Advice for safe big dog/cat meetings
I am looking for advice concerning my dog who has a prey drive only towards cats, and trying to safely introduce her to a cat. I want to start off by saying rehoming the animals is not an option, but permanent separation in the home while we live with the owner of the cats is if absolutely necessary.
We have a large pitbull terrier mix who is about 4 years old. She does not have an issue with kids, small dogs, birds, bunnies, etc. she has only ever reacted poorly towards cats. She is generally a pretty laid back, mild energy dog. We are currently staying with my family that has two adult cats. One completely avoids her and wants nothing to do with her, the other has lived with dogs his whole life and is very curious about her. They’ve smelled each other through closed doors, the cat will even stick his paws under sometimes and she doesn’t charge or bite. When they come face to face, however, it’s like the dog “checks out” from us mentally, cries, tenses up, whale eyes, etc. The cat stands his ground, he will hiss and has even run up and smacked the glass door when she’s outside. We are not naive to our dogs strength, and just want to do this in a way where the cats safety is not at immediate risk. Our next step as of now is to put the cat in a kennel and the dog in her muzzle and let them get face to face, but what can we do to help redirect a dog in that “checked out state”? It becomes quickly difficult to regain her attention, and she does not respond to food or toy rewards in this situation. Any real advise is very appreciated 😊