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Comment by Elizabeth, Hermione and Luna on May 2, 2010 at 12:05am

I agree with Beth. We actually did it the other way around (cats first then corgis), but have succcessfully transitioned.

everything I read and saw showed how important it is to make sure the cats have "safe space" (a dog-free zone). Letting the kitty decide when/where to interact will help as him get his bearings. It takes time, so I would advise patience (that's what our vet advised too).

We got our corgis in February, and we're only just now achieving peaceful co-existence with the one resident cat, and the other hasn't yet come completely around (she still basically does advoidance).

Comment by Beth on May 1, 2010 at 9:41pm

We just brought in a kitten and are having some issues with Maddie trying to herd it. Except our kitten is bold and outgoing and frequently is the instigator (she'll dart out sideways and then crab step away, or come up and bop Maddie on the nose).

The single most important thing is to continue to have a safe room where Riley can go and the dog cannot. What you can also do is once a day or so, baby-gate, pen, or crate Maggie and give Riley the chance to explore other rooms of the house without worrying about the dog. If he doesn't feel like exploring, don't force him. If he is food-motivated, you can try coaxing him with food but this doesn't usually work with cats. You might also try cat-nip if he likes that. Otherwise it may just take time. Our elderly (now-departed) cat Alice never did warm to the dogs and mostly stayed upstairs, but usually you'll have more luck with a kitten. If Riley can see that he can approach the dog through a gate or crate without the dog getting him, it may give him confidence.

As for the herding/chasing: leashing Maddie did not work and "no" did not work and distracting her with treats/ commands only worked briefly. Funny thing is, Maddie was terrified of the cat for two weeks and then suddenly became obsessed with her instead. I am taking a three-fold approach:

1) Resorting to a water-bottle to spray her in the face, something I have never done with my dogs in the entire time I have her. It distracts her enough for me to get her attention and refocus her.

2) Praising her intensely for looking away from the kitten voluntarily for any length of time, and treating her (we are using 2-calorie Zuke's mini naturals, so we can treat often), and

3) Body-blocking her away if positioning allows. Body-blocking is a technique where you use your own personal space to back the dog up by advancing on her (your dog should respect a personal space about one to two feet around your body and back out of your way without your needing to contact her). I body-block her backwards til she voluntarily turns her head in the other direction (away from me and the cat) and starts to walk away on her own, at which point I mark the behavior with a "gooooddd girlll" and then go treat.

After a few days of this (the herding just started about 4 days ago) I have gotten to the point that I can USUALLY call the dog off the cat by just saying a high-pitched "Maddie!" and when she looks to me instead of the cat, she gets marked with a "good girl" and then treated. It seems to be making her less intense about the cat.

I would personally use clicker-training for this, but Jack is too sharp and I just know that even if I only used the clicker on Maddie, Jack would start to drool profusely as soon as he saw the darned thing and start offering all sorts of behaviors. However, if you have just the one dog, clicker training might help.

My other Corgi, Jack, dutifully ignores the cat except for the occasional friendly hello, and he's the more intense of my two dogs, so there is just no telling how they will react I guess. I had a feeling Maddie would be my problem child with an actively running kitten, though.