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- Feb 20, 2014
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So... Porter finally has the cone of shame off. He's been with us for about a month and now he is ready to explore the house. I have let him out of the iso room a couple of times to explore when my two younger dogs were outside. He comes down the stairs, runs into my third, elderly dog, looks at her then turns around and walks casually back to the iso room. He doesn't hiss, he doesn't fuss. Jazz is so old, that I'm not entirely sure that she can see Porter anyway.
I'm not sure Porter's ready for full time run of the house, but he's bored in that room and he's ready to get out and about a little bit, even if all he does is take a few baby steps, but I think the next step, is introducing him to the dogs and seeing how it goes. I'm more worried about how the dogs will handle it, than how Porter will handle it though. I expect that the worst case scenario for Porter, is that he casually turns around, walks back up the stairs and hides under the couch for the rest of the day. Jet and Lexi tho... they're on a whole other level. My daughter adopted Porter without thinking through the possible consequences of introducing him to my dogs. Both are rescues. I have no idea if they have been socialized with cats or not.
My plan was to have Jet and Lexi on lead and let Porter come out of the iso room on his own. If they react to Porter by growling or lunging, I'll give them a leash correction. If they are relaxed and well-behaved, then I'll let Porter mill around for a few minutes. Then I'll take him back to the iso room and we'll do the same thing again the next day, only increasing the time that Porter is out and about by a few minutes at a time.
They have seen Porter and smelled him through his crate because I've had to carry him past them to get him back and forth to the vet, and he's been to the vet a lot since we adopted him. So they do know what he smells like. Jet has bolted into the iso room a couple of times. Once, he ignored Porter, the second time, he growled and I managed to drag him back out of the room and shut the door before anything else could happen. Lexi... I have no clue what she's going to do when she sees the cat. I do know that Porter has seen her and he's scared of her. Lexi is the biggest of my three dogs.
Worst case scenario, Porter will end up being a basement cat, because I can cut off the dogs' access to the basement and my son sleeps down there and we're down there quite often, so he's not going anywhere if this doesn't work, but I would love for it to work. So I would appreciate any feedback!
Is there anything else I should do to get Porter and the dogs ready for this adventure?
Thanks for your help!
I'm not sure Porter's ready for full time run of the house, but he's bored in that room and he's ready to get out and about a little bit, even if all he does is take a few baby steps, but I think the next step, is introducing him to the dogs and seeing how it goes. I'm more worried about how the dogs will handle it, than how Porter will handle it though. I expect that the worst case scenario for Porter, is that he casually turns around, walks back up the stairs and hides under the couch for the rest of the day. Jet and Lexi tho... they're on a whole other level. My daughter adopted Porter without thinking through the possible consequences of introducing him to my dogs. Both are rescues. I have no idea if they have been socialized with cats or not.
My plan was to have Jet and Lexi on lead and let Porter come out of the iso room on his own. If they react to Porter by growling or lunging, I'll give them a leash correction. If they are relaxed and well-behaved, then I'll let Porter mill around for a few minutes. Then I'll take him back to the iso room and we'll do the same thing again the next day, only increasing the time that Porter is out and about by a few minutes at a time.
They have seen Porter and smelled him through his crate because I've had to carry him past them to get him back and forth to the vet, and he's been to the vet a lot since we adopted him. So they do know what he smells like. Jet has bolted into the iso room a couple of times. Once, he ignored Porter, the second time, he growled and I managed to drag him back out of the room and shut the door before anything else could happen. Lexi... I have no clue what she's going to do when she sees the cat. I do know that Porter has seen her and he's scared of her. Lexi is the biggest of my three dogs.
Worst case scenario, Porter will end up being a basement cat, because I can cut off the dogs' access to the basement and my son sleeps down there and we're down there quite often, so he's not going anywhere if this doesn't work, but I would love for it to work. So I would appreciate any feedback!
Is there anything else I should do to get Porter and the dogs ready for this adventure?
Thanks for your help!
