Our pet’s body language is often baffling! What looks like intense affection can often hide behaviors that can mean something else entirely. When your cat and dog refuse to leave each other alone, how can you tell what is a positive interaction or not?

This is the struggle Abigail is having with her elderly cat Titus and puppy Totchka. Is Titus’ intense greetings and grooming of Totchka not the happy interaction it appears to be?

While reaching for the cookies is a common go-to for reinforcement, there are other forms that are just as powerful - sometimes even more so than food! For those pets who might not show much interest in food outside of meals or who are extremely fussy about the kinds of treats they like, play can provide an alternative reinforcement source. But most animals don't come out of the box knowing how to play in a way that's useful for training.

Sometimes you just don't know what to do when your cats and dogs don't get along.

Feeling stuck isn't uncommon, but that doesn’t stop it from being frustrating! Sometimes it takes a second set of eyes to look at what’s going on and identify find those areas where a little change could make all the difference.

Overseeing a multi-species household can be as challenging as it is rewarding. Cats and dogs, pets and children, different breeds and different ages - with all the combinations comes a variety of behaviors and personalities. So, how can you find coexistence between so many moving parts?

We can all get a little cranky as we get older and that goes for our pets as well. When animals start dealing with ailments such as arthritis that cause pain and discomfort, is easy for them to find triggers in things that were no problem before.

That’s the situation with Lara’s dog Bowie, who’s arthritis has caused some steps backward in his relationship with Neptune the cat. Before, they were coexisting peacefully and now, Bowie wants Neptune to stay away from his space!

As scary as some of our pets interactions are, they might not always be as bad as they look! A lot of the time, until we get enough data to really understand what's going on, trying to come up with a solution can be a bit difficult.⁠

Josie’s adolescent dog Kinai has wildly different interactions with her two cats - including staying far away from one and putting the other's entire head in his mouth! How much of this behavior can be attributed to general environmental stress? Or is it something else entirely?

In this Dog and Cat Chat, Naomi talks with Michelle and Cal about preemptive management to make the upcoming introduction of an extremely active pitbull to a household with one attention-hungry cat and one anxious cat go as smoothly as possible.

Naomi chats with Nicole Soule of How to Train a Dream Dog about the similarities between being parents of young children and animal trainers, raising children alongside pets and her own adventures of moving her own multi-species household in with her fiancé and his dog - all while being pregnant with their first child!

In this Dog and Cat chat, Naomi speaks with McKenzie Cameron about integrating her dog Frankie with the new addition to her household, Bijou the cat. But there’s a twist! It’s not McKenzie who’s adopting Bijou - it’s her roommate.

So many forms of training seem to be based around offering food or some kind as a reward for wanted behavior. But what happens when your dog or cat turn their nose up at practically everything you offer them?

Naomi takes a deep dive into food-based reinforcement and what you can do when your pet just doesn’t seem interested in any treats you’re offering.

Being proactive when you first introduce a new pet is a fantastic way to nip any potential problems in the bud.

Lauren joined Naomi for a Dog and Cat chat to get some tips on setting up management and training behaviors for the brand new addition to their two cat household - a poodle named Lou.

I talked with veterinary behaviorist Dr. Hagar Hauser about some of the common cat-dog behavioral problems that she sees come into the clinic.

We took a deeper dive into what stress looks like in cats and dogs, the advantage in understanding behavioral cues, and how management goes beyond just physically separating your pets.

If problems don’t immediately arise when you first bring a new pet home, it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. But rather than waiting to see if things will go south, set your pets up for success from the beginning! In my very first Dog and Cat Chat, I helped Yvonne design a couple of setups to start integrating her new foster cat with the household’s resident dog.

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!

Do you dream of a peaceful coexistence between your pets?

Or does your dog launch into action if your cat so much as moves from their spot? Does your cat struggle to relax if your dog is playing?

If only everyone could chill out a little!

Bringing a new animal home to your existing pets can be a tough thing to get right. It can take a lot of time, energy, and effort, so loving them is a big part of staying sane and keeping everyone happy.

But sometimes, love isn’t enough.

In a coaching call, Naomi spoke with Katya Lidsky, animal lover, writer, and host of The Animal That Changed You podcast. We talked about her experience with fostering animals over the years and about the time she made the tough call to rehome a kitten to keep the peace with her other animals.

Are all cats assholes? Of course not! For reasons unbeknown to them, cats have gained a reputation that misleads people into thinking that all cats are (for lack of a better word) catty. This couldn’t be farther from the truth and I’m on a mission to put a stop to this cat prejudice once and for all.

If you have a busy household full of cats, dogs, and other animals, keeping everyone safe and happy can feel a little stressful if you’re not prepared.

Tori Ganino, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, joins the show to share her tips for success on integrating cats and dogs into a multi-species household.

Training cats and dogs isn’t just about eliminating problem behaviors. It might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes, encouraging more behaviors and more distractions can keep everyone in your household a lot happier.

Hannah Branigan, self-proclaimed dog training nerd and author of Awesome Obedience, joins me on this episode of It’s Training Cats and Dogs. She shares her journey to becoming a trainer, how she manages her multi-species household and her tips for success.

Introducing a new pet into your household can bring a whole lot of uncertainty and disruption. How you manage those initial introductions is crucial if you want a peaceful home for everyone.

Kayla Fratt, certified dog and cat behavior consultant, has plenty of experience introducing cats and dogs to each other. She knows what to watch out for, how to set everyone up for success, and most importantly, how to keep everyone safe.