10/16/2025
Here Kitty Kitty 🐈⬛
Kona the German Shepherd is chillin’ in front of the house… and those are multiple cats right behind him. Can you guess how many? Drop your number in the comments! 🐶🐱👀
We see this post a lot: “My dog can’t be in the house because of the cats.” That doesn’t have to be the case. Coexistence is completely trainable — but it starts with you being in control of your home and showing your dog the standards: what’s OK, what’s not OK, and what behavior you’ll reinforce.
Standards (short and clear):
- OK: calm sniffing, ignoring one another, passing by without chase, sitting calmly when asked.
- Not OK: stalking, chasing, barking at, lunging at, or harming the cats; stealing food or cornering a cat.
- Owner rules: cats have safe spaces, food is separated, and the dog respects “leave it,” “place,” and recall cues.
Important: ultimately there’s no benefit to the cats from forced interactions with dogs — most cats find them stressful. So minimize unnecessary contact, prioritize the cats’ comfort, and only allow calm, controlled meetings that don’t put the cat at risk.
Quick plan to get there:
1. Teach impulse control: leave-it, mat/place, calm greeting, and solid recall.
3. Reward calm behavior around cats; correct or redirect reactivity immediately and consistently.
4. Supervise all interactions and give cats escape routes and vertical space.
5. Get professional help if there’s serious aggression.
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