[sabrina]

As I lost our Jack Russell Jake in August I have been so lost. We still have the 2 big dogs but anyone who has had a terrier will know they are such a huge part of the family. I started looking at rescue sights around Aberdeenshire and am shocked that although there are dogs needing homes they all say no cats !  My Jake was well trained, no chasing, cats ,chickens, deer and we even stopped in his tracks chasing a rabbit if I shouted leave. All our dogs over the years have been trained the same way. We live in the country, I am home all day so never thought there would be a problem. Cats don't live in the house. No children and even when the grandchildren visit they are old enough to be around all our animals and know how to behave. I feel its such a shame.

[Terry T]

We found it impossible to get a rescue dog from our local rescue centres. They were concerned about us having chickens and a footpath through our land. I was at home all day and expected to need to train the dog, in the end I came to the conclusion that they were more interested in ticking boxes and raising money than rehoming animals. We decided to look for a dog elsewhere and found a lovely jack russel cross, 13 wks old, on gumtree- from a smallholding where there bitch had got out and pregnant. While not from a rescue centre, the pups did need a home. I was confident there was no puppy farm involved.
It took a year before I let her loose with chickens and sheep - rescue or not it’s our job to make sure they won’t hurt our other animals. I’d recommend looking elsewhere- we just got a cat and the two were good friends within days.

[SallyintNorth]

Sorry to hear you are still missing Jake so much 

I guess that dogs needing rescued are often ones that have not had the best of starts, and therefore haven't had the training from puppies that our own dogs would get.  So I guess they can't take the risk.  Were you wanting an adult dog or could you take a pup?  They get pregnant bitches and bitches with litters sometimes, don't they, so maybe you could get a pup and train it from dot?  Otherwise what about the breed rescues?  Surely they understand that some individuals will be okay with cats and others not?

The other thought I had was that when I used to rent a home, I pretty much always rented a place that said no pets, and I always got them without lying.  Saying 'no pets' would put a lot of people off, but given that I knew my dogs and cats were well-behaved, and that I would put right anything that did get damaged, I would go and view the property, and then tell them about the dog (and then the other dog, and then the cats...  ). Sometimes I'd get told no, but more often than not, once they've met you, and seen that you recognise that the house might need a deep clean when you leave and you're happy to pay for that, and so on, then they are able to be flexible.  Maybe the same might work with the rescues?  Go and see some terriers, and then explain the situation and that you are happy to have the right terrier and work with him, and wouldn't hold the rescue to blame if something happened?

Whatever you try, I do hope the right terrier comes into your life soon 

[bj_cardiff]

I have a good friend that runs a rescue and they get some real muppets enquiring about dogs. Some people expect to take a dog into a home and expect it to show no interest in the resident cat and as you can imagine the consequences can be horrible.

Some dogs are genuinely frantic about cats and not safe to have around them, most are excited by them, but after being confined in kennels I don't blame them. Some dogs are so zoned out in kennels that they show little interest in anything, once a cat enters their new territory its a different matter.

I wouldn't let a dog that isn't cat friendly put me off, I would speak directly to the person running the kennels and say you have a cat, but cat lives outside, or that your confident you can keep them separate until used to each other and your aware of the risks and prepared to take on the risk. I would also ask about 'fostering' the dog for a week or so before to see how it fits into your home and lifestyle.