You bring a new pet home and you're keeping them separated from your resident pet like everyone says to do... but what are the next steps?!

In this Dog and Cat Chat, I give Agnes a plan of action for Daisy, her young, prey-drivey dog and Chrys, her newly adopted chill-dude orange cat.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• why scheduling time for your cat to have the full run of the house (often) is important

• why an "airlock" of barriers is essential

• why the goal is NOT to get the animals closer to each other

• what to do if the plan "doesn't work"

To listen to the full episode, click here to open it in your podcast player or press play below:

Meet Daisy and Chrysanthemum

The Initial Plan

1. create a double-layered barrier system that creates an area of neutral territory, so they are unable to get so close to each other (to help Daisy remain under-threshold and keep Chrys feeling safer)

2. create ample opportunity for Chrys to explore the whole apartment while Daisy is secured away (to prevent him from consistently trying to dart out of Agnes’s room)

3. attempt the following setup:

   • Chrys is engaged in enrichment activities far away from the gate at the entrance of his safe room (so he is not focused on Daisy)

   • Daisy is engaged in active training or playing with Agnes (practice this first with the cat’s door closed/no visual access)

   • the neutral area creates a nice space buffer between them (and increases the chances that they will be able to see each other but remain calm)

4. contingency plan (if Daisy can’t stop fixating on Chrys even with the distance and previous rehearsal with no visual access):

   • use a tossed tennis ball to remove her from the setup area

   • later, practice eating treat scatters off the ground (then see if she can eat a treat scatter when Chrys is in sight)

Updates from Agnes

✅ What worked:

• letting Chrys explore the rest of the apartment did help in him not escaping as much

🤔 What needs more tweaking:

• Daisy keeps fixating on him and getting her attention away from him has been hard

• I would do the exercises beforehand but when we bring him in she doesn’t give a crap about any treat/distraction

• we’ve had 2 accidental meets where one or the other slipped through the gate/door - Daisy gets in his face and Chrys gets scared and swats and grumbles

❗️ Important variable:

• moved house last week - taking a break on any training/work in order to not stress them more

My Questions/Follow Up Requests

• footage of the training exercises Agnes is doing with Daisy on her own

• footage of Daisy’s behavior when Agnes attempts to do the same exercises with Chrys in sight

• the physical barrier setup (to help prevent future accidental meets)

Any future updates from Agnes will be put here - stay tuned!

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