Introducing Kittens

Training and behavior topics, guidelines, and tips for Chow Chows.

Moderator: chowadmin

Post Reply
AlairaK
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:25 am

Introducing Kittens

Post by AlairaK »

Hello All!

I was wondering if anyone could come up with some breed-specific tips for introducing an established, adult chow to two new kittens? Our Mona is a mixed breed, but it her chow that comes out through and through in her. Everything I read about chows sounds like it was written just for Mona! My experience with Mona is what many say about chows - she is very protective of her home, but actually not aggressive otherwise.

Don't know if this is a chow thing or just her, but she really likes new and interesting things. She'll become very fixated on them (i.e., if we play with a laser pointer, she will remember where the pointer has been put away for a full day. Sometimes she remembers where I've hidden a toy for months). This is my biggest concern with her and cats. I know you're supposed to give cats their own room and wait for the dog to stop reacting to the cat before formal introductions, but Mona tends to fixate and remember things.

Other than that, I don't actually believe she would hurt a cat. She barks at cats and dogs if they run past our house, but when I had a chinchilla, she never reacted viciously to him. One time she did try to nip him, but not so quickly that I couldn't protect him, and she was VERY amenable to correction about the behavior. It seemed as if she truly just didn't know what the boundaries were at first.

She also caught a baby possum once, but didn't shake it or hurt it, just gently dropped it at our feet. So I have no sense that she would go ballistic or too quickly hurt a kitten, but I do think it might be hard to go the traditional route of "just waiting until she ignores the scent" - that's just not her personality.

I know with so many other things, learning about the chow breed tendencies has helped me with her training, so I was hoping maybe someone here could give me a few nuggets of advice or strategies for integrating chows with other animals.

Thanks,

Kari
Post Reply