Cats and dogs, living together...

Seline and my Mom and Dad's dog, Beau. See how happy she looks? It's ok, that's a trick question...

Like many animal lovers, my husband and I own both cats and dogs. I mentioned before our two cats, Sunshine and Seline. Not to seem biased, but our cats are the cutest, sweetest and best behaved cats in the world ...

Sorry about that. I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing. Seriously, I love both of them to death, but the word "perfect" is not even close to what I would use to describe them.

Seline was my husband Mack's cat before we got married, and she is not friendly. This cute little calico may look like she wouldn't harm a fly, but that's part of the game she plays with unknowing strangers. Is it possible that her playful rub and the resulting flop onto her side is an invitation for affection? Yes, but rarely. Most times, it's just a trap. I myself fell for it when I first met her and got bit.

Sunshine is more friendly toward people than Seline, but both can go from zero to devil cat in .2 seconds when faced with a new animal in the house, especially dogs. So as you can imagine, this was great fun when introducing our puppies to the household.

Playtime for Sunshine and Shammy

Shammy was curious about the cats from the get-go, while they would have been perfectly happy had he suddenly poofed out of existence. We deemed chasing cats a mortal sin in our household, but even reprimanding him did little to quell the hunt. Perplexed, I turned to my friend Donna, someone who has enough experience to give advice on anything animal-related. Once she explained what was happening, it seemed so simple I couldn't believe I didn't see it before.

Dogs explore the world with their noses. In order for Shammy to feel that he had fully explored the cats, he would have to be allowed to smell them, actually put his nose to them and see what they were like. Does that mean he gets a new chew toy? No. Does it mean that he gets one sniff and he forever respects them? I wish. It does, however, satisfy a dog's curiousity enough to allow for further manners to be taught.

I'm sorry to say my attempts to follow Donna's advice to a tee were a stupendous failure. According to Donna, the best way to get dogs and cats to live together in a household (I have no reason to doubt she's right about this, but I don't have good enough control over the cats to succeed in this) is to only allow the dogs to touch the cats when they are on your lap. To accomplish this, sit in a chair with the cat in your lap (not a couch, that's asking for trouble), then invite the dog over while holding the cat. Allow the dog to sniff all he wants within reason -- don't let it drag on for too long -- but the minute he tries to mouth the cat, tell him no and have him back up. Through this, the dog will learn that there is a time and place to examine the cat, and a correct way to do so.

In theory this is an awesome idea, and if you can manage to do it, do so. Donna has dogs and cats in her household and they get along wonderfully because of this technique. How I've ended up dealing with it is a bit different.

After a few battle scars from keeping the cats in the chair with me while I tried to give Shammy a chance to give them a once-over, I decided instead to try a different approach. I'm not sure what made me think of it -- maybe the blood loss -- but at one point, when Sunshine was as close to Shammy as she allowed herself to get, I held onto Shammy's collar as he approached the cat. I let him within sniffing distance and Sunshine (definitely the right choice for this initial exercise) grudgingly let him do what he had to.

I do this every chance I get, but usually the reinforcement comes more in the form of letting them know that they are in trouble for chasing the cats. The severity of the chasing has lessened, however, and since Dozer joined the family, Shammy generally has more important things to worry about than two cats who don't want to play. Namely, a puppy hanging from his keister who is telling him in no uncertain terms that HE will be more than happy to play.

With Dozer, it will be the same process. I really foresee there coming an uneasy truce in time with the dogs and Seline. I am happy to report, however, that Sunshine and Shammy seem to be forming a strange kind of friendship. Sunshine will stand very close to Shammy and start griping at him in her croaking little meow, which evidently is cat for "Dog, it is time for you to play with me for my amusement." Shammy obliges by snuffling all over her with his nose, and she rubs around his legs, purring for all she's worth. Occassionally that game gets old, so she flops onto her back and nips at his back legs. Shammy keeps his cool and seems to genuinely like the play. This above all things gives me hope for the one big happy family I hope to have with the humans and animals of the house.