# Fear Aggressive GSD and Savannah kitten.



## shepsmum (Aug 1, 2007)

Been a while, decided to get another kitten. Our boy Shep luv'd his last kitty friend Claude before he died suddenly a couple years ago. So figured it should be an easy transition as he lived with cats before. 

We picked out a spunky Savannah with little fear. I mean it has some fear, but she can be inches away from Shep's face purring away. 

Shep however is quite fearful of this 1lb 12 week old bundle of joy. Last night for example, as we were trying to introduce, they were sitting side by side, kitten was kneading my leg, stretched her paw and was going to knead him at the same time. He panicked and snapped at her. 

We thought today, we'd set up the huge crate in the kitchen (5x4x3), lock the kitten inside. Give them a chance to get to know eachother. He charged the crate. Which of course freaked her out so she tried forcing herself out between the bars. 

For the last while we've had her quarantined in a spare bedroom. They've smelled eachother under the door, that's about it. 

So anyways, we're looking for tips and advice to make this work. 

Thanks


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

Be patient, it took almost 6 months for me to transition our new kitty into the mix. I have 3 dogs all of them grew up with cats when they were babies. For some reason my now 8yr old female would not accept the new kitten. It was pretty bad at first, I was worried she might hurt him. I kept the kitten in the big dog crate when the dogs were inside, taught the kitten to stay on higher ground.
Now if the dogs were outside, I can let them in and she will walk right past him and pay him no mind. They can even lay in very close proximity of each other. Of course I wouldn't trust the dogs alone with the kitty. I tell him "never trust those dogs". 
Good luck.


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## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

Hopefully the info in this article may be of some use to you:

Living like cats and dogs
__________
Sue


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## x0emiroxy0x (Nov 29, 2010)

Week 1
3x a day for 5 to ten minutes
---one person hold cat, one person have dog on leash (with either muzzle, head collar, or prong). Cat be held while person sits in chair or on bed. dog not allowed within reaching distance of cat. Just allowed to see and smell.

Week 2
3x a day for ten to fifteen minutes
---dog still on muzzle/prong/head collar. cat allowed to roam room. dog must sit or lay down, or else be removed from room. if cat comes close, other person gently and slowly move cat out of range.

Week 3
3x a day for ten to fifteen minutes
---dog still on muzzle/prong/head collar. cat allowed to roam room, and get within range of dog. ONLY ADVANCE if dog has not shown a single sign of prey drive towards the cat. Teach "gentle"....if dog paws at cat too rough or nudges with head to rough, say "NO, gentle".

Week 4
3x a day for twenty minutes
---Dog on loose leash, allowed to walk while cat is roaming the room instead of staying in a sit/down. Practice gentle.

If NO issues occur, and I really mean NONE, allow the dog and cat to free roam in a small room WITH very attentive supervision, with person ready to separate animals at slightest sign of prey drive from dog.

I would not recommend allowing dog and cat to be unsupervised together until the cat is at least 6 months old and as long as it is NOT declawed so it can defend itself.
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Rocky and my roommates kitten took 6 days of interaction, during which Rocky literally laid down and groomed the kitten with out any sign of wanting to chase her, and then we let them play around the house after two weeks without us standing over them. However, this is not regular. Rocky was trained from 8 weeks to never, ever chase any small animal whatsoever and was rewarded on every walk for the first year of life for ignoring small running animals, because I knew I would want a cat someday. Most people encourage, or ignore their dog when it chases small animals. Rocky does not have a backyard that he plays in unsupervised, so he has never had a negative interaction with a small animal where he was given the chance to chase it.

Good luck!


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