Sorry this is so long-felt the dog’s history was important. My husband and I adopted two sibling lab mix puppies from our local shelter in 2003. We lost one to lymphoma in 2010 when he was 7. Our old neighbors asked that we take in a stray lab mix (Let’s call him Bleu) that had been hanging out in their yard about 2 months later or they would have to take him to the shelter. I reluctantly agreed. Bleu was aggressive with chewy toys and food around our other dog (who took him doooowwwwnnn when he was being a jerk) and pretty much grrr’d at us for two years. Bleu had (and still has) a startle reaction to being touched when he’s asleep (fun when he hogs my side of the bed) and hates other dogs (even tiny puppies at the vet’s office!) However, he has never reacted to cats at the vet’s office or at the pet store when we see them at adoption events.
We lost our other original dog in 2013 and always felt bad that we brought a new dog in when he was missing his brother (he seemed very depressed when our dog died and I hoped that the new dog would bring him a little cheer but they hated each other). I would have loved to get more rescue dogs but decided not to do this while this dog is still with us based on his absolute hate for other dogs. He has mellowed somewhat over the years but still didn’t like other dogs.
My 15 year old son asked to adopt a cat 2 months ago. We are not cat people, neither my husband nor I have ever had one and they have always freaked me out with the stabby shanks in their claws. We discussed it for a few weeks and decided ok, we are committing to this. We adopted a 5 month old kitten about 3 weeks ago who is adorable (I am still not comfy with the shanks but I love her. she of course, loves my husband the most, my son second, and I am a far far third).
We kept the dog and cat away from each other for a week (cat in my son’s room) and then monitored their contact. They have been around each other for two weeks and I think it’s going ok. They kind of ignored each other initially, then there was sniffing on both ends (haha, literally). They have booped noses, she has swatted at him and hit him on the back in passing (no shanks) and he hasn’t reacted. A few times I thought he purposely tried to put his chewy by her in a playful attempt, which he would have never done in the past. She has even had drinks from his water bowl and he doesn’t do anything but there are a few times that he gets up and goes after her when she’s running around playing. He growls in a high whiney way and his tail is wagging but he just seems freaked out that she can jump straight up in the air. tonight he jumped up and went after her. How can you tell what’s playful and what’s “This is my house and my people” aggressiveness? We are in a learning curve still. thanks in advance.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/jtaaxz/old_rescue_dog_and_new_kittenwhat_is_playing_and/
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