Hope someone has some experience of this. 

I have recently taken on a 5 year old spayed Dobe bitch and am wondering how to safely introduce her to my cats.  She is great with my other dogs although at times they find her annoying due to her being unsocialised and very big and bouncy. 

My cats are the indoor variety and spend all day sleeping upstairs where none of my dogs are allowed.  From about 8.00 in the evening my cats come downstairs and want to socialise so at this point I have been putting the Dobe in the kitchen.  This has been great in the short term ( we've had her a month) as it's allowed my cats to know her smell and for her to know that they live here too.  However, this is not a long term solution, and I need to know she can be trusted not to harm my cats.  She has been allowed to look at them from a distance a few times and the first time she barked at them and the other times just stared at them intently. 

It's really important that I get this right as this girl has nowhere else to go.  She came to us 30kg overweight due to an undiagnosed thyroid problem and mentally seems very under-developed, I don't know if this is due to her illness but just seems quite emptyheaded, although very sweet and affectionate.

Also I would love some info from all you Dobe fans as to what they are like to live with as a breed, traits etc. as I would never have gone out of my way to choose this breed.  This girl is big, bouncy, needy and juvenile.  Is this normal??

Any advice much appreciated
Mel :)

However, this is not a long term solution, and I need to know she can be trusted not to harm my cats.  She has been allowed to look at them from a distance a few times and the first time she barked at them and the other times just stared at them intently.


The trouble is, you can't really know for CERTAIN with a rescue, so I'd play safe and not allow them together unsupervised. I've had dogs and cats together since 1981 and have had rescued dogs, rescued cats, never a problem and I almost felt a bit blasé about it -cats and dogs, no problem. Until I took back a dog I had bred that had not been used to cats in the year he had been away from me. He spent the first few weeks just staring at the cats and so I thought he'd be fine. Until one day when he caught one and very nearly killed her -had I not been there within seconds to stop it (I heard the commotion), the cat would have died for certain. (She had two broken ribs and a puncture wound straight into her chest cavity that allowed air into her chest. A very expensive vet's bill.)  I now have to make sure this dog never gets near any of the cats which is a bit of a pain, but it has worked. And I will never again dare to trust an adult large dog that I don't know is already used to being around cats.

This is the kind of thing I am worried about.

TBH I never leave any of my dogs unsupervised with my cats, my 2 chow boys have killed a couple of wild cats and although they accept my cats as family they have high prey drive and I know that instinct may over rule their love for them one day. 

I was wondering how to go about having them in the same room together, she will be on the lead of course but do I praise her for looking but not barking or for not looking at all? It's going to be hard to distract her with treats as she is on a very low cal diet at the moment and has another 20kg to lose.
 
I know at her last home that her neighbour had a cat that she saw quite often outside and didn't react to but of course it was always high up out of reach so probably doesn't count. 

I want to do my best for this dog but my cats have a right to feel safe in their own home.  It's also hard to shut her in the kitchen at night as she get's quite distressed and a consequence of this is that her minor incontinence becomes harder for her to control. She normally just drips just a little but when upset it drips out quite fast and she is soiling her bed. She is toileted often and she drips within a couple of minutes of going.

Thanks for your reply though, I did wonder if my dreams of one big happy family was just wishful thinking :)

Could you put a child gate between two rooms so that the dog can see the cats but not get to them. This way she can see the cats moving about and get used to them being there without actually being able to have contact. Hopefully, if the cats are very used to dogs, they will eventually go to the child gate to say hello and you can gauge how the dog reacts to them. Also, putting her on a lead is a very good idea. When you are sat watching the telly, have her by your feet on a loose lead, (keep a good hold of it just in case). When she is nice and relaxed, get somebody to bring just one cat into the room. The main problem with cats and dogs occurs when the cats run. The dogs instinct to chase then overrides all other instincts. Quite often, if a cat stands it's ground, the dog will be very wary of it.

Thanks Saxon

I do actually have a spare child gate, I had to get one to separate her from my 2 toy dogs at night as she loves playing with them and she would never leave them to sleep :)

My cats are used to dogs but don't really like to mix with them and my boy cat will definitly run.  I'd like to have her on the lead but my partner  is working nights at the mo and I would rather he was there as well the first few times as she is very strong and bouncy.  I think I'll try the child gate so thanks for the idea although I really should have thought of that for myself as I've been stepping over it in the porch for the last month LOL

We recently had this problem as my daughter purchased 2 bengals I was concerned having puppies at the time what my bitch would be like . I put up a cage in my living room into which I put the cats they spent the first few days looking at each other when my bitch took no notice of them next to her and puppys I still left them 1 more week , then nervously lol let them out together my bitch walked straight past them and has never bothered them at all . I am sure by them getting used to each other while not being able to touch seem to remove any threat she may have felt . I must add we did have time with cats out of cage while my bitch was in garden .

All 3 of my cats and both dogs get along well.(cats in residence first). But I still keep a stair gate up,so should the need ever arise the cats could escape. It just gives me peace of mind. The dogs are gentle, but even a gentle pointer size paw on the back could hurt.  So would a set of well aimed claws on a tender  nose.

I also have gate on living room and bottom of stairs so cats can always escape if necessary .

I have three BCs and 2 older cats, 10 and 12. 

The stairs have a stair gate across them so that the cats get go upstairs and not be bothered.  Unfortunately my middle dog is obssessed with my cat because she runs and will just stair at her constantly, never hurts her just pokes her once a while to get to her move.

We also have a stairgate across our bedroom door so that during the night the dogs have the whole house to themselves but the cats still have a place to go and be peaceful if they wish to.