New dog won’t stop barking at cat

Faith

We’ve got a 2 year old indoor cat who is very timid but also exceptionally playful and he loves other animals. Last week, we adopted a 15 month old labrador. This lab is well bred, well trained and has been socialised with cats.

We were warned the dog barked for attention, but since getting him, he has been alert barking a lot. The biggest issue is he is barking at the cat. We have a pet gate on the stairs and the cat is staying upstairs, but multiple attempts to introduce them and socialise them together have now failed due to the dog’s behaviour.

Each time, we have put the dog on his lead (after a long walk to tire him out), kept really high value treats on hand and given them out liberally, and put them in a room together for short periods under our control and supervision. The dog might manage to avoid barking when incessant treats are provided, but as soon as we try and move to intermittent reinforcement, he starts barking again. It terrifies the cat, who then tries desperately to escape. The dog will also bark at the cat when he just sees the cat on the stairs.

It’s breaking my heart because I was so excited about getting this dog, but our cat is traumatised and the dog doesn’t seem to be settling because of the cat. Is it likely that things will change with time, or are we maybe just the wrong home for this dog? He’s been known to be aggressive towards other dogs too, so perhaps he just needs to be the only pet in a home 😭

janmaree

Hi Faith, I know how you're feeling, torn between love and loyalty to your cat and wanting your new dog to settle in to your home. I was in this position with a small JRT but they reached a friendly truce when the cat gave her a really good smack on the nose with claws out. It's hard to watch but they got on the same wavelength after that. I think size was the key here and the dog was really sweet anyway but your cat sounds too scared to stand up to the dog so a cat -v- a Labrador is a hard to win battle. You will have to decide yourself how you proceed but it does sound to me like you've put your finger on it already. It's a tough position to be in but sometimes things just aren't a good fit, maybe the next one would work better. Keeping good thoughts for you.

janmaree

My apologies, I don't know how I duplicated that other than ongoing broadband problems.

Faith

Thanks janmaree. I think it would have been fine if our cat had given the dog a good swipe - that's what we were hoping for. But alas, he didn't and the difficulties got worse, rather than better. The poor dog was also exceptionally anxious and clearly not comfortable in our home, so we made the very painful decision to release him back to the charity so they could find him a more suitable home.