My cat won’t come downstairs because she’s so scared of the dog!
What do you do when when your cat is super stressed by their new doggy housemate? Like so stressed that they don't feel safe enough to do the things they used enjoy?
You can’t just train the dog to leave the cat alone - that’s just one piece of the puzzle.
The general plan:
1) Teach the dog to be more trustworthy (aka behave appropriately in the face of distractions, like when the cat is around).
2) Increase the cat’s confidence by giving them lots of reinforcement for being brave and moving around the space, first when the dog ISN’T around, and working up to when they are in sight.
A real case:
Alicia adopted Maisy (a young mixed breed dog) and at first, she was able to relax around Cleo (the resident cat).
The Before:
After a few weeks, however, Maisy started chasing Cleo whenever she would come downstairs. So Cleo stopped coming downstairs at all (even though she loves being around her mom and visitors).
So Alicia and I brainstormed some ways she could start helping her cat Cleo feel more confident moving around the house again.
The Initial Plan
create a path for Cleo to be able to come downstairs safely (without touching the ground) and teach her to use it
adjust routine to find times to hang out with Cleo and reinforce her for interacting with Alicia downstairs (while Maisy is secured away)
later: work on Maisy’s ability to relax when distracted (i.e. Cleo appears)
Updates from Alicia
“After our conversation, I moved the gate to the bottom of the stairs. Due to the location of the staircase in the house, it wasn't possible to place a cat tree on either side, so I built three steps up to a tall shelf where Cleo can go but Maisy cannot. It has taken some time, but Cleo has learned to use the stairs and will voluntarily go to her new bed frequently… I am hoping we can continue working on Cleo being able to move more freely throughout the house, but the fact that she will hang out downstairs for hours at a time is HUGE progress!”
✅ What worked:
Cleo knows how to go from the stairs to the new wall shelves… and she is choosing to use her new stairs → shelves path to get to her safe napping spot! (even though Maisy still occasionally chases her)
Want to help your cat come downstairs safely and without stress? Here are 2 examples of ways you could create a route for your cat to take from the stairs to their safe zone:
❗️ Important variable(s):
Maisy has been demonstrating increased stranger danger and resource guarding towards people coming in the house (unrelated to our plan regarding sharing space with Cleo), so Alicia has adjusted her training priorities to focus on addressing those issues for now.
Want more details about my suggestions for Maisy and Cleo?
You can listen to my full coaching call with Alicia in this Dog and Cat Chat episode of “It’s Training Cats and Dogs!”
What you'll hear in this episode:
why you need to give your pets safe spaces and teach them how to get there
how to help a cat come down the stairs and up to their elevated safe spaces (without touching the floor)
when you might want to keep an eye out for your new pet's behavior to potentially change towards their housemates
and what does food motivation have to do with all of this?
To listen to the full episode, click here to open it in your podcast player or press play below: