Looking for advice and some perspective.
We brought home a 10 week old brown lab puppy two days ago. We also have an adult cat who previously had full run of the house.
They’ve had two controlled meetings so far.
The first time, I was holding the puppy and when he saw her, he gave a low growl. She was just sitting there, not moving.
The second time, he was on leash on the floor. They were on opposite ends of a long hallway that’s gated. He saw her, barked, growled, and tried to run toward her. She then ran away, and we immediately created distance. He has never successfully chased her.
So clearly he’s going to need desensitization and impulse control work around her.
Right now we have strong separation in place. Her safe space is our bedroom, which is gated and completely off limits to him. He’s mostly confined to the living room, and there’s a large hallway separating the two areas, also gated. There are no surprise encounters.
It’s only been two days, but she is clearly scared of him and is barely leaving the bedroom unless he’s fully secured. I honestly feel worse about her stress than anything else.
Plan right now is to keep them fully separated for a while, let her regain confidence, and then do very gradual exposure at a distance where he can see her and stay under threshold.
For those who have integrated a puppy and a cat:
• Is this type of reaction at 10 weeks something that can resolve with proper training?
• How long did it take for your cat to feel safe again?
• Any early mistakes I should avoid?
I’m not trying to force a friendship. I just want calm coexistence and for my cat to feel secure in her own home again.
submitted by /u/optimus1978
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