You might reach out to BRAT and ask if they have any foster's in your area that would dog-sit for you. They seem to have Basenji foster parents in every city, so they are experienced with Basenji's and would be able to adapt to short stays. Offer a "donation" of sorts and make it very clear that you are not surrendering your little lady. (worth a shot)
Introducing B & cat!
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Does anyone have suggestions how to introduce my B, Sahara, to my son's cat Chloe? His cat is about a year old and he just moved back home for awhile (college) and he brought his cat, now I have a problem b/c Sahara loves to chase cats. His cat is declawed and I don't know what to do. Right now she is staying in his room until she gets use to moving, Sahara knows she is in there and will try to get in there, (too smart for her own good). What do you think I should do?
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Baby gate the entrance to his room to start with. I know these things are pain in the butts but (especially because the cat is declawed) it will create a safe place for the cat to go). Once the cat gets settled in there then you can open the door so they can see each other. If Sahara can jump one gate then make it two, this is best for the safety of both dog and cat. Again it will create a HUGE inconvenience but for saftey and sanity it it the best thing.
I really think its just a dog thing to chase cats no matter what. I say this because I do have a cat but Reggie will still chase a cat if its outside and runs.
Next does Sahara know the "leave it" command? If so start strengthening it it, if not start doing it. Here is how I as taught the command.
Take two DIFFERENT treats and but one in each hand and cup them (to avoid stealing) and hold them out in front of you. What ever hand she goes to (lets say left) first tell her "leave it" if she goes back to the same hand say it again. When she moves to the right hand immediately say "take it" at the same time giving up the treat. Repeat several times using the left hand as the "leave it" and the right as the "take it" then break for a bit and switch hands. Its a great mental simulation for the dogs and can be done anywhere and time, and its best to do in 5-10 minute intervals. The reason I say two different treats is so they don't smell the same and confuse the dog. Also the command of "leave it" means the dog CANNOT have what you tell them to "leave", under no circumstances should they take what you tell them to leave. Of course in the beginning they will, but it's one of the most important commands to teach your pet because you never know what they will want to put in their mouth.
So after she's got the treat part down you can move on to the cat part, tell her "leave it" when interested in the cat and give her something else to entertain herself using the command "take it". It might take quite some time with this so have lots of patients. And make sure in the end that cat has a safe place to escape to.
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Thanks for your fast response, Sahara does know the Leave It command and does very good with it. She loves to chase cats also, I have a large black cat that lives outside and in my garage, (Sahara can't fit through her cat door). If Sahara spots my cat outside she will chase and chase until the cat runs behind my underground fencing. I think we will have to give the cat away b/c Sahara has such a strong prey drive. If the cat wasn't declawed I would just put her outside and in the garage with my other cat, but she can't live outside. The cat will not have a life outside my son't room which is not fair to her. My son said he is going to see if his old roommate wants the cat, he did tell him if he had to give the cat away to let him know. He has a cat also and they got along great. Sahara is a alpha female and she rules, haha!!!!
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That is a problem with declawed cats… our cat was declawed too... and a whimp... he would never stand up to the pups... and therefore we had to separate the house with gates (perm gates as baby gates didn't cut it).... the cat lived upstairs.. and it is even harder with an adult dog... I think that your best choice is to find a lovely home for the cat..... and I sure do agree that living in one room is not fair to her either
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The best thing a cat can do is to stand its ground and hiss a the dog. If they run, then the dog thinks it's a game! So depending on your cat, you might be okay for an introduction if the cat is going to be assertive enough. Otherwise I'd suggest putting the cat in her carrier, then bringing her into the dog's space. Make sure the dog is tired out so she doesn't get too wound up at the presenting of the cat! Ideally the cat will hiss and spit and let the pup know who's boss.
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Standing their ground does no good with my B's. That's an open invitation to turn around, shove their butts to the cats faces and when the cat lets off for a minute-BAM! they nab her. Unfortunately, my cats live downstairs and the dogs upstairs. The cats still get a lot of interaction, as there are people living all over the house. I do have two cats now, two 'disappeared' (I think coyotes got them) and the one is a great mouser, but she still has to stay downstairs. Shadow and Sugar are really good with them, I think there is a picture of the two of them sleeping with her, but still, if she runs, she's toast. I like Pat's idea about separating areas with baby gates. Sugar will jump them, but Shadow will not, so it depends on if your B is a jumper/climber or not. So if you can manage maybe one end of the house for the cat and the other for the dog-that might work as well. If you have a hallway for eg you may be able to put up a walk through babygate up and the cat could have the bedroom areas (since they sleep, what? 18 hrs a day) and the pup could have the activity area of livingroom/kitchen,dining, etc.
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We had our cat at first and introduced our first B with him outside, a very good way of introduction I think.
In a garden or someting with not much noise, cat on the leach and let them smell eachother.
Then after a few minuts, take both inside.
Usually, a cat will "dissapear" for the first hours, thats their way to think it over.
After a while they come out of there hiding space and look at the B, from a distance.This is how it went at our place, the cat is the boss now, the play with eachother and chase eachother. But also some cuddling
(3 dogs, and a cat.) our Cat is playing with our rat too… -
My cat was here for nearly 15 years before I got my B puppy. The puppy of course wants to play, and the cat hates her with a passion. The cat stands her ground and growls, hisses, spits and goes after Shaye with claws raking - the one thing that perhaps is going to save my B is that she is learning the "leave it" command, and is starting to ignore the cat when I give the command. They will never be friends, but eventually I'm hoping the dog ignores the cat through the "leave it" command. The command is even beginning to save my couch, pillows, chair legs, etc., etc. - keep at it!
