Episode #214 Training Your Dog and Cat to Coexist Peacefully at Home

Bringing a new puppy into a home with resident cats can be a recipe for chaos—unless you have a solid plan! In this episode, we dive into strategies to help your puppy respect your cat’s space using smart management techniques and positive reinforcement. Learn how to set up safe spaces, use leashes and barriers effectively, and reinforce calm behavior to create a peaceful, pet-friendly home. Whether you're introducing a new puppy or trying to ease ongoing tension, this episode is packed with actionable tips to help your pets become respectful roommates. 🐶🐱✨

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Dog to Cats at Home
• 5:19 Training Dogs and Cats to Coexist
• 9:27 Positive Puppy Training Tips

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today we are talking about helping your dog respect cats that are already in the home. So you already have a cat. You're bringing a new dog home. How do you help them get along? Let's talk about it.

Speaker 1: 0:11

Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy, from training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hello and welcome to the puppy training Podcast. I'm super glad you're here Today.

Speaker 1: 0:46

We are talking about cats, so this could also apply to other pets you have in the home maybe a rabbit or a bird but I'm going to specifically speak about cats and then I'll let you generalize that. So introducing a new dog into the home where you have a resident cat can be a challenging transition. Now dogs have what's called prey drive. Some dogs have a high one and some dogs have a low one. All dogs have some of it. But puppies can also bring some energy and some curiosity, and while many cats prefer a predictable and calm environment, they can learn to live with dogs, and dogs can learn to live with cats if the resident cats are not excited about the puppy to be there. It's really important that we start with management techniques. So we'll start there today and then, yes, we can use positive reinforcement to train the animals to be in the same room together, which will ensure a smooth and respectful relationship, hopefully now. The disclaimer to this is the prey drive factor, and some dogs do have such a high prey drive that this training is really difficult. But for a large number of dogs it's very possible. By setting up clear boundaries, supervising their interactions and rewarding calm behavior, we can help foster mutual respect between your pets. So let's start with management. Management involves controlling the environment to prevent negative encounters and gradually teaching our dogs how to behave appropriately around cats. That natural prey drive is going to kick in and they're going to want to chase right.

Speaker 1: 2:16

So first we use physical barriers Before allowing our dogs and cats to have direct interactions. It's important to provide the cats with a safe space that's completely off limits to the puppy. Baby gates, pet pens like exercise pens or cat trees allow the cat to observe the puppy from a safe distance while maintaining control over their own space. If we can ensure the cat has access to these high perches or areas that they can get up and out of the way, these hiding spots can reduce stress and provide them with an escape route if they start to feel uncomfortable. The second thing would be to use a leash indoors. So keeping our puppy on a leash or a house line, especially during the first few weeks, prevents them from chasing or pestering the cats. The more they chase and pester you guys, the more fun this becomes and it feels good to our dogs and then they're going to want to do more of that. So we just want to prevent that from the get-go. We don't chase cats and this allows our puppy to observe the cat calmly from a distance while preventing any unwanted interactions. Over time, the puppy can learn that being near the cat does not mean they get to play or chase it.

Speaker 1: 3:24

The third thing you can do is to crate train and use tethering. So crate training is an effective tool, not only for house training but to help our puppies learn to settle while still being present in the home, where there might be distractions like other pets. When the puppy's in their crate. They get their chew toys, they get their favorite things. That's where mealtime happens and the cat can then explore the room safely. So I call this rotating the household, where sometimes the cat will be out and the puppy will be doing crate time, and then other times the puppy will be out and the cat could be in another room or somewhere where the puppy can't access them. So we just rotate who's getting the out time, I guess you could say. But we're helping both animals become more comfortable with each other's presence and they'll do that by feeling safe. So using these boundaries with the crate training or the leashes can really help foster that safety for both animals.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Next let's talk about positive reinforcement to shape behavior. We like to use positive reinforcement here at Baxter and Bella. This focuses on rewarding the behaviors that we like to see rather than punishing unwanted ones. By consistently rewarding calm and respectful behavior, the puppy will learn that ignoring the cat leads to good things. Now, in the beginning you're going to have to show your puppy what you want them to do, and as we show them and they get rewarded for that, they start to choose that behavior on their own. So first we want to reward calm behavior Anytime your puppy remains calm in the presence of the cat, toss a little food reward their way, or maybe toss it a few feet away from them and they get to go chase that little treat. That's a good idea. Or maybe that gets them access to their favorite toy and you can get out a squeaky crinkly, a fun long toy and play a little game of tug with your puppy. So, for example, if your dog sees the cat and remains still instead of lunging or barking at the cat, we can immediately mark yes and then pay the dog a food reward or play their favorite game or use the toy to interact with them Basically anything they view as a reward we want to give them when they're able to look away from the cat.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Now, along those lines, number two is teaching a strong leave it cue. If beforehand or if when your cat and we work to generalize the leave it cue to many different tempting things, we can then progress that leave it behavior to the cat. So when your puppy sees the cat we can say leave it and they know, oh, leave it means look away from that. Focus on Amy and I get a food reward for that. Now, that's not going to happen on day one of training your dog to leave it right. We have a four-step process here at Baxter Bella to teach your dog how to leave it, but on that fourth step it is using items that they actually want to go get and then they generalize that behavior. So start by teaching what it is and then we'll help you progress that to using it with your cat. But we want to reward your dogs for breaking their attention away from the cat and focusing back on you.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Number three is to encourage alternative behaviors. Instead of simply telling the puppy what not to do, we want to redirect their energy towards something we want them to do, so leave it. Is great. We start there, right? I want you to look away from the cat, look at me and then don't just stop there. I want you to continue on asking the puppy to do things. If your puppy gets excited when they see the cat, we can cue a sit or a down or maybe some fun things like spin, roll, high five, shake all of those fun things that we can reward then the puppy for complying. Now teaching a solid place or go to bed. I love using this behavior and generalizing it to these distractions such as cats or other pets in the home where we say go to bed, and the puppy goes to a designated bed or mat or rug or whatever place you want to use. It just has to be identifiable. This provides a structured way or something for them to do a job, really to remain calm in the cat's presence, and then we're rewarding the dog for going there. So not only are we asking the dog to leave it and take their attention away from the cat, we're then instructing the dog. Here's what I want you to do instead. We're paying them for doing that instead and making it worth their while.

Speaker 1: 7:22

We can also train the cat. So while training our dog is essential, we can also reinforce our cat's positive response. Giving treats or affection when the cat remains relaxed near the puppy helps create positive response. Giving treats or affection when the cat remains relaxed near the puppy helps create positive associations. So you could have your cat sitting on the left side of you and your puppy sitting on the right side of you. You could eat. Just feed each of them a food reward intermittently. Now, that might not last super long, but you can do that for a few seconds and then build up the duration of time as they get better of being in one another's presence. But that way you're reinforcing positively both of them for sitting calmly at your side. Make sure that you're having gradual, supervised interactions.

Speaker 1: 8:01

Once our dog has learned to remain calm around the cat and respects their space, they can start to have some supervised off-leash interactions. But we wanna make sure that they're showing good body language, that they're not too intense, that they're not all about just chasing this cat. We to make sure that they're showing good body language, that they're not too intense, that they're not all about just chasing this cat. We want to make sure that they can redirect their attention away with that leave it cue and look at us when asked. We want to keep these sessions short and positive. It helps build trust between both our cat and our dog and if our puppy becomes too excited we just want to calmly redirect them away, give them a break, let them calm themselves down before trying again and over time our dogs can learn to coexist peacefully with the cat.

Speaker 1: 8:41

All right, you guys, remember that helping a puppy respect the resident cat does require a combination of thoughtful management and positive reinforcement. We can create a safe environment for both of them simply by controlling these early interactions, setting them up for success and rewarding calm behavior with patience and consistency. You hear me say that a lot. I know the puppy will learn to coexist with the cat in a respectful and peaceful manner and all will be well, ideally, right Now. Remember, you might start this journey and realize you know what this is a lot of work. My dog has a really high prey drive and this might not work out. Please reach out to us if you need any help with this during the process and we would love to coach you through it, answer any questions that you have and really help you get started on the right track.

Speaker 1: 9:27

All right, you guys. Happy training, have a great week. Thanks for tuning in to the puppy training podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.