Setting Up Your Setups
Your pets' journey towards coexistence doesn’t end when your dog and cat can sometimes be in the same room without active conflict. When you see all the hard work you’ve been doing with management, enrichment, and training finally starting to pay off... what comes next?
Setups!
In this coaching call I helped Lindsey and Em, members of the Cat and Dog Coexistence Club, design a setup between their cat and dog to reinforce the training they’ve been working on. We also talked about potential issues with food-based reinforcement, and how to let interactions evolve naturally while still keeping the environment controlled.
Introducing the cast of characters
If you’ve been following the blog or listening to the podcast, you'll have met Bambi and Fenton before. Fenton is a 9 year old domestic shorthair with a tendency to swipe first and ask questions later. Bambi is a 4 year Terrier/Chihuahua mix who could be described as a stressed out scaredy pup. Em and Lindsay have already done awesome work establishing a management setup that keeps the pet separate during the day, to avoid any further conflicts.
Current Situation: Family relaxation in the living room
While it was quite the journey to get there, in the evenings, Em and Lindsey are now able to enjoy relaxing in the living room with both Fenton and Bambi. As long as everyone is still and quiet, watching TV or napping, there’s the kind of coexistence they’d been searching for. But what if Bambi moves?
We're kind of like hitting, I guess what feels like the next level, because you can do this now for so long...Bambi, understandably, because she's not a stuffed animal, sometimes likes to get up and move around. And that's when Fenton's like, what? So I think we're reaching a place where we need to like, figure out some setups for him chilling more when she moves.
- Em and Lindsey
Next Step: Moving around the living room
We want Fenton to be able to truly relax and not become immediately on guard the moment Bambi gets up or moves around the room. So how do you go from a very tentative truce to a much chiller cat and a dog who can happily move around the shared space? It’s time for some planned setups.
The Setup: Hands-off enrichment based movement around a space
The goal for Fenton is to be chill with Bambi moving about the shared space and the best way to teach him this skill is to - wait for it - let Bambi move about the space!
They have previously been successful at hanging out together in the evenings, in the living room, with Fenton in “his spot” on the couch where Em and Lindsey have been actively reinforcing him for an offered settle behavior during training sessions.
Our goal is to build on this previously established ritual and strategically add a controlled version of Bambi hopping off the couch and moving around the room.
A great way to achieve this is setting up enrichment stations for Bambi. I encouraged Em and Lindsey to put out three or more enrichment activities - like snuffle mats or Lickimats - so Bambi can move from station to station, calmly, at her own pace. While she is engaged with the stations,(supervised by Lindsey), Em can reinforce Fenton for offering his settle behavior in his spot as he watches Bambi move.
My pet isn’t food motivated!
I typically recommend using your pets’ meals and food-based enrichment activities during these types of setups. It’s easier to fit the setup into your busy day if you do it during mealtimes - since your animals have to eat! But what if your pet isn’t an enthusiastic eater?
Don't worry - setups are still in your future!
First, check with your vet. Make sure there isn’t a medical reason for your pet’s decreased appetite. If you can address the issues medically, your pet’s appetite might increase and food-related enrichment and reinforcement could become options again!
But for some animals, we have to work around a lower interest in food. For example, Bambi is taking an anti-anxiety medication that decreases her appetite.
So with her, we aren’t going to rely on food for these setups.
Combine food-based stations with non food-based stations
I recommended that Em and Lindsey try a combination of food-based and non-food based enrichment stations for Bambi.
So we're looking at three or more stations...one of them can be food. It could be part of her dinner and she doesn't have to eat it in this context. Offering the food as one of a few enrichment options during the setup takes some of the pressure off - if she doesn’t want to eat it during the setup, she can have it later!
We have other, non-food related enrichment options. Bambi loves her squeaky toy, and Fenton is very used to hearing her squeak it from behind the barrier during the day (so it wouldn't be a super triggering stimulus for him). I suggested that one station be her squeaky toy available on the floor - she has previously chosen to play with it on her own if it’s available.
Bambi is also a big fan of sniffing. So I recommended including a scent-based enrichment activity, like a cardboard box with some natural elements from outside, that she could stick her nose into from different angles!
The goal of the setup is to provide her with individual enrichment activities that keep her relatively still while she is working on them, and allow her to freely and calmly move from one to the other.
Recap: the setup's setup
This is the setup I recommended Em and Lindsey try:
Ideally, both of the humans would be in the room - responsible for one animal each. One set of eyes on Bambi, one set of eyes on Fenton - ready to redirect them if they become too fixated on each other.
If there’s only human in the room, they should add a physical barrier like an X-pen or having Fenton in his carrier
Bambi will be engaged with her enrichment stations
Fenton will be actively reinforced for his offered settle up on the couch
Letting interactions evolve naturally but in controlled situations
In the end, the goal of setups is to give the pets positive experiences around each other that are controlled but also allow for the animals to express normal movement and behaviors. Because really, all we want is for our animals to be able to behave naturally around each other, without stress!
Setup prep work via Relaxation Protocol
This setup would not be possible if Fenton hadn’t already been practicing offering a settle in his spot with distractions. Em and Lindsey are working through the Cat/Dog Relaxation Protocol with him - they are reinforcing him for remaining relaxed while they create synthetic “Bambi-like” movements and other types of potential triggers. Having this foundation skill is essential for this particular setup to be successful.
If you think your pets would benefit from these types of setups but they aren’t able to offer a settle around different types of distractions, take them through the Cool as a Cucumber Challenge! It walks you step-by-step through the process of teaching your pets to relax, even when lots of distracting stuff is happening around them! You can sign up for that program here.