Kitten and Schnauzers

Question
QUESTION: We have aquired a kitten and are having difficulty getting the kitten socialized with our 2 schnauzers.  We tried and my black schnauzer nipped her, we are both too nervous now to let them together, how can we deal with this.  Our schnazuers are thoroughly spoilt and daddys girls, will they hurt the kitten, the kitten is now 9 weeks and has been confined to spare room for 5 help!!!!

ANSWER: Yes, they could easily hurt/kill the kitten. They need to be corrected when they **LOOK** at the kitten. Either the kitten could be in a crate, or one of you could hold the kitten while the other does the correction. I would introduce the dogs one at a time (to eliminate pack behavior), and have the dogs in a training collar and on a lead. When the dog looks at (or charges) the kitten, give it a hard pop with the lead and firmly tell the dog to "LEAVE IT!". Praise the dog when it looks at you and give it a small treat. Keep repeating this as you walk by and up to the kitten.

If you cannot do this, then find a new home for the kitten as it is too little to defend itself.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response.  While I agree with you, we have got to the stage of holding the kitten and one of our schnauzers comes close, she is the more tolerant one, our black one is the one that nipped the kitten.  Are you saying that the girls should not look at the kitten in any shape or form? and how do you stop the kitten from wanting to play or bite them?

Answer
Once they learn that you will not tolerate them even LOOKING at the kitten, they will begin to tolerate her.... and that is your ultimate goal. I would pretty much ignore the kitten's behavior. She will most likely give up on them if they ignore her.

If the one schnauzer is okay with the kitten, you would probably only have to work with the black one, but do know that if the one becomes aggressive, the other one might join in to "help".

I had to do this with one of our dogs who had high prey drive, and at first he wanted to kill our (outdoor barn) cats, and he was very capable of doing just that (he had killed a raccoon). It wasn't long before he would stand there and let the cats come up and rub all over him. Now these were full-grown cats, and not tiny kittens which would look more like prey to an average schnauzer.