How to Train Your Cat with Linlin Cao

Naomi chats with Linlin Cao about how training her two cats helped with the integration of two dogs into their household.

In this episode we discuss:

Simon: 7-year-old cat

Tiffany: 6-year-old cat

Niko the dog

Sunny the dog

Simon was their first pet – adopted just after graduate school, thinking a cat would be an easier pet to adopt first.
Tiffany was a little stray kitten found in Chinatown, Houston. Was going to be taken to the shelter before Lin Lin’s husband fell in love with her.
Niko was supposed to only be a foster pup but ended up a permanent member of the family
Sunny, a lovable retriever is the baby of the family

Took Simon a long while to get used to Tiffany. He was scared of her.
Back then, Lin Lin didn’t know much about animal behavior but had read that sometimes older cats can be scared of kittens.
Simon had never really interacted with other cats before
Kept them separated for about a month
Used a baby gate
Always interaction with supervision

Niko was a shelter dog.
Had been fostered but had very bad kennel cough so it stressed him out
Was not planned to go home with Lin Lin but one thing lead to another and he was in the car ready to go to his foster home to recover from his kennel cough
But he never left!
The introduction to the cats went very poorly
Was only 6 months old and starting to be very hyperactive
Very reactive to the cats
Digging at the door to get to the cats if they were locked away

Niko was already crate trained
Installed a baby gate for double protection
Focused on management
Niko could go about his business despite knowing the cats are in the house instead of trying to get at them

Started off with reactive training which produced a negative result
Increased levels of stress
Had to keep increasing the correction – obviously not working
Switched to positive reinforcement training
Things got better with the cats
Lin Lin read up on body language and learned to understand his behavior much more

Focus on behavior helped minimize blowups
Subtleties of body language helped signpost behavior before it escalated
Body language that doesn’t look problematic can be early indicator of behavior that will cause problems
Allowing both animals to feel safe to do normal things before introducing them
Otherwise very synthetic, one-side interaction
Different animals like different things
Simon likes to be chased by the dogs. Tiffany doesn’t.
Tiffany needs high places to feel safe when the dogs are in the room

Introduced during a time when Niko wasn’t doing well in his sports and Lin Lin was looking for a dog to do sports with
Sunny tried to play Simon who wasn’t scared of him
Sunny has displeasure in his elbow and needed surgery – recovery didn’t go as well as hoped
Had a limp and needed more surgery
Was crate-rested until two years old
Once Sunny was able to be released, he was suddenly a lot bigger than the others were used to
Introductions need to start over
Did a lot of focused training with him
Whiplash turn
Sit on mat

Crated or not crated
Niko since about 1 years old has been fine to just stay with the cats during the day
Is crate trained so is sleeping in crate at night
Learn to trust dog and cats when not home – if Niko is fine when they are home, starting in small periods to trust he’ll be fine when they are not
Behaviors become habit so animals can self-regulate when presented with trigger
At the beginning, Sunny could not be in the same room as Simon and still focus but now they can

Tiffany is not really interested in much to get her treats. Just comes and asks.
Simon loves to train and asks for it all the time
Does 15 tricks

Niko was very highly strung
Didn’t know if it was going to work out but didn’t want to think that it wouldn’t
Didn’t want to put anyone in danger

Cats could be separated into a room, especially if they were together
Did a lot of training which kept them separate
Crate training so they would be okay being left alone when people are home as well as out
When puppies are tired, put them in the crate to let them nap easily