Mindy & Max
Active Member
So...we adopted a dog last week. She's a 5-6mo retriever mix...a little younger than the shelter said, but overall a fairly good dog. We're still acclimating her to the house, she has limited areas to be in, and we are working on crate training her. She's not fully house-broken yet, and has fleas (she and the cats have all been dosed with Frontline), so she's only allowed in the main areas of the house where there is no carpet.
The first night we brought her home she was too scared to care much about the cats. Poor thing was just terrified in the shelter, but she is slowly becoming more comfortable and has always been fine with our kids. She just wants to be where ever we are, and is happy to be laying across my feet.
Max is fairly okay with her. He gives out a warning cry when she comes near, but he doesn't run from her, and he lets her sniff him. She's clearly never been around cats before, and she's curious. I think she wants to play with them, but my boys are not really the 'playing' type. Max has hissed at her and she's not backed off, but she also hasn't done anything threatening other than try to follow him around the house. They can get to the basement and the bedrooms where she can't go (we have gates up), so they have 'safe' zones that are dog-free. Truman, though, has pretty much been living in the basement or our bedroom for the last 3 days. Sadie (the dog) did lunge after him the second night we had her when I was getting dinner around for all the animals. Sadie is underweight and hungry, and probably was afraid Truman was going to get her food. Since then, he won't let her anywhere near him, and will go flying through the room to stay away from her when he has to cross it. I have a feeling he's not getting enough to eat (they eat in the kitchen, but up on a half-wall so not where Sadie can reach them), and if he continues to hide for another day or two, I'll start putting food somewhere else for him to make sure he's getting enough (Max is a bit of a piggy).
So...do I just have to wait it out and eventually Truman will come out of hiding, or is there something else I should be doing? Neither of my cats have front claws, so they can't hurt the dog if they swat at her, but they've also not tried to swat her yet. They just hiss and back away from her. She doesn't bark or snarl or growl at them (or much of anything else for that matter), and other than the one incident at feeding time, she hasn't made any threatening moves towards them. She does know Truman will run, tho, and she's trying to get a good look/sniff at him, so she does follow. We grab her when we're close enough, but sometimes we just aren't, or didn't see Truman coming to grab her before he came into the room. If she chases him, we do put her in her crate, but I think the curiosity is going to win and she just wants to 'meet' him. Any ideas on how to smooth this over for everyone?
The first night we brought her home she was too scared to care much about the cats. Poor thing was just terrified in the shelter, but she is slowly becoming more comfortable and has always been fine with our kids. She just wants to be where ever we are, and is happy to be laying across my feet.
Max is fairly okay with her. He gives out a warning cry when she comes near, but he doesn't run from her, and he lets her sniff him. She's clearly never been around cats before, and she's curious. I think she wants to play with them, but my boys are not really the 'playing' type. Max has hissed at her and she's not backed off, but she also hasn't done anything threatening other than try to follow him around the house. They can get to the basement and the bedrooms where she can't go (we have gates up), so they have 'safe' zones that are dog-free. Truman, though, has pretty much been living in the basement or our bedroom for the last 3 days. Sadie (the dog) did lunge after him the second night we had her when I was getting dinner around for all the animals. Sadie is underweight and hungry, and probably was afraid Truman was going to get her food. Since then, he won't let her anywhere near him, and will go flying through the room to stay away from her when he has to cross it. I have a feeling he's not getting enough to eat (they eat in the kitchen, but up on a half-wall so not where Sadie can reach them), and if he continues to hide for another day or two, I'll start putting food somewhere else for him to make sure he's getting enough (Max is a bit of a piggy).
So...do I just have to wait it out and eventually Truman will come out of hiding, or is there something else I should be doing? Neither of my cats have front claws, so they can't hurt the dog if they swat at her, but they've also not tried to swat her yet. They just hiss and back away from her. She doesn't bark or snarl or growl at them (or much of anything else for that matter), and other than the one incident at feeding time, she hasn't made any threatening moves towards them. She does know Truman will run, tho, and she's trying to get a good look/sniff at him, so she does follow. We grab her when we're close enough, but sometimes we just aren't, or didn't see Truman coming to grab her before he came into the room. If she chases him, we do put her in her crate, but I think the curiosity is going to win and she just wants to 'meet' him. Any ideas on how to smooth this over for everyone?
