Before you start: setting your home up for success
Before the first structured session, your home layout does most of the work. A dog and a cat who never rehearse chasing or hiding start the program far ahead of a pair who already had a bad first meeting.
Give the cat a safe territory
- Pick one safe room the dog can never enter. It holds the cat's litter box, food, water and favorite resting spots.
- Install baby gates (or stacked gates for jumpers) so the cat can move between rooms without ever being cornered.
- Create vertical space: cat trees, cleared shelves and window perches. A cat who can observe the dog from above stays far calmer than one at floor level.
Place resources thoughtfully
- Litter boxes must never be somewhere the dog can ambush — a cat who gets startled mid-visit may stop using the box entirely.
- Feed the cat well out of the dog's reach. Elevated feeding stations work well.
- Keep the dog's food and chews away from the cat's routes, so the dog has nothing to guard.
Swap scents before they ever meet
Cats and dogs both read the world through their noses. For several days before any visual contact:
- Rub a soft cloth on the dog's cheeks and bedding and leave it near (not in) the cat's feeding area.
- Do the same in reverse with the cat's scent for the dog.
- Swap rooms occasionally: let the cat explore a room the dog has used, dog absent, and vice versa.
When both animals eat, play and sleep normally next to the other's scent, you are ready for visual sessions.
Management basics
- The dog wears a well-fitted harness and leash in every early session — never grab a collar during arousal.
- Exercise the dog before sessions so you are training a body that can settle.
- Never force interactions: no carrying the cat to the dog, no holding either animal in place.
- Between sessions, keep the animals fully separated. Every uncontrolled rehearsal of chasing undoes days of training.
A few days of this preparation feels slow, but it makes the 14-day program dramatically smoother.