new here
Sadly my lab died in November and am now thinking of adopting a rescue lab :) ,have any of you done this and how has it worked out.I have 5 cats and so must be extra careful in my choice as I want us to be happy together,any advice? :?: :?:

Hi there So sorry to hear you lost your lab, but glad to hear that you are thinking of helping a rescue one. Some dogs that come through rescue may well have lived with cats in the past, which would hopefully give you a head start. Some experts suggest that before you engineer any encounters, you place something that smells of the dog in the cats' safe area eg upstairs, and vice versa, so they can investigate each others' scent. The general rule with introducing cats and dogs is: restrain the dog (eg by using a lead), not the cat and let the cat have a safe, accessible place to retreat to. Praise and reward the dog with yummy food treats (eg cheese or frankfurter morsels) for NOT chasing and for staying calm. You might have to start encounters from a distance far enough away for a dog to stay calm. If a cat is pretty calm and friendly, I get the dog to sit on one side of me (on a lead, with my foot on it if necessary so I have 2 free hands) and I praise and give (or gently toss) food treats to the cat and the dog on either side of me. Thus, both get rewarded for staying close and staying calm in the presence of the other and they get a chance to associate each other with big rewards from me. This gives something to build on. It's always best not to let the dog make a mistake and start chasing, hence the lead. If the dog chases and discovers what fun that might be, then your job is made more difficult. If the dog discovers instead that he can't chase the cat (cos of the lead) and that he gets big rewards for not chasing, then you stand a very good chance of him learning that is the best course of action. I make sure I am always aware of a dog's body language. If my youngest (and naughtiest) rescue looks like she's about to start bouncing round the cats (great sport in her view) I give her a warning of 'ah-ah!'. If she continues, I say 'too bad' and remove her from the room for a minute or so. When I let her back in, if she starts again, I go straight to the 'too bad' and the time-out. With my more nervous cats, I take things much more slowly. I use a baby gate on the stairs and the cats tend to stay upstairs unless they know the coast is clear. This means the dogs can't just wander upstairs and cause trouble. Then when there are meetings, I control them as described above - again, praising and rewarding good behaviour from the dogs. Whenever there is any kind of cat/dog encounter in which my youngest dog behaves well of her own free will eg walking past a cat sensibly in a narrow space, I always verbally praise her so she knows she did the right thing :D I hope this gives you some ideas. :D

When I brought Ben home,upstairs was out off bounds as it was a safe area for my cat.She (my cat) would sit on the stairs and tease him :roll: ,4 stairs out off reach!He got his nose scratched a few times,but they are the best off friends now.But he hates all other cats :roll:

Hello Bluebell! Welcome to the site. I lost my elderly Lab Bess in September and I know just how low you are feeling. My old gal Bess loved cats! More so than dogs actually! She and Tinkerbell lived together for 14 years and got along fine - some dogs just are not bothered. Willow - our Rescue from LRRSE 'tolerates' Tinkerbell - she is our 18 year old cat. We have a gate at the bottom of the stairs and she really just lives upstairs now. We just use to bring Tinkerbell down to see Willow and let them sniff each other. We have to use a very stern LEAVE and she is fine with Tinks but with other cats, I'm afraid the same cannot be said. I fear she would rough them up! Our new Pup Finn - a working Cocker - is petrified of cats, guinea pigs etc etc. To be honest, it's not a bad thing because he leaves well alone! I am sure if you decide to go ahead with a Rescue, there will be a dog to suit you. Many of the write ups on the Dogs for rehoming say the dogs are fine with cats so fingers crossed. Let us know how you get on! XX

Frank came to us having never lived with a cat before. Upstairs is the cats safe area and we have a safety gate at the bottom of the stairs. Although Frank used to chase Scratchy at the beginning they pretty much ignore each other now. Frank has been swiped across the nose a few times. We still have the gate though as although he no longer chases the cat, he can't resist the cats food.

Our 15 yr old cat got along fine once Kala grew out of her puppy stage. Rufous then came into our lives through LRRSE - no cat background so we were back to the drawing board again with the cat taking residence upstairs again. She soon got fed up with it and took it upon herself to come down. Rufous barked at her in the beginning but some stern leave messages and then a squirty water bottle had the matter sorted in a fortnight! Think because Jenny was used to Kala made it a little easier and Rufous was almost 4 when he came to us. He is a fairly laid back dog but will still give cats a chase in the garden! Always feed the cat first is my motto so the newcomes knows their place in the pecking order. Things are so good now after 2 months I can leave them all downstairs at night. So it can work, just be consistent. Good luck in your search BTW