Introducing Blind Lab to Kitten

[FinleysMom]

Hi,

We have a 9 yo chocolate lab that lost her sight a year ago, and an 8 yo yellow lab. We recently added a 10 week old kitten to our family. We've been doing supervised "visits" between the dogs and the kitten for the last 2 and 1/2 weeks - keeping the dogs and the kitten separated all other times. The interactions with the yellow lab are going nicely - slowly, but nicely! However, the chocolate lab wants to gnaw on the kitten when she gets right up to him. She's not aggressively looking for the kitten, more like obsessed and curious about finding kitty. She rarely just chills out and lays down when she knows the kitten is near. She gets a little aggressive when she's almost touching the kitten - that's when she'll suddenly open her mouth and want to chew on kitty! The aggressiveness has me very concerned. I have to be on top of both the kitten and the dog to ensure the kitten's safety. I don't know how we can progress to a peaceful environment when I have to be on "bouncer" duty when the chocolate lab is near. When kitty swipes at the dog with his paw/claws, it only brings out more aggression in the dog, so while this works great with the yellow lab to keep boundaries, it's backfiring in this situation.

Any suggestions on how I might work to integrate the two? How can I calm down the lab and get her to just go about her business when the kitten is near?

Thank you!
FinleysMom

[Christine]

Good morning...sorry we didn't get right back to you. I don't have the answer, but I know someone who might. She's our own dog whisperer for blind and deaf dogs. Hang in there, I will send her your question and let you know when she answers. This is kind of scary to me. It almost sounds like your blind lab thinks the kitten is a toy...her toy.

[Christine]

Just got this answer from Karen. (You might also find some more tips in the Blind and Deaf Pets tutorials). Let us know how things go.

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I would suggest the time tried & favorite. Put pup on short lead and allow kitten run of house. Whatever their symbol for NO is, pup will be easily and quickly corrected. If only blind, ,sometimes a loud clap of hands and a NO is sufficient. Interruption is key and not to let it grow. Growling is bad. Kitty will also learn bad behaviour from it. How about crating kitten in the room and let dog get to know it. It is the unknown that is sparking the behaviour I believe. The kitten may be a toy, may be the enemy, the dog does not know. So I ALWAYS slowly introduce every single animal in my house, cat and dog. And kittens are kept away from dogs. I used to foster kittens and they never shared the same space, they had a bedroom or a cage in the LR. But they were only short term. In the long term, the dog corrections must be the main thing. Short lead attached to belt and loud corrections would be my suggestions. And a safe place for kitten to escape to.

[critters]

This is kind of scary to me. It almost sounds like your blind lab thinks the kitten is a toy...her toy.

You know, that's a good point. When my sister's Golden, Harley, was young he thought my Baby was a chew toy, even when she was on my shoulder. Harley eventually grew out of it; he wasn't ever trained for manners. Luckily, he wasn't mean.