|
I would appreciate any advice anyone could give me on this matter. I don't really think we need another dog, but my mom insists SHE needs a dog for companionship (even though Sneakers is at home all the time!). I apparently have no say. Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest. Thanks in advance for your assistance. A: Your worries aren't far from true. First of all you need to make sure Sneakers gets quite a few extras. Get them seperate toys, (make sure you pick out Sneaker's favorite) and make the occasion a good one. You might have to worry about Sneaker becoming territorial and peeing where he shouldn't. For now you should confine them from each other and allow them to smell each other without physical contact. They need seperate toys, dishes, everything. (Otherwise they might feel the need to compete with each other for everything, which could start an aggression between them. Whenever you have them together, you need to slather on the affection to Sneakers. Popcorn will be too busy trying to accomadate to the new house. Don't worry about tons of affection right now (save it for when Sneaker's can't see, or he'll be very unhappy with that) You say that Sneaker's is very spoiled, and he is a little older, too.. and truthfully, he might not ever accept the idea of a new dog in the house. The most you can do is mediate. Hopefully this wont' be the case. Popcorn probably won't be much of a problem due to his young age. Sneaker's is going to need a watchful eye and a tender hand in the beginning, just be sure to be there for both of them (Seperately!). Introduce them slowly, and dont' leave them together unattended at first; not until all signs of aggression have receded. As for bloodshed, keep them both on leashes, or on other sides of fences, where they can see and (most importantly) smell each other, but not downright get to each other. When these meetings seem to harbor no bad feelings, then put them both on a leash (have a friend hold Popcorn) and let them sniff each other and see how they react. Please let me know how it turns out!? Different dogs have different tempermants, and this might all be just unneeded advice. |
|
|
|
A: First of all, if there is anything on the counter breakable, pack it up for the duration of this exercise. Now, anytime you SEE your cat jumping on the counter, try a sharp "No"...if this is ignored, accompany it by throwing a rolled up magazine NEAR your cat, Not at it. After this, and when the cat gets the idea he's not welcome on the counter, you need to reinforce this by putting booby traps on the counter, perhaps by balancing the same magazines on the edge where it will fall when the cat jumps. By now he should know the "magazine" Never let your cat get away with anything which could be harmful to him, no matter how bad you feel, you must reprimand him! Another suggestion would be to buy a bag of balloons and sit on the ground and blow them up. When kitty comes to investigate, burst one in his face. It won't hurt him, but it certainly will startle him, which is what you want it to do. Repeat this with another balloon and another til the cat is scared by the loud bangs and simply goes away. So now just tape the balloons wherever you want kitty to stop going and he should definitely be avoiding it! Note: I've recieved many emails telling me to use a squirt gun, though I was aware of this, my cat totally ignores it. It never ocurred it might still work with other cats. Try this out! Squirt your cat with a squirt of water when it jumps on the counters. If your cat likes water as much as mine, however, it might not work after the 5th or so time. Some might have gotten the idea of "jumping on counter equals water blast." What's funny is they might come running to YOU for protection. |
|
A: Though it
isn't a bad idea to change your litter that often anyways, here's some
insight:
|
|
A: Seems to
me that when your orange tabby cried, you came running. What you need to
do is simply curb your responding to his meowing. Even if his request of
wanting you to get up (to feed him?) seems reasonable, stop him with a
firm "No" and back it up (be consistent, don't submit
|
|
A: Every time
you see your cat scratching something, you have to quickly pick your cat
up
|
