[OurLittleZoo]

My wife and I adopted a 5 month old Chow/Shepherd mix about 3 weeks ago. We have three cats and we know that it is a slow process introducing them. Gradually, we have been bringing the puppy, Nova, downstairs more and more to sit with us in the living room when we felt the cats had warmed up enough to her presence in her room.

Things are going well, she's had a couple accidents, gotten swatted by one of the cats when she got too close a couple times, but otherwise, things are going great.

But when she's downstairs, her favorite spot is right near the cat food bowls. We leave the cats' food out all the time for them to eat when they please. Nova isn't aggressive towards the cats when they come to eat, but she watches them and is guarding their food like its hers. We are trying NO and trying to break her attention from it, but so far she just keeps going back to it.

My wife is extremely resistant to the idea of moving the food upstairs because she says the cats shouldn't have to eat upstairs, we should be able to train Nova to leave it alone. She read something online about using a spray bottle, but Nova is a very skittish dog and I'm worried that spraying her with the spray bottle would really just make things worse.

Does anyone have any ideas of how we might be able to get her to stay away from the cat food without having to move it to another part of the house?

[Cracker]

Cat food is very high value to dogs as it is really smelly and high in protein. Leaving the food where the puppy can get it is just setting her up to continue. My cats eat on top of the fishtank. Just put the cat food UP it doesn't have to be upstairs, just high enough that the puppy cannot eat it or guard it. Cats are usually pretty agile so getting up to eat is not a big deal.

[MegaMuttMom]

My cat's food is the hugest excitement for my dog. We put her food up on a table behind some stuff so she can eat in peace and Cherokee can only pine away, wishing he could have some. It is really not fair to your dog to ask her to constantly resist something so delicious. Give her a break, and take the temptation away.

[Labsnothers]

I go along with Cracker. Figure out a place for the cats to eat she can't reach. I think it will be easier on everybody, the dog, the cats, and you. Maybe even buy the cats some cat furniture, boxes with small holes and poles.

I think the trend is away from negative methods such as spray bottles. Even in the past when I used more negative methods than I do now, I never liked them. Dogs always seemed to be asking ''What did I do deserve it when I use flea spray or cooling water?''.

5 months is a bad time for a large breed puppy to be eating rich cat food. It can lead to fast growth and excess stress on developing joints. Many people make an early switch to an adult chow.

[OurLittleZoo]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I really feel that moving the food to the kitchen table, which we hardly ever use, would work best, but like I said, my wife is very resistant to the idea of moving the food because she doesn't feel like the cats should have to compromise. They're her first loves, she's very protective of them, sometimes overly so.

[chriley58]

We have our cat food downstairs with a cat door in the basement door. Cat food can be toxic to dogs, high fat/protein content which can cause pancreatitis. Our cats didn't care when their food bowls moved from upstairs to downstairs, they will eat it wherever it is.