We have had our collie cross puppy for about two months, she's now 20 weeks old. She is lovely, as well behaved as you could ever expect a puppy to be and has settled in to our family brilliantly. Except for the cats. We have two, aged four and five, who have never lived with a dog before. They don't like her and have retreated to the upstairs of our house, which they can access from the garden at first floor level and where the puppy is not allowed. We still feed them downstairs, they come down to eat after she is shut in her crate overnight. Unfortunately on the rare occasion they have encountered each other face to face, they run and she tries to chase.
Any tips for helping this relationship or should we just leave them to work it out over time? At least we don't mind having upstairs windows open all the time at the moment, but I'd like to be able to close them next winter.