I had to go on Reddit for this one. “How to introduce dogs to cats”. The answer is, slowly. Problem is they are both pretty old. Marshal is 9 and Boy is 11. Boy has never met a dog before.
We tried to take it slowly. Marshal stayed in the car and smells were exchanged first. A rug and a bed. Boy seemed indifferent. He was relaxing in the bedroom.
Boy’s mum is out of hospital and this dog comes with a new man. Boy will go home in the next few days and Marshal is likely to be around from time to time, so it’s worth introducing them carefully.
He’s a big dog. Half Rottweiler half Labrador so you’ve got a mix between a breed with a rep for being nasty and a breed of great big softies. To my eye he looks more Labrador, but the owner calls him a Rottweiler. He’s a lab in temperament. Up in my flat he seemed to just want to sniff things and bang around. I was relieved to see how gentle he was. He’s a rescue, but in a year he seems to have bonded well with his keeper, so I was happy he wasn’t gonna chase her. That’s the dealbreaker, apparently. It breaks the trust.
When he came up, I closed Boy in the bedroom so he could have the sniffs. I was in there with Boy. He was right up against the door immediately, curious but not bristling. When eventually they were in the same room Boy was being held but he fought the hold and then growled hard at Marshal, who was at first too curious to understand he was being threatened. There was a bit of noise eventually and Marshal started responding so we parted them and went and got treats.
Both of them then had a veritable cornucopia of treats, all the while being manipulated closer and closer to each other. We let time work and once Boy seemed satisfied this thing wasn’t going to run at him, his curiosity kicked in. He didn’t get right up to Marshal, but he got close and it didn’t feel threatening. Marshal was mostly oblivious to being under scrutiny, and didn’t even notice when he got hissed for rolling on his back on Boy’s bed. With care and patience this might work between them despite their advancing years. Which means it’s likely I’ll be sending Boy home before too long.
I’ve come to love having a cat around. They are there on so many levels, keeping us company as they depend on us for food and snuggles. I’ve had a fair few pass through me in the last few years, none of them full time. I’ve been lucky like that. Could I have a full time cat? Not if I want to jet off all over the place doing weird jobs. And I DO want that. So I’ll stick with the temporary cat carer thing, and learn as I go.
I’m glad it was a successful introduction. I won’t lie, I was anticipating disaster. Pickle didn’t get on with Boy at all.
Treats go a long way.
AlBarclay 