dog...meet cat

Question
I have a five yr. old cat, Maxi, who was found and raised by my 9 yr. old large shepherd.  It was love at first sight.  Maxi does not like cats, and her and Reina, her dog mom, were best friends.  My dog passed on at age 14 in September.  Two weeks ago, when she no longer got stressed when I mentioned her mom's name,  I received a beautiful German Shepherd.  He was a stray that probably was partly kenneled, (concrete calluses) some house, as he was house broken, but not manners. He's learning. Yet Klaus is so advanced in so many other areas of training, incld. not to take food without concent, from a hand.  He is approx. 9 to 11mo. old, very social, clutsy, loving and very puppy!  And smart!!  I have had other shepherds, incld. two that I rescued that I did not know was part wolf.  I socialized both so that they were the friendliest of all of mine, and totally relieable.  One was my cat's mom.  (nutered, as is Klaus).  When I brought Klaus's scent to Maxi, she was purring like it was mommy.  But when he came in, she was NOT!  She doesn't become hysterical, but Klaus is so much a big puppy yet, and acts like a young child that was not allowed out in the world..."WOW!  LOOK AT THAT, LET ME SEE, LET ME SNIFF, WOW!  OH...A BIRD!"  But he does not growl at her...he whines like a fool, with a little barking.  Maxi mostly hisses, sometimes quiet, and only swatted twice.  I have had them in the same room twice freely, with me around her body.  I have put her in a closed and open kennel, with Klaus on leash, but allowed to sniff her, but he does not tear at the kennel.  I walk him away, distract him, and walk him back, to keep the stress level down.  Klaus has not tried to push into Maxi's bedroom since the first week, but no puppy  love going on for them.  Maxi is a little braver in going back upstrairs slower, sitting to bathe first, if he is in the other rooms shut off, or out side and she can still hear him.  But my heart breaks that she is not having free run of the house, or that he does not get to sleep in our bedroom.  My mom is staying with me for another month, so he sleeps near her.  But I tuck him in and sing to him at bedtime.  They both know they are loved.  He also now shows he belongs here, and patrols the windows at night, which he did not do at first.  And I strongly suspect that Klaus had some K-9 scent training.  I am confident raising all my dogs, and have always had extremely loved and well behaved dogs. But I am not sure about this intro with my grandcat.  Please help me.  Caryle Jinright

Answer
Caryle, it probably just needs a little more time. It sounds like you're doing everything 'right,' as far as keeping the puppy on a leash when around the cat, but cats are so resistant to change that it may take Maxi a while to warm up to Klaus. Just keep at it and don't try to rush things.