Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Erika

My husband and I recently visited my parents and met the new next door neighbors and their "baby". Her name is Sadie and she is the most adorable puppy I have ever seen. We fell in love with her immediately and are now thinking of getting one of our own. However, we presently own a three year old German Shepherd mix (a complete baby!!) and a 9 month old kitten. Will this present a problem? We welcome your input.

DISCUSSION:

I am very cautious about letting my Maltese around larger dogs. My neighbors have a GSD and it tries to eat mine. The dog was raised alone and does not like small dogs. My sister's dog, a wolf Hybred is wonderful with my dogs, but he has been raised with puppies and small dogs. You never know how it will work. I would put my dog on a leash and take it to meet the neighbors dog and see what the reaction is.
-Marsha A.

I have a 2 year old shep/mix (Roxy) and a 9month old cat (Baby) we just bought jewel a few days ago Roxy wants to play with her and seems to be fine but I am very careful because of Jewels size i've been holding her. Today when we were out Roxy laid down on the ground so Jewel could lick her so I think they will get along fine with Supervision . Does your dog have a chance to socialize with other dogs that might give an answer as to how he/she would be ? By the way my cat is a little afraid at this time of Jewel.
-Karen/Jewel

Just from my personal experience, I, too, had the same reservations about my 7 year old Elkhound, and my 9 year old cat, and how they would interact with a new puppy, especially one so small. Our Elkhound is a complete baby, although our cat is a scrapper. She likes the Elkhound only because we got him when she was 2. We were careful to get a female puppy for him, and he has adored her since we got her. The problem is with the cat, whom I have not left alone with our puppy yet, and doubt I will ever trust her for quite some time. And we have been careful to understand her position, and how she feels. But we do keep them separated when we are away just for safety's sake. I really think your puppy would do fine with a 9 month old kitten. I'll bet they would become good playmates, because the kitten is still young. It'll take a little getting used to--you didn't say what sex your dog is, but my recommendation would be to get the opposite sex of what that dog is. Actually, several people recommended that to us when we were looking for a small lap dog. If the dog is as loving as you say he/she is (sounds like our dog), then there shouldn't be a problem, after an initial adjustment period. This is just from our experience! Good luck, and have fun!
-Pamela

It can work. We have nine large mixed- beed dogs and four cats, as well as various other pets, and a year -old Maltese. We were, and are, extremely careful of our little darling. We also choose a larger puppy, as we were concerned a tiny one might be too fragile. Our other dogs have never intentionally, or even unintentionally, hurt our little darling. I had heard most most dogs will not hurt puppies, due to their "puppy smell." I don't know if that true--so always err on the side of caution! Even to this day I do not leave our Maltese alone with our other dogs. One of our cats was 4 months old when we got our maltese puppy (Sweet Pea) and they are the best of friends. In fact, we were glad Sweet Pea had someone approximately her size to play with, as she was a very lively puppy!! I guess maybe like so many other things, it depends on the dogs and the owners. But Maltese are wonderful dogs and we are so happy we got our first little "foo-foo" dog!
-Maria

You didn't mention whether or not your cat is declawed. If it isn't, you might want not want to get a Maltese. The cat and dog would be about the same height, and the cat could easily damage the dog's eyes by scratching. Our cat nearly blinded our older hunting dog when we first got her as a puppy. We then had the cat declawed. Our hunting dog absolutely adores our "Christy" and has from the day we brought her home. But, as in some of the other replies, you just never know. It'd be good to try your dog around smaller dogs on a leash to see how it reacts. Good luck.
-peggy garvey

Thanks, everyone, for your input. In answer to some questions, the cat and dog are both female and the cat has been declawed. Our dog, Alexis, always gets along with puppies (my sister has had two) but she is not good with dogs that are the same size or bigger than her. Using our hearts and your comments, we have pretty much decided to have her visit the neighbor's dog and then.....maybe get one of our own!! Thanks!!
-Erika