She's 7 months and therefore I suppose in the dreaded adolescent stage. Actually very loving, house trained, will sit, give paw, food oriented so that will help with training. But. We also have 2 cats and she's a bit 'keen' around them. There are stair gates all over the house (she has now learned she can jump over some of the if she's desperate enough- not good) although the cats are staying out all day and coming in at night only. So she's not seen them much and when she has, they're running away. I logically KNEW it would be hard work, mentally as much as anything, but I'm feeling very worried about the cat situation. Although she's never lived with cats, I was told she has never 'reacted' to them, ignored when she's seen them out and about or in her fosterer neighbours house. I know it's very early days but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed already! I need to pull it together and get some perspective! Things I am doing:
Trying to work on her not pulling on lead - have harness.
Working on recall on long lead.
Asking dc to ignore over excited greeting behaviour as she's nipped once or twice on this state (tiny nibbles).
Trying to get positive association when she sees cats, so treats galore and distracting. (She didn't bark when she saw them yesterday so that's a start!)
Giving high value treats (kongs stuffed with frozen stuff in her crate as she needs to spend some time in the crate once I am back at work).
God, any other advice would be great. A lot of this is me being a worried I know!