Introducing him to the other pets at home
You have just adopted a dog, and a cat or another dog is waiting for you at home. Keep the introductions short and calm, put the bowls and toys away for the first few days, and give the cat a high perch the dog cannot climb to. Living together is built over several days, not in a single meeting.
Fights start over resources
Your dog arrives with a past you know nothing about, and what he needs first is a chance to breathe, before meeting anyone at all. That is the whole point of the 3-3-3 rule, the decompression guide for an adopted dog: a few days to breathe, a few weeks to settle in, a few months to truly feel at home. Give him at least a few quiet days before the first real meeting, never on the day he arrives. Most clashes come down to resources: the food bowl, the bed, your attention. It is a very common cause of biting between animals that already know each other. Add to that signals that get misread: a dog who wags his tail thinks he is saying hello, while a cat sweeping hers, body all tense, is already saying leave me alone.
You can make the introduction calmly if…
- The foster carer or the previous owner confirms that he has already lived with a cat or a dog without any trouble.
- Your cat is curious or relaxed around dogs, and has high places to slip away to.
- Your resident dog is genuinely comfortable with other dogs, and you know him inside out.
See a behaviourist first if…
- Your dog with the unknown past stares at the running cat, frozen and silent: that is predation building up, not play.
- Your cat goes for every dog, or your resident dog reacts strongly to other dogs.
- A first meeting has already turned into a chase or a fight.
Getting the house ready before the first meeting
A little preparation saves you a lot of tension.
0 / 5During the introductions, stand to one side, never leaning over the animals or standing between them. Keep your shoulders loose and the long line slack: a dog reads your tension in your hands and in your voice, and a tight lead tells him something is wrong. Say little, breathe slowly, move calmly.
Introducing your dog to your cat
Cat up high, dog well exercised, short sessions: going gently beats forcing things.
Swap their smells before they even see each other
Keep them in two separate rooms for a day or two, and carry each one's smell over to the other: a rubbed cloth, a swapped blanket. Each gets used to the other without the stress of a face-to-face meeting.
Take your dog out to tire him before the meeting
A proper walk where he sniffs and burns off energy, a good half hour, not just around the block: a dog who has had his exercise watches instead of charging in.
Settle the cat up high, free to leave
On a piece of furniture, a shelf, a cat tree. She stays if she wants to, she leaves when she wants to: never a cat cornered with no way out.
Hold your dog on a long line and let him look for two or three seconds
Indoors, keep him at the end of a slack long line, a lead of 3 to 5 metres, a few metres from the perch, so you can move him away without a sudden pull. The moment he looks away from the cat on his own, say yes (your marker word, the little word that announces the reward is coming) and call him over to you. If he stays locked on the cat and will not look away, call him anyway, block his view by stepping in front, add distance and cut the session short: you will try again later, further away.
End it early, start again later
Three mini-meetings across the day are worth more than an hour face to face. If they sniff each other calmly, that is already a win.
In those very first days, do not tell him off for taking an interest in the cat
He is finding out about her, and the cat climbs up high to manage her own distance. The no and redirecting him onto a toy come later, over the following weeks, once he has understood the rule.
Being friends with his own cat does not mean loving all cats. Your dog can adore yours and chase the neighbour's: he files his own cat under family, not the others. Do not let him meet a cat he does not know while telling yourself he is used to cats.
With a rabbit, a ferret, a rodent or a bird, the risk of predation is far higher than with a cat: to many dogs, these are prey. Keep them an enclosed space the dog has no access to at all, never leave them together unless you are right there, and accept that quite often it stays two separate lives rather than a friendship. If your dog stares at the cage, trembling or whining, do not push any further and talk to a behaviourist.
Introducing your dog to the resident dog
With two dogs, the golden rule comes down to one word: keep moving, never stand still.
Swap their smells before the meeting
Let each of them sniff a bed or a cloth carrying the other's smell, at home, in peace. They already know each other a little by the time they actually meet.
Introduce them on a walk, on neutral ground
Never at one dog's home or the other's to begin with: a house is territory to defend, a walking path is not.
Start far apart, one on each side, going the same way
One handler and one dog on each side of the path, well apart, several metres, each on their own pavement, both heading in the same direction. Ideally one adult per dog: if you are on your own, ask someone close to you for a hand, otherwise do the introductions separately and only bring them closer when someone can help you. Nobody moves in yet, they are just getting used to the other's presence while on the move.
Close the gap little by little, long line slack
Move closer metre by metre, over several minutes. The newcomer stays at the end of a long line, a lead of 3 to 5 metres, hanging loose, slack, almost trailing on the ground: that way the dogs approach in a curve, from the side, and sniff each other's back end, instead of the stiff face-to-face that a tight lead forces on them. Your resident dog can stay loose if his recall is rock solid, otherwise a long line for him too.
Keep walking, do not stop
Movement takes the heat out of most tension. A little whine before they have even touched is perfectly normal.
Go home with both dogs
After a good ten minutes of relaxed walking side by side, take both dogs in at the same time. Sometimes it takes several shared walks over a few days before you try going in together: do not force it if walking side by side is not yet relaxed. The bowls and toys are already put away.
Let them set their own limits
A short growl saying stop to play that has got too much is communication, not a fight. You stay calm and you watch, and you only step in if it escalates, using the levels further down as your guide: keep an eye on it, slow down, or stop.
What can happen in the first few days
The cat shoots up high and hisses
- That is her normal way of coping, not a failed meeting.
- Let her sort out the distance on her own, do not lift her back down.
- When your dog looks away, mark it with a yes and reward him.
Your dog whines and fidgets with excitement
- That is emotion spilling over, not aggression.
- Move him away a little, let him come back down, start again calmly.
- A walk before the next session will take the pressure off.
They ignore each other completely
- That is very good news, not worrying indifference.
- There is nothing for you to trigger: carry on with life as normal.
- Plenty of happy households start with a long I have seen you, I will deal with you later.
Your dog freezes and stares at the running cat
- That silent lock-on to anything that moves deserves your full attention.
- Break the moment with a yes and a recall before he launches.
- If it keeps happening and it escalates, it is time to call a behaviourist.
The bowls and toys you put away at the start come back little by little. Feed each one in a separate corner or a separate room, with you watching, bowls well apart, and let nobody go near anyone else's bowl. Bring the toys and chews back one at a time, once the separate meals are going well, over the first few weeks. Each one also keeps a sleeping spot of their own through this transition.
Read the whole body, never one sign on its own, and know when to hand over to a professional.
Keep an eye on it
- Nose licking, yawning, a body that freezes for a second
- The cat stays perched and refuses to come down for hours
- One of them avoids the other constantly
Slow down and put distance back
- Growling that keeps coming back around a bowl, a bed or you
- Intense, silent lock-on to the animal that is moving
- An animal that stops eating or hides all the time
Stop, call a behaviourist
- Determined chasing of the cat, body tense and silent (risk of predation)
- A bite, or a fight that does not settle down on its own
- A meeting that goes wrong every single time
If a real fight breaks out, your goal is not to fix the problem there and then, only to separate them without getting bitten. Never put your hands between the two, or near their heads or collars: that is where you risk a bite. Start with a loud, sharp noise, or block their view of each other with something wide, a blanket, a board, a table top. Once they are apart, put them in two different rooms.
- AVSAB — Position Statement on Humane Dog Training (2021)
- Herron, Shofer & Reisner — Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods (2009)
- Coppinger & Coppinger — Dogs: a startling new understanding of canine origin, behavior and evolution (2001)
- Bradshaw, Blackwell & Casey — Dominance in domestic dogs: useful construct or bad habit? (2009)
Going further
Frequently asked questions
How do you get a dog and a cat to live together?
Put the bowls and toys away for the first few days, give the cat a high perch the dog cannot climb to, and keep the introductions short and calm. Swap their smells first, then mark with a yes the moment your dog looks away from the cat. Most households settle as soon as each animal has time to say things in its own way.
How do you introduce two dogs?
On a walk, on neutral ground that neither of them sees as their territory. Start far apart, one on each side, then close the gap little by little while walking in the same direction, the newcomer at the end of a slack long line. Take both dogs in together once the bowls are put away. Never a head-to-head meeting on a tight lead: that is what sets off a fight.
How do you introduce a kitten to a dog?
A kitten darting off can wake up the urge to chase, so watch very closely. With a dog who is already comfortable around cats: a few seconds of sniffing, then the kitten up high, free to leave. If your dog stares at the kitten, frozen and silent, instead of looking away, never leave them alone together and talk to a behaviourist.
How long before my dog and my cat accept each other?
Often a few days to a few weeks, each at their own pace. If they ignore each other, that is a good sign, not worrying indifference. Do not invent a problem where there is none: carry on with life as normal and let the relationship settle.
My adopted dog chases the cat, what should I do?
Tell the difference between excited play (he bounces, he gives up quickly) and a predatory lock-on (he freezes, he stares in silence, he launches all at once). In both cases, break the moment with a yes and a recall before he launches, and give him plenty of exercise every day. If the chasing is determined and it keeps coming back, do not leave them alone together and see a behaviourist.
Should you leave them alone together from day one?
No, you supervise them at first. If in doubt, keep them in two separate spaces when you go out, without making it a punishment, and the cat always keeps her high retreat. You ease off the supervision little by little, once the meetings under your eyes have become relaxed.
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