I think we went wrong somewhere with introducing our dog and cats. Any advise on where we went wrong and how to fix it?

After finding your website today I have discovered I have been doing a lot of things right when training our new stray and I have even more to learn. I plan to order the basic training DVD as well as one of the books. I loved when you said "Don't take a completely untrained dog to obedience class!" I had planned to wait about a month, or until he masters sit, stay, come, lay down and leash walking with me in the house, neighborhood and yard, and many of your comments confirmed what I have been doing out of what I felt seemed like common sense. My question for you is in regard to introducing the dog to the cats. I think I rushed it, though I pretty much did the stuff you posted on the articles on your website.

Our dog is very friendly and is smart, and he is already learning "who's the boss." In adapting him to our cats, we are trying to teach him that they are the "TOP DOG" since they were here first. He is curious and at first barked in a friendly way, but has quickly learned not to bark or chase, and to always approach slowly. Because he is so smart (Poodle/Bishon) he has learned very quickly, and he is not at all aggressive towards the cats. He would like to play though?

We did give separate living areas, and we have crated the dog at night. We allow the cats free reign over the house when dog is asleep, and we put the dog to bed an hour before us so cats can socialize with us, since dog is getting 500% more time than them at the moment because of training.

One of our cats is still a bit leery of him, but is adapting well. He still fluffs up, but holds his ground without fear nor with aggression. The other cat refuses to have anything to do with adapting to the dog. For the first two weeks, we had her food and litter box upstairs, and we kept the dog downstairs. After two weeks we moved the food back downstairs, and when we saw her eating a few times. Then we took the litter box downstairs so the cats had to come down to use it, Both cats came down to eat and also socialized with us in the presence of the dog the very same day. We were thrilled. Then we put the second litter box back into use upstairs so they could use the up or the downstairs box and boom: kitty stays upstairs and doesn't come down to eat, sleeping about 22-23 hours a day (she normally sleeps 18-20), and of course she is losing some weight. For a six pound cat, one ounce is like ten pounds on a person, so I am really concerned about her.

Should we start all over again? She has an eating disorder, so her eating habits are a touchy thing to mess with. Moving her food threw her for a loop both times, so if I move it back upstairs, I am fearful that she will see this as a signal to stay upstairs forever. She does not seem to FEAR the dog, but she simply seems to shrivel in disgust at his presence in our home. I am unwilling to keep a new animal at the expense of our old animal, and I am hoping you might have advice, since we absolutely enjoy our dog, and really want to keep him.

We also introduced the animals quietly and under controlled conditions to help the cats feel a little more secure about the dog, and to help the dog's curiosity abate.This really helped both dog and cat, as long as we didn't let the time go for more than 3-6 minutes at a time.

Feel free to tell me if I am doing something dumb and am not seeing it.

Emily

PS. I saw you recommended an electric collar and a Prickly Collar (I don't know what it's called". For our very mild tempered dog, we have found a "head Lead" works. It's a collar that is connected to the lead right under the chin. Works for our dog much like the electric collar seems to work for other dogs.