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Many people don't think you
can mix chows & cats. While it is true that many chows have a strong
prey drive here is a true story that shows you can teach an 'old dog new
tricks'!
Cats
& CHOwS
The followIng
story Is from a personal frIend:
| Our
first chow was named So Long Achoo but we called him Chu & he was a cat
hater. We use to tie him
out on a run in the backyard & the neighbor's cat
would come by & torment him on a daily basis since she
had learned where his
lead stopped. But one day she misjudged the distance & Chu grabbed her
& shook her. i yelled at him & he let her go but the damage had already
been done. Thankfully after extensive surgery & a big
vet bill she was
ok. But, i decided i was going to teach him to get along with cats. |
| i
got a small kitten and made sure she was well protected from Chu---kept
her in a large crate in another room. Little by little i would allow Chu to
sniff the crate & look at the kitten. He would try to paw at the crate
& i would give him a firm 'NO! Be Nice Boy!' i started to bring the
crate into the kitchen when i was doing things there as Chu was my shadow. He
would be right there sniffing, crying & laying in front of the crate staring
at the kitten. The kitten would play cuff at him. On and on this
went for some time. |
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Then,
i started to bring the kitten
out of the crate in another room so he could
see me handling her through the
child gates. After a few days of this he stopped whining with envy.
Next, i started to sit with the kitten in my arms high enough up so Chu could
not reach her & i could easily stand up should he get crazy. i
held the kitten over his head & let him sniff her, always telling him 'Good boy', 'Everybody be nice' and 'Everybody be friends' in the softest tones
i could use. Then, i moved the kitten to my lap & worked her down to
the floor gradually--always ready to grab her up if Chu should turn on
her. They started to play & soon became best of friends! Chu
would look for Tigger (the kitten) when he was going out to play. They
ate, slept & played together endlessly. |
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Sometime
later i
had purchased a new safety collar for Chu. It broke open
and
Chu ran out into the road & was hit by a car and killed. We searched for
him &
finally found him in the neighbor's yard where he had died. We brought him home
wrapped in a blanket & that darn cat climbed right into the car to see her
friend. She meowed, rubbed up against him & batted at him.
Finally she settled into laying on the blanket with her friend. We allowed her
to do this while we dug Chu's grave in our yard. After we buried Chu,
Tigger climbed up the cherry tree over his grave & sat there for 2
weeks. She would not eat or drink or climb down. We tried everything
to get her down but she would not leave her friend. She eventually did
come down--- but then exactly one year to the day Chu died Tigger was hit by
a car and died in the same spot as Chu. You can never tell me that
animals do not love each other or grieve the loss of another animal.
Joyce
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