Cat's with English sheep dogs......
My name is Lynne and I recently adopted my Son's New England Sheep dog(Cheshie,4 in July) while he and fiancee are in "Berkley School of Law" for 3 years!! I am the Granny... who has 3 cat's and they they really don't like the dog and her curiosity. Cheshie watches them like a hawk and then every once in a while, BOOM..... Cheshie gets smacked!!! How can I help this friendship along? Only 1 of 3 cat's will walk by her and ignore her the other two I believe feel like she is waiting to bonce them?? Anyone have an answer's for me, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!  ThanksCheshie's Granny |
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| Hi Lynne,
Just let them be. The cats and the dog will work out their relationships. I have 2 OES and I breed and show Himalayan cats, which means I usually have a parade of felines through my house. You cats are telling Chessie what they will and will not tolerate and they will all learn what the boundaries are. Some animals take longer than others to settle. I have a rescue Abyssinian cat that took almost two years to accept my two OES. He was here many years before Dudley and Oscar arrived and there are still days when I suspect he wishes they would leave! Make sure the cats have a place to escape to where Chessie can't get to them and everything will eventually work itself out. It really does! Good luck! Kathie |
| Ditto info on cats and dog........let them work it out, but do give the cats places up high to escape for safety.
Now, I have to ask........what is a New England Sheepdog? Is that an Old English Sheepdog rescued from the New England Rescue group, or did your fingers and brain disconnect for a bit? ............like that has never, ever happened to me  |
| Kathy's right. It takes time for them to adjust, some more than others.
When my siamese cat arrived as a kitten he adopted my dalmatian as a brother and they sleep snuggled up together. 
The siamese was 8 months old when my sheepie puppy arrived and he doesnt like her nearly as much. Tiggy (the sheepie) IS just waiting to pounce! She does and then she holds the siamese between her front paws and tries to lick his ears off. He emerges from all that hair looking really p'd off with a sheepie spit mohawk hair style. I have a shoulder height cat post and a baby gate that the cat can fit through so that the cat has somewhere to escape. Sometimes the cat initiates play with Tiggy now as he knows he can escape whenever he's had enough. 
 |
| Mim, I had to laugh with your sheepie spit mohawk hair style -- LOL. |
| We have had our OES for 3 months now - and our cat hardly left the basement since then - I am hoping she will figure out he is just a big goofball and come around - but sorry to say - she hasn't yet!! |
| Zoey, our 9 lb cat, is the boss. The two Sheepies and the Golden are terrified of the kid with the sharp claws.
Zoey gets riled up when my son's dog comes over - she will chase Scallywag from room to room. And the last time Scally came over, Zoey trapped her in the dog's room - Scally would only come out with a human escort. But my dogs could go up to her and give her a lick or two and she didn't mind at all. We do have a separate room for the cats, with our baby gate up off the floor 4 inches for them to scoot under. The dogs don't even go in there whene the gate is open for me to clean out the litterbox and put out the cat food. |
| What a great idea - raising the baby gate a few inches off the floor - definitely going to do that!!! |
| My oes still chases my cat around this has been for 3 yrs, the cat won't come out she just stays upstairs. |
We tried the raising the gate a few inches, but quite frankly ...the cats choose to jump over ours. 
Your current situation is pretty much our present one. So don't expect too much of a difference. I find one of the species (either the cat or the dog) misunderstands the other one. Either the cat is swatting or licking the dog... so sometimes when the cat comes in for a lick, the dog expects a swat and the chase begins.... and then when the dog innocently passes by, all hell breaks loose when the cat screams bloody murder b/c she thinks she's being attacked. One of my cats isn't too vocal, the other loves to scream until the neighbors can hear... With that said, I would say they all get along and even like the older dog, but they have their days... |
| I think it really depends on the dog and the cat. We brought home our OES on Friday. He has shown almost no interest in my two Maine Coon mixes. My two cats did the requisite number of back hunches and scooting around him in great big circles. But, it ended yesterday for some reason. At this moment, Duncan, my OES, is at the foot of my bed and the two cats are on the bed and all are within 2 feet of each other. Everyone is taking a quiet nap.
Let me say this. Harry, the 6 going on 7 year old, was around our dog before he died last year. Tristan, the one year old going on two was raised with Guinness. Fortunately, Duncan the OES is about the same size as Guinness was. Maybe that has something to do with the level of acceptance. Also, the kitties did not curl up with Guinness -- Tristan tried once and Guinness just got this pained look on his face (sort of like "please don't let my brothers in the dog world see this" look) and got up and away from Trist. I don't expect my boys to do much more than an occassional romp through the house with each other. I'm just glad that the hissing and the spitting is done. |
We had a senior cat when we got Chauncey and the cat, ( Eli ) was always the alpha. Chauncey was always good with the cat but Eli was the trouble maker. He would walk up to Chauncey when he was sleeping and swat him on the head just to be mean. We just let them " work it out ", unless the cat got too rough  |
Valb wrote: My oes still chases my cat around this has been for 3 yrs, the cat won't come out she just stays upstairs.
Same with us. Three years with cat & OES and Charlie still chases the cat EVERY day! Although the cat does instigate the chase most of the time. However, when they're tired, they will sleep within a couple of feet of each other. |
| We obviously have the exception- our cat rules the house. Funny thing, he arrived here as a young adult stray. I seriously think he believes he is a dog.
Tipup (the cat) gets 1st choice wherever he is, the dogs have to find their own spot. |
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