no one is watching her.

Zoe is doing better. She came down tonight and sat on the ground in front of me, though she still would not sit in my lap if Riley was near. She's also walking in front of him more and more. This is SO good, because since Asia is always around he's becoming more desensitized towards her. But Zoe he hasn't seen as much as, so he still tries to chase her a lot when he first sees her. But today she was around so much that we were able to work on this.

So it seems that time is the key, as everyone always says. One day at a time.

[~Siameseifuplz~]

Awwww, he's adorable, I love his ears lol. I would have him dragging a leash, that way you can stop any chasing. Don't yank or punish with the leash, just keep him from being able to chase. The cats will come around in time, make sure to set aside some time for them. Put Riley away in a puppy proof room or his crate if he's not housebroken and go spend some time with the kitties.

[StormChaser]

Asia continues to antagonize Riley. She really does not like him. I'm sure that in the months ahead she will finally come to accept that he's here and they will work out their place with each other, but right now if Riley is anywhere near Asia and looks at her wrong, she will hiss fiercely and attack. He's very scared of her, and if he's trying to get somewhere and she's in his way, he'll just lay down and whine pitifully.

Zoe amazes me. She's now almost back to her normal self. The only thing she doesn't do as often as she did was lay on my lap with me. But, she's downstairs when we are, she eats fine, she walks passed Riley with caution, but not fear. He likes her because she's not mean to him. But, when he's hyper he likes her enough to try to get her to play with him, and this consists of barking his high-pitched loud yarps at her. She's a nervous cat and loud noises bother her, so this is really turning her off. He upset her so bad one night that I could hear her deep growls from almost 10ft away. Highly unusual for my little lady - usually she's so quiet with her verbal threats that you have to be right next to her to hear them. But, when he's not barking at her she'll usually just watch him, or go to sleep. She's been doing so, SO well.

Other than Riley being sick right now (he's got a Giardia infestation), things are going very well. I do have to say however, that cats are WAY easier. WAY, WAY easier. It is so true when they say having a puppy is like having a baby.

[StormChaser]

Originally Posted by ~Siameseifuplz~

Awwww, he's adorable, I love his ears lol. I would have him dragging a leash, that way you can stop any chasing. Don't yank or punish with the leash, just keep him from being able to chase. The cats will come around in time, make sure to set aside some time for them. Put Riley away in a puppy proof room or his crate if he's not housebroken and go spend some time with the kitties.

Thanks
His ears are definitely unique; I still think we should have called him Sonar!

I tried having Riley dragging the leash around, but he was so terrified of it that I was afraid he'd get it wrapped around something while he was trying to run away from it and hurt himself, so I just took it off and watch him. He's been very good since we got him.. he's learned not to chase Asia, and occasionally he will try to go after Zoe, but he listens to us when we say leave it, and now he's gotten to the point where if she happens to run across his path he'll move his shoulders like he's going to go after her, but then his training kicks in and he stops - most of the time. But really, it is very rare that she triggers the chase in him as it is.

[October]

Riley is adorable! Are his ears always sticking up like that? How funny.