Introducing 6 month old shiba to cat!
For some odd reason the shiba forum isn't working and hasn't been working for me all day. I am looking on how to introduce my 6 month old shiba to my 1year old male sphynx cat. My male cat has been around dogs and has never attacked one. Dobby(cat) is okay with ronin(shiba) and ignores him but if ronin gets too close he hisses and ronin starts snarling, showing his teeth and barking at him. Does that mean Ronin wantes to attack him? When i watch them interact ronin always has hackles down and is very curious. He doesnt show any aggression until dobby hisses. Or is it actually agression? Normally when he starts barking i split them up and put dobby in my bedroom which he stays most of the day. I only let them meet when ronin is in a neutral calm state for no longer then 20 minutes.
Comments
i have always had one rule for my dogs, and that is under NO circumstances do you EVER chase, bark, etc at the cats. i know that if my dogs wanted to, they could kill one of my cats and if that happened i know i would never forgive them and i would never forgive myself.
from day 1 they learn that the cats rule the roost, if the cat is in the hall way you don't go through the hallway, if the cat is on the stairs you don't go up the stairs, if the cat is drinking then you're going to be waiting. when my dogs are puppies they're tethered to me 24/7 or they're in their crate so i can monitor and reward their behavior (i reward a lot for the dogs looking/walking away from the cats). i teach 'stay' by making the dogs stay while playing with the cats with the long feather teasers and when the cats are done the dogs are released and they get to chase and tug on it too. (cats are very good training tools!)
the reason i wouldn't trust your shiba though is because as a lot of high prey drive dogs are, he sounds reactive. if the cat took off across the room i bet he'd chase. if the cat and him were next to each other and there was a loud noise he might lunge. although he seems fine there might be some tension in the air and anything sudden or loud could provoke him.
honestly i wouldn't want a video. that sort of encounter isn't healthy. im sure if your shiba encountered another shiba who bared their teeth at him, he might bark / lunge at them too. letting him practice the behavior over and over just encourages it. i have to be honest i'd have no shame hauling my dog across the room for that behavior.
i would start our playing a 'look away' game. its a great game where you just reward your dog for ignoring your cats existence. its great because when your cat hisses he is telling him to go away (but instead your shiba just gets offended) this way your dog is willingly leaving the cat alone and getting treats for it.
have ronin on leash and sit down with some yummy treats by dobby but make sure when he hits the end of the leash he is still 2 feet away. and just wait. just wait for him to look away or walk away, he doesn't have to look at you, but any form of disengage is good. if you do this for a good week or two i can guarantee as ronin goes to approach dobby, he'll stop and think about it for a second and turn around and bounce to you instead to collect his reward.
( i also want to say that its not impossible for them to be wonderful together, it'll just take some work. all of my cats and dogs sleep in my bed and play in the yard together. )