Hi

My family and I are planning on rehoming an adult mongrel dog who resembles a large retriever (quite a big and energetic dog). However, it would need to be left alone with our two cats during school hours. I was wondering if this is a good idea, or if leaving a large boisterous dog alone will have bad consequences for my house and our cats.

The dog would recieve alot of excercise and attention before and after it is left, and toys and a radio could be left on while we are away. Also, before the dog is completely settled and trustworthy, we could keep it securely in the kitchen away from cats and furniture.

Of course, this will partly depend on the dogs character, but I was wondering if people who leave their retriever, labrador, or dog of similar size and intelligence have any problems.

Thank You in advance as I do not want a depressed or destructive dog, and angry and furless cats.

Rob

It would depend entirely upon the individual dog and how he has been prior to rehoming with you .

I would have thought that any new dog in the family would require time to settle in anyway and would not automatically take to being left for long periods in a strange house? Are you able to take some time off to settle the dog in ?
Some rescue centres will know anyway if a dog is unable to be left alone for long periods due to information they have on its past history

With the cats I would say no! Even when he is settled...

My sister has two labs and 2 cats, the cats were there first and the dogs came as pups, unfortunately they killed one of the cats while she was out.  The dogs were great with the cats but when you are not there you cannot intervene if something goes wrong.  The cat that died was not badly damaged but it looked like the dogs had perhaps squeezed it too hard...We are sure that the dogs did not mean to kill the cat but boiterous play or even not so boisterous can be fatal. 

I would recommend that when you are out you put them in separate rooms. My cats are either in the spare room or out and we have a cat flap into the garage and utility room.

As ELay says - definitely dont leave them in the same room when you arent there - just in case ....