What are the chances of training an adult golden retriever to co-exist with a cat?
ByHere’s my situation:
I am watching a golden retriever of some friends of ours for several weeks while they get some landscaping work done on their house. They and their three kids have never really paid much attention to the dog, have always kept her outside and I don’t really think they want the dog. My hunch is that when their work is done and it’s time for the dog to go home they will ask us if we just want to keep her. I wouldn’t mind doing that, but we have an entrenched cat in the house who wouldn’t take kindly to sharing the roost. Also, since she’s spent her whole life outdoors (5 years or so) I’m wondering if there’s any chance I could “domesticate” her so she could stay indoors.
Any help / ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks everybody for your thoughts. This dog is definitely a sweetheart, I make it a point to play fetch with her for an hour or so a day and she absolutely loves it. I think I will bring her in and put her in her crate and see what happens. Right now the cat keeps a watchful eye on the goings on in the backyard from his window perch, it’s actually pretty funny to watch.
Not to bring anybody down, but in the week plus I’ve had her all I’ve gotten from her owners is one email asking how she’s doing. None of the kids are clamoring to come visit her or anything. I know when I was a kid if our dog were to go away somewhere for any length of time I would have been bugging my mom and dad to go for a visit.
9 Comments
April 28th, 2010 at 1:06 am
well, i have two cats and they love it indoors. they’ll nap on the couch and come right up to us to be pet. but after 5 years ago i don’t think there’s a very good chance at all that your cat will learn to stay indoors. plus she’ll probably be mean to your golden retriever if she doesn’t like to share the house.
April 28th, 2010 at 1:23 am
There is no reason the dog won’t adapt to being a house dog. House breaking should be easy and the dog will love getting attention and being part of the family.
You will have to see how the dog and cat interact with each other. Has this dog ever been around cats? If the dog goes after the cat, you will have to keep them separated and there’s no guarantee they will ever get along. If the cat is the only one who gets upset, things may settle down once the cat realizes he/she won’t be lunch!
It’s worth a try but I would not wait until the time comes to make a decision. I would see how things go now. That way when the time comes, you will know whether or not the addition of a dog will be a viable solution for you, your family and your cat.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:01 am
Goldies are generally not violent, so I can only think that it will not only accept the cat, but befriend it. If you decide to keep her, be prepared to treat her like a puppy training-wise. They are very social, people-pleasing dogs, so retraining her is probably a do-able task. I hope you do get her so she can experience the joys of being a real family member. Good luck.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:01 am
We have a farm dog that moved inside after 10 years of outside duty [she wasn't just "thrown outside" , she was a working dog with all the perks]. She did very well. The cat may object mightily, but if you give it some space for it’s own, they can coexist quite well as long as the dog isn’t the type that eats cats for a hobby. If it is, a soft muzzle on it will halp train the cat to stay away from it without it getting injured. You would only need the muzzle for a few days, you can tell the dog “NO!” and remove it to a time out room every time it goes for the cat and it’ll learn quickly to avoid attacking the cat. We have a “cat room”… just a child gate up in the open doorway of a guest bedroom. Can be the bathroom or any other room in your house. My son’s cat has access to their basement, the dog doesn’t. Their cat was 3 when they rescued their year old dog. They get along well now. The cat just needs a place it can go alone with no dog to bug it. Make sure the cat’s food is kept up so the dog can’t eat it instead. The cat needs a toilet where the dog can’t be up its butt while going. They may not become best friends, but they can live under the same roof quite tolerably.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:43 am
I don’t know about the whole outside-coming-in bit, but my parents were adopted by a cat a couple of years ago. They have 3 dogs, who up until that point had only ever seen cats as something to chase. They were quite dubious of it at first, and we had to keep an eye on them, but the cat was just as wary, and totally capable of standing up for itself. Our dogs are lab/collie, alsation/golden retriever crosses – and I think their desire for a quiet life and a non-bleeding nose was probably stronger than the desire to kill the cat. I think once they saw the family accepted it, they accepted it too. Having said that, none of them are really young, and the two oldest are bitches. If you had a young male dog I suppose it might be different. Golden retrievers are lovely dogs though – if you can make the transition with any dog you’ll be able to make it with a golden retriever.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:28 am
We have a 4 year old golden retriever and a 14 year old cat. The golden is so sweet – he would never try to hurt the cat – but he will try to play with her when she comes around, which the cat does not appreciate. I would try the dog in the house for longer and longer periods of time while you are dog sitting, supervised of course. Be sure the cat has plenty of places to hide where the dog can’t get her and a place for food, water, and litter box that the dog can’t get to. (We have ours all in the laundry room with food and water on top of the dryer). Goldens are very much “people pleaser” type dogs and should respond well to lots of love, attention, and positive reinforcement. If you do decide to keep the dog, you may want to crate train it since she’s been outside for so long, she may have a hard time being unsupervised indoors, at least at first.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:38 am
I actually think that she will be so grateful to have a person pay some attention to her that she will fit right in. Golden’s are very human oriented and if she has been ignored by her family she may be a bit shy at first but she will warm up quickly. Golden’s are usually very tolerant of cats and find them as a friend not an thing to chase or try to harm. I’ve know Golden’s who have adopted rabbits as their buddies and have even snuggled right up to them and fallen asleep. You will have to test her out at first and then make a decision your self. Golden’s are very smart and loving dogs and should be very easily trained. They live to please their owners.
If anything the cat may harm her with a swat across the face so be watchful ok.
Start off slowly with her and watch her personality just bloom right before your eyes. It will take you aback to see how well she will respond to you.
I wish you all the very best and I do so hope you decide to keep this girl. Every Golden deserves a person or family to really love and appreciate them.
NOTE: Thats really sad that her owners have only contacted you once. Then for it to be by e-mail and not by phone, sorry but thats pretty cold. Maybe if you’ve gotten really fond of her you should offer to her now present owners that you would be willing to keep her. I bet they would jump at it.
April 28th, 2010 at 3:57 am
The short answer is YES. Dogs and cats have a tendency to sort this stuff out all by themselves. Regardless of what you may have heard.
April 28th, 2010 at 4:11 am
I had the same problem with a 5 year old Rottie and a new kitten. The dog wanted the kitten as a morsel. I wound up putting the Rott in her carrier and letting her watch me pet and caresse the cat. I also used a pillow case in the cats bed and after a couple of weeks I put the pillow case where the dog could have it. I guess the best I have managed is to make them “cautious” friends. They still tag each other but its all OK. My miniature dachsund nursed a kitten for several months and the kitten slept with “mom” and 2 other doxies. They all got along fabulously. It was really neat.