Name changed and going to keep context brief. So I have a retriever and ended up with a litter of orphaned kittens. At first she was wary of the cats and didn’t like the noise they made so stayed away. The cats have been in their own area of the house and the dog hasn’t been bothered. Now the kittens are getting older and approaching adoption age however I would like to keep them until they have all been neutered.
I have now given the kittens more space but the dog wants to chase them. I keep her on a lead around them and I’ve using the leave it command which she’s starting to understand (she’s only 1 so good at leaving objects but we’re still working on training) however the kittens are completely unbothered most of the time and actually appear to intentionally be winding her up by lying as close to her as possible. Then hissing when she moves at all.
Of course we’ve done all the basics. Made sure kittens have an escape route etc but how do we move forward? There is a kitten we’d love to keep if viable but need to know I can trust the dog. We’re currently at the cats having free roam and dog on a lead unless there’s a door between them but is this viable? Until yesterday the cats were in their own section 24/7 and the dog didn’t see them much.