Border Terrier puppy - advice re cat intro

[FraggleRed]

I've finally agreed to get a puppy now that my children are older (14 and 8) and I'm confident they can give a dog space, be gentle and not grabby. Have done lots of research and feel a Border Terrier would fit our family well in terms of size, temperament, exercise requirements etc. Going to see a litter tonight. However, my partner, who I don't live with, has a cat. There is so much conflicting information on the Internet about Border Terriers and cats, some saying they can successfully be introduced at puppy stage and others saying completely avoid. Looking for advice from anyone who owns or has owned a BT please. My only previous dog experience has been with Border Collies.

Are you thinking about moving in with your partner?

No, no plans to live together at present. When the children are with their dad EOW I tend to stay with my partner at his home about 45 mins away though as he works some hours at weekends.

Hmm. My dog (Terrier) doesn't chase my cat but he chases all other cats. Your dog won't live with the cat so likely to think it's fair game I'm afraid

I have an 8 month old border terrier pup and a 13 year old ish cat. She wants to play with the cat. And kiss him. And love him. We keep them separate unless we can police her behaviour. He has lived with a dog (terrier hound cross) before so isn't phased. Actually the hardest thing we find is stopping HIM from approaching HER! He doesn't run from her which helps. If she gets to him before we do then he will just stand there and take it.

We've been training them bit by bit and we feel they will settle down in time but then they live together so are constantly exposed to each other. My sister has cats who will run as they are not dog savvy and whilst I doubt my dog will be a threat as she has been raised with a cat (and her breeder had cats and chickens which the adult terriers ignored) other cats will be fun to chase. She will be on the lead or separated from the cats when we go there.

We never formally introduced ours. We just set up complete separation and then let things go. It is taking a fair amount of management but is improving. If they are exposed when pup is small then it's likely the pup won't be a threat but unless you are prepared to put a fair amount of work in the pup will be a pest to the cat.

Most breeds of dog are cat safe if raised with them but doesn't mean to say they will ignore them! You have to have in mind what they were bred for. Terriers can grab and shake. Ours will always be separate when we are not at home when we start leaving pup for longer.

My last dog was a SOD with other cats. She had a strong prey drive though. Pup despite being a working terrier has yet to show the same level but then she is young.

Incidentally we think that the 'cat training' (to come to us for treats when he is around) has really helped her general focus when out and about. She will now to run to greet him then lay down (as long as he is the other side of the barrier) as we have heavily enforced calm around him.

My beloved border terrier and my cat got on fine no fights; they avoided one another and cat was fine as he was able to access areas of our house my border terrier could not (upstairs and bedrooms)

I have had terriers (another breed of terrier, but similar in temperament) along with cats. I have a friend with a Border who has cats, they get along very well. The key thing is getting them together as young as possible, and them spending time together. Your problem will be that your puppy won’t be mixing with the cat on a daily basis, so you will need to put a lot of work in. How old is the cat ?

Thanks for all your replies, they're really helpful. His cat is about 10 years old and primarily lives indoors. I had planned to visit more frequently with the puppy but keep them separate with a baby gate or similar so the cat can access her own spaces. I wouldn't ever be leaving them alone in the same area. He's very resistant to me getting any type of dog because of his cat.

I have a border (bloody amazing dogs) and when I got her I had 2 cats. She was a bit of a nightmare for barking at them and chasing them which I dealt with by making sure the cats had somewhere to go higher than the dog, but to be honest the cats soon put her in her place. My older cat (was 5 at the time) sulked and moved into the spare room for a week or so but is fine now, although she hates the dog, and the dog is scared of her a bit. My there cat (was 2 at the time) was absolutely fine, and they get on quite well now. The cat will rub noses with her, lick her etc and only objects when the dog tries to sniff his bum, then she gets a boff round the head.

However, I wouldnt trust her with a strangers cat as she would chase them given the chance so you do need to introduce the pup and cat pretty early on and get the used to each other.

I have a 10 month old Border terrier. I don't have a cat but next door's cat used to come in and out of my house all the time, I mean every day. For the first couple of months all was fine, the puppy was fascinated by the cat and just wanted to play. Then one day he decided that the cat was prey and that was it, poor cat can't come in anymore and my dog will bark at the cat if he sees it walking past the window and lunge and bark if he happens to be outside and sees the cat, he does this with every cat he sees mind not just next doors' one. I didn't do any kind of training though as it wasn't my cat and I actually thought that it would be fine as they got on initially but it wasn't to be. might have been different if he was there full time and was actually 'my' cat, but I doubt it to be honest.

Cats outside and cats inside are very different things, even the cat your dog lives with.

A lot of dogs live very happily inside with their cat but will bark and chase outside. My last one did. So it's not uncommon at all.

I think if you get them used to each other it COULD be ok. Our BT hated cats and birds and most other things really but he almost got the neighbours cat in our garden, it was a very scary moment for me and the cat. Bloody love BT's and their fiesty ways.

I have a terrier and he is same age as my cat. They were introduced as puppy/kitten (when he was not my dog) and they got along ok, wary of each other but would play, although dog would get OTT excited and scare the cat off by the end of every single time they were together. The cat and dog do not really understand each others body language and I think if they had fully grown up together they would. The dog wanting to play the cat finds aggressive and the cat hissing the dog finds exciting.

Long story short the dog ended up living with me and cat. The first few months were really tiring and I thought I had made a terrible mistake as dog became very territorial over what was already the cat territory.

The terrier instinct to chase is not something you can really teach out of them. He will chase a strange cat and be very territorial.

This has never really gone away but they have found a middle ground of sharing, the cat has to have safe high places to go, and spaces the dog cannot ever go. The dog ‘allows’ the cat to be in her high places in his space but will sometimes chase her if she comes down low to reassert his authority over his territory, although weirdly he allows her out in the garden and leaves her alone completely unless she jumps on a fence or the table. She is more of a house cat so he gets upset if she tries to leave ‘the territory’. They also can eat together - I don’t do this often, but they will eat next to each other and both come to me for treats as the food is more tempting than asserting territory over each other.

They never touch each other, and the couple of times he’s gone too far with her being over excited, she’s scared the crap out of him with her claws/hissing and he will retreat first every time and stop. He tries to bring her toys and she’s like ‘no bro, wtf back off’ and he is afraid of her

I will say it’s probably not going to work well to take a dog into a cat’s territory. She will probably just run away and hide as she doesn’t want to deal with a boisterous puppy. You need to just make sure the cat is kept safe, not aim for them to get along as that might never happen that’s just a bonus. They need high spaces

Personally - and I say this as someone with a dog and three cats - I wouldn't ever take my dog into someone else's home if they had a resident cat - especially when that cat isn't used to dogs. It's a recipe for disaster and if anything were to happen, your relationship with your partner would be destroyed overnight.

I would say you will either need to find care for your terrier EOW, or your partner will need to come to you instead (as cats can easily be left home alone for a weekend as long as you leave food and water).

My beagle lives with three cats - his breeder also had cats. Our two oldest were already in residence when he came home at 12 weeks, and we got the youngest when he was two. He's absolutely fine with them and they put him in his place if he's annoying, but if he sees a cat outside on a walk, or even in the garden, it's a whole different story - his prey drive kicks in and he chases.

I think if your plan is to take your dog into the cat's territory, your partner is right to be concerned and if I was him, it would an outright "no" - my cat's wellbeing would always come first. Cats are incredibly territorial and can become very unwell if they're stressed or anxious - it just wouldn't be fair.

If the dog was to live with the cat full-time, it would be different and you could do lots of slow introductions, but if they're only going to see each other twice a month, you'd be starting from scratch each time, and the stress on the poor cat (and the dog who just wants to chase) would be immense IMO.