[Hostage]

My fiance and I have been looking getting a dog for a while. We have two cats that appear to be pretty territorial. We had a "home inspection" with some foster parents and the dog we looking at adopting. The cats seemed okay looking at it through the window, until we let the dog in the house. The cats started assaulting the dog. We split the two cats up and put one out side, as they seemed to build off each other. The dog seemed submissive and didn't even defend himself.

It was a lot better as we only had 1 cat in the house and he seemed to be upset, but not trying to attack the dog. Note we had the dog on a lease the whole time. We brought both the cats and the dogs out side, and they cats seemed to not mind the dog as much out there. One cat came up to a couple feet to the dog and was seeking attention from the foster parents. Everything thing was okay until the dog went on the deck when the cats were up there. They chased him away.

We then brought one cat and the dog back inside. The cat seemed a bit distressed and would growl when the dog moved. Though the cat's curiosity started to make him move closer to the dog and growl even less. The cat ended up started on the floor about 10ft away to on top of the china cabinet 7ft away and ended up on the couch 4ft away from the dog. No more drama occurred after that. When the fosters and dog left. I moved the cat to the back yard.

My first cat showed aggression towards the second one, though after a 2week to month processes of slow introduction even thing has gone smoothly. I am curious if anyone else has gone though this and had good and bad experience. The foster parents still think the dog and us are a good match as long as we take precautions in introducing them.

The dog is a lab mix, about 1 year old and weighs about 60lbs.

 

[enderwiggen]

I have a big black Manx named Ozzy that used to be an ally cat, hes very attached to me and didnt like Leonard my boxer much at all when I first got him. I introduced the two outside on neutral territory, this helped ALOT. After the initial sniffing and what not I brought the puppy inside and put him in the bathroom and closed the door. This allowed Ozzy to get used to the dog being in the house while not being able to torment him. The cat sat in front of the door and hissed a few times but after a few hours lost interest. Next I put the puppy in his crate and left him the middle of the living room. Ozzy didn't like that all and much hissing and spitting ensued but once again, after some time, he got over it. To this day Ozzy only tolerates the dog and I if I raise my voice at the dog or clap (how I get Leonards attention) Ozzy come flying out of nowhere and attacks the dog, its the damnedest thing Ive ever seen. ANYWAY long story short, just take baby steps in introducing them and they should be OK.