Puppy wants to play with cats, but they hiss. How to manage safely?

Question

My puppy wants to play with the cats but they keep hissing at him. The cats are usually upstairs so he always tries to go up there but we refrain him and tell him no and he cries. Should we let him play with them? How do we make sure nothing bad happens? How do we let him know that he can't play with them if he cant?

Lindsey Edwards MVB, BSc, IVCA · Accepted Answer

In many cases puppies and cats will learn to tolerate peacefully each others behaviors but it is unlikely the cats will want to actually play with him. There are often teething troubles and it may result in the puppy getting scratched until he learns to keep his distance, which if in the eye can create painful ulcers but if you don't want to keep them permanently segregated I suggest you work on clicker training the puppy to help redirecting his behavior and use a child gate or other escape barrier to allow the cats to leave the room but keep the puppy in so they can avoid him if necessary

Puppy wants to play with cats, but they hiss. How to manage safely?

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