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Cindy- Thanks!!

He's a heeler mix and is about 17 weeks old. He's a bundle of energy!

Oh, you are in for some FUN times! LOL! I have a 7 year old blue heeler and a 1 year old red heeler! The young one is a riot! He's go-go-go all the time! The 7 year old is laid back couch potato. The young one annoys him by trying to get him to play all the time.

All I can say is...obedience classes! They really help! :-)I want to put them as my avatar but I don't have a pic of them on a website to link to.

Sorry to everyone else for hijacking this thread to talk about dogs! At least we're not talking about body functions! LOL!

Cindy

I'm having a hard time replying to any posts today, so hopefully this goes through!

I have Chechu in obedience/agility training because otherwise he would go bonkers and eat everything, LOL! We also have in at doggy day camp once a week which is a great place for him to socialize and get some puppy anxiety out.

Our 6 yr old lab mix can completely relate to your 7 yr old, LOL! I have to take Chechu out just so she can get some rest.

I'd love to see your babies sometime

I have been really wanting a dog and reading all of these posts makes me want one more!!

This is completely off topic, but has anyone introduced a dog into a home with cats (who are spoiled and run the house...) would a puppy or an older dog be a better option?

I love my cats and hate to disrupt their life, however I think we can offer a good home to a dog also.

My dog is not supposed to be in a home with cats (according to the humane society, I'm sure because he had never been exposed to them,) so naturally we left him at my aunt's 2 weeks after we got him so she could babysit him while we went away for the weekend.

She has 2 dogs and 5 cats.

I don't think Randall has ever had such a good time. He LOVES going to her house. All he does is chase the cats, and while he is the fastest dog I've ever seen, he never caught any of them. They enjoyed torturing him, too.

So, I think it depends on the dog. When I was a little girl, we had 2 dogs and a cat, and they all slept on the same rug together. We have old film of when my mom was a kid - they had a farm with a barn cat. The cat actually had the dog babysit her kittens while she went hunting - we have lots of footage of this!

I think it helps if the dog is a puppy when they are introduced.

Chaco...

Any dog would be just fine...they will chase the cats, the cats will hiss (or go further and have to bloody the dog's nose). After that, problem solved...dog will know that cats are ouchy when confronted.

This could all happen in a matter of minutes, hours, or days. Won't take long.

Elise

One thing you could do is adopt a dog from a rescue group that has their dogs in foster homes...many of those dogs have been tested with cats and the fosters can tell you if they would be okay with cats.

My heelers would CHASE cats. They come unglued when they see a cat when we're on a walk. My older heeler can spot them a mile away, I'm convinced. Now, he's never been HURT by a cat, maybe that would change things...but he doesn't back down when challenged and might attack the cat if it hurt him. The young one would probably make a game out of chasing and tormenting a cat, that's what he does to my old Sheltie. She give back as good as she gets, though! (Bait the Sheltie...what a fun game!)

Cindy

People are sooooo narcissistic, it's just disgusting. Is nothing sacred anymore??

I don't agree with the theory that the animals will just figure it out by themselves, unless you're starting with a small puppy. My late Doberman was indifferent to my elderly cat when we first adopted him, but as the newness of his new forever home wore off, his interest in the cat grew to a point where she went into hiding and we NEVER saw her anymore. So we got a second dog to occupy his energy, and he started leaving the cat alone and balance was restored.

Foster home dogs are great, I hope that one day dog pounds are a thing of the past- only foster homes, no cages.

I was telling my animal loving friend today that wouldn't it be great if one day there were no homeless animals, and people would have to get on a waiting list, and fill out forms and be screened to adopt an animal, like adopting a child? There are just too many homeless animals out there.

Cindy