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My boyfriend and I are getting serious, and since I lived an hour away, I decided to move in with him to make life easier. The problem is he has 3 hyper, ill-trained chihuahuas and I have one 10 year old, moody cat.
So yeah, this is going as awesome as you'd expect.
My kitty Punkin has been here a month now, and she still refuses to even go in the same room a dog is in (or might be in). She's been staying in the front room, where we've built her some perches. I bought her an igloo litter box and she just stays in it. I've been careful to make sure she has a 'safe room' with lots of hidey places, perches, treats and blankets.
The problem is she will still not integrate herself into the household. She won't sleep with me at night, she wont go into any other room, and if carried into another room, she runs back to her safe room. I'm worried this problem isn't going to resolve itself and my boyfriend and I are considering getting some bark-deterrant collars (the stinky spray kind). I can tell its mostly the barking and roughhousing that is scaring Punkin so I'm hoping that will help. The dogs are curious about her and have chased her into the laundry room when my back was turned, adding to the misery.
Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? I've never owned dogs so I have no idea how to train them to leave her alone.
I truly believe this is a cat question more than a dog question. You need help with your cat acclimating to dogs and a new environment. The dogs don't need to change. Your cat needs to adjust. Cat lovers will provide you with great advice. You should post this in the cat forum.
The dogs DEFINITELY need to change. They need to respect her space and not chase after her. They also need to stop pooping and peeing in the house, but thats a whole other topic.
Yes the dogs DEFINITELY need to change. Barking, chasing and being hyper are unhealthy UNACCEPTABLE behaviors cat or no cat.
Cats do not travel or move well. It takes time even without being constantly under stress with these three.
For STARTERS, put them all on leashes and do not allow that behavior.
The solution is to integrate them not separate them but if they are an out of control pack, you won't be able to do that without your BF working with you consistently. Since she's living in constant fear the typical things you'd do are not available to you. Such as holding the cat calmly on your lap or next to you and allowing a dog to just SNIFF the air and lay there on the other side. NONE of these tactics are possible here.
Sorry but there are no easy answers. Plenty of dog owners allow this craziness. Why, I have no idea
Pooping and peeing? AND not respecting the cat (AND YOU), and not controlling the dogs? I'd be moving right back OUT, gurl. What you have here is TWO packs. YOU and your cat. And him with his THREE dogs. Not a good omen about the future and I'm not even kidding.
A cat can usually be dominant over a dog but FOUR against ONE is not a fair deal.
fill a spray bottle with water and a teeny bit of vinegar. any time a dog stares at the cat or even makes a movement towards the cat say "NO" and spray the dog in the face (just a couple of squirts)
Oh man, if he were any other guy I certainly would be. These little hell demons have swayed me from ever wanting a canine, EVER.
Why are you blaming the dogs for the dogs lack of Master?
Your BOYFRIEND is the issue NOT the dogs.
If he had trained them properly in the first place these issues would not
be issues.
You should have never taken your cat into an environment like that
knowing those dogs are out of control and your boyfriend has no interest
in changing their behavior.
Why are you blaming the dogs for the dogs lack of Master?
Your BOYFRIEND is the issue NOT the dogs.
If he had trained them properly in the first place these issues would not
be issues.
You should have never taken your cat into an environment like that
knowing those dogs are out of control and your boyfriend has no interest
in changing their behavior.
I'm blaming BOTH of them, but as someone who's never had a dog, I simply can't help being resentful of these little ill-mannered terrors that poop and pee everwhere on top of everything else. Brian does train them, but they need to be re-trained constantly over and over again because they're too stupid and/or stubborn to learn that its NOT OKAY to poop and pee in the house.
I have no choice but to take my cat with me, we're talking about getting married. I am NOT getting rid of her, please. Unfortunately, the "Don't bring the cat into an environment like that" mentality isn't realistic. People combine households and merge their pets together, that's part of life. What's the alternative, giving her to someone else? No freakin way, shes like my child. Or should I just not get married altogether? See?
He does have interest, and he's tried but they're just stubborn. Not worth the work if you ask me.
So that's why I'm here. We both decided that neither is getting rid of our animal(s) but we're trying to make it work.
OP, I am in the same boat, only I have the three dogs, and my "boyfriend" has the cat. I have lived with him for a month now. The issues have gotten so bad, that the relationship is now over, and I am buying my own house. Unfortunately, I don't close on it until January 15, so it's going to be a LONG 23 days.
I'm blaming BOTH of them, but as someone who's never had a dog, I simply can't help being resentful of these little ill-mannered terrors that poop and pee everwhere on top of everything else. Brian does train them, but they need to be re-trained constantly over and over again because they're too stupid and/or stubborn to learn that its NOT OKAY to poop and pee in the house.
NO NO NO!
if there having potty issues they were NEVER trained in the first place, dogs don't simply go form trained to not tained to trained to not trained, they don't think or behave like that..they simple DO NOT KNOW BETTER
the boyfriend has NOT trained them if they continue to make mistakes...
they are NOT stubborn, they are NOT stupid...
They are 3 little dogs who have no structure or knowledge of exactly whats expected of them or firm rules, and now a "stranger" has moved in with a STRANGE creature that they are comepltly unfamiliar with and ALL the house "rules" that they thought were in place are now being changed, this new human doesn't like them (and dogs KNOW when someone doesn't like them) and EVERYTHING is all changed and weird and crazy...
step 1:
TRAIN THE DOGS.
you and your boyfriend have to sit down and decide what behaviours you need to change, what aprocah your going to take, and how much time your willing to dedicate to doing this.
THEY need you to work together as a TEAM be Persistent, be Consistent.
1 potty train, dogs cannot pop and pee on the floor if they don't have fre acess to the house unsupervised. Restrict acess to a single small room (ie bathroom or kitchen) or crate train...when out they should be tethered by a leash to one or both of you...
the dogs should be taken out EVERY 2 HOURS until there having NO accidents...then you can slowly increase the time between potty breaks...slowly...
when not restricted to a small area they should be 100% supervised, when they cant be 100% supervised they need to be tethered or restricted to a small dog safe area.
2: the barking...TRAIN it don't mask it...bark collars only work by masking the problem you have to kepe them on all the time and full all the time...(shock collars are even worse)
instead teach them the "quiet" command. its not hard!
REWARD the behaviours you want instead of chasing and screaming....show them what you WANT instead of expecting them to be psychic.
AGAIN CONSISTENT AND PERSISTENT!
3: the chasing...this is pack behavior, and excitement and PREY DRIVE...the cat runs oooo hey fun lets chase.
they've never sen a cat before im assuming...cat and dog language are COMPELTEopposites, dogs wag their tail whent heir happy, cats when there stressed ect...
so instead TEACH the dogs not to chase the cat by rewarding CALM behavior, lots of positive reinforcement!
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What you have here is TWO packs. YOU and your cat. And him with his THREE dogs. Not a good omen about the future and I'm not even kidding.
