How To Keep Animals Separate In A Small House

…or a large one:

This post has been published because there is another dog in our lives from the shelter as of last month, and I hope this post helps others who need some ideas for encouraging cross-species get-a-longs to be better equipped to accommodate an animal in need of love. I am not a “dog person,” but I still love and adore them and want them happy. And no, I don’t want to talk about how I end up with dogs when I don’t want the labor that one requires (or icky furniture or furry floors). In my situation, “Dogs happen.”

We’ll be sharing techniques for introducing animals, and further down, one way to introduce🐕dogs to lizards.🦎

The first thing one may consider about their home is how small is small? If you live in a studio apartment where every room but the bathroom is basically the same living space, it seems best not to attempt multiple animals together if you have the slightest concern for safety.

If you live in a large, open floorplan style of home with large entries into rooms, or so “open,” that multiple rooms are one living area, animals can be introduced over the course of days or weeks through what closing doors the home has.

For example, alternating animals between who eats where and designating times when each animal can have free reign of the home a few times a day with the family are some ways to help our animal friends acclimate to the new scents before face-to-face introductions through gates or other safe approaches (i.e. on leashes at a distance).

We don’t want one animal stuck in a room for days or weeks during the sought-after acclimation and get-along process. This will not bode well for the mental and physical state of any being.

This isn’t to say that animals being secluded for any length of time and humans doing so much switching things up for the sake of safety is the ideal way for any of the involved parties to live. I’m saying if you find yourself in a situation as this, even if only temporary, that where there is a will, there is probably a way.

Temporary circumstances may be something like if a friend or family member wants to take a vacation or perhaps must stay in a hospital, and you think you can’t help because of your animals, then gates, doors, and dividers may make it possible.

For extra security measures, an option is to install a chain lock or hook & eye lock on doors, especially to prevent children or crazy Uncle Dave from opening them unexpectedly.

Depending on the animals, breeds, etcetera, perhaps a failsafe, if you will is ideal, such as a gate before another gate, or a gate at a hall entry before the doors.

Getting animals used to the scents and sounds of other animals may be helpful (or it may just pi** them off, who knows) before an introduction. But, what if you have two animal personalities that simply will not accept one another? After all, they are individuals, and sometimes two individuals simply do not mesh well. And, what if you have two or more animal species, who, by their very natures, should never come into contact?

Can it be done, can you give each a happy, love-filled life… separately?

It can be done… if you have the time (or make time) and patience (and love) to do all the switching around and time-slotting, so to speak, every day.

Our home is not large, and keeping animals separate for any length of time can be stressful, and it doesn’t feel fair to isolate an animal for any length of time, but it’s a process, and in some cases, living circumstances to give them love, a safe environment (as long as safety protocols are adhered to), a family to adore them, and care. Some people have not two, but three, four, or more animals, who, not a single one can “play” with the others! So, indeed, it can be done with ingenuity, scheduling, and determination.

My dad had one cat that was relentlessly bullied by another cat. So much so, that the bullied cat changed, it became sad and could barely relax because it was forever on guard for the other little jerk to enter the room and be terribly mean. I don’t know why the one cat was so hateful to the other, and it didn’t stop. This is a classic case of two animals’ personalities that don’t mesh. These two were candidates for a slow introduction and separate family time slots, at least for a while.

We have a 37″ tall gate with a latching door that swings in both directions. It was originally purchased to keep my wonderful dad (later stricken by dementia) safe from roaming the whole house at night after we brought him here to live with me. This style of gate is a good option for people keeping “non-climbers” and “non-jumpers” separated. We had used this gate to successfully keep a dog in a once door-less room until she realized she was agile enough to leap over it! I flew like wind down the hall and got her as soon as her final back foot was about to be balanced! Lesson learned – that gate should not be used as a door, but as an extra precautionary purpose, something to slow an unfolding situation as action is taken. With that, I think this gate style is great for two short (or lazy, old, or overweight) animals. They are made taller as well.

The new family member:

Her name used to be Coco. The shelter staff named her Adeline. Maybe they have more “Coco’s” or renamed her thinking it was more unique and memorable. For days, she didn’t respond to one name more than the other or even act much like a dog. She has finally decompressed from abandonment & shelter life. After continuous testing of her reaction, she began responding best to Coco. But, she is rust, not cocoa-colored.🤔She looks a lot like Bandit in that rusty potato shape sort of way.

Personally, I have no idea what to expect if a certain dear someone comes to visit with his gorgeous pit bull. Dogs and other creatures can become instant besties or refuse to like each other permanently.

This is a gate I found recently on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZCSNPFH/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=AAVV4D55CPMZE&th=1

I didn’t know gates, or in this case, basically long room dividers existed.

I’d like to have it to keep Coco away from Lil’ Murph so that he can safely bask at the screen door with a view. And I don’t want her to lose her head if she sees a squirrel & tramples Murph to bolt through the screen. After being more comfortable about her being near Lil’ Murph (never fully off-guard), my biggest concern is her vision. She has cloudiness over her pupils. She either can’t focus on him when he is on the floor, and/or she isn’t exactly smart & simply won’t fully acknowledge his existence.

It’s been my experience, that some dogs get so dopey from lovins, that they appear to lose a few IQ points and all sense of their bodily boundaries. I have had to block her feet from Murph’s tiny body as a precaution. She weighs about 50 lbs (about 22.7 kg).

The shelter didn’t inform of the unnoticed growth on Coco’s side. It was noticed after a day or two of being here. She has been to the vet. She has a few growths, but the others are harmless cyst-type things. The large growth beneath fur yet to be groomed, was described as a mastic something. Strangely, she gets 5 mg. of Prednisolone for comfort and 10 mg. of Pepcid AC to shrink the tumor before surgery.

This is the type of dog that stays in the shelters for a long time or never gets adopted. Unless someone is looking to improve the life of an animal such as this, it’s the puppies, kittens, and beautifully marked animals that people want to take home. Her tail looks as though it had been broken. So, this dog is an aged, rust-colored, potato-shaped, broken tailed, weird-butted, precancerous or cancer-having individual. But, she is so very sweet.

It wasn’t for a few days that she began forever licking her growth. The sound drove me nuts, but I felt sad for her. I think the peaceful days here made her aware that her skin itched, hurt, or something. I saw her in the shelter twice, she wasn’t licking it. I think the constant human activity and dog-barking stole all her focus.

Well, that’s the story of Coco so far, and how she and Murph are getting along.

🦎My technique to get dogs used to a lizard and not think lizards are a snack or toy is to show that Murph is part of the family pack, allowing occasionally sniffing as I hold him. I talk to Murph, kiss, and feed him where he is visible to the dogs, hoping to deepen the sense that he is alive and to remain unharmed. My concern is Murph will walk or slide on the floors and spark a chase/attack tendency, if only latent, in this furry addition to our house.

I did the same with Bandit & Jazzy. Bandit was a wonderful brother to Murph, but I had to watch he didn’t step on him. Jazz was smart. The constant concern with her was her energy level & toy tossing.

I prefer the presence of exotic (especially scaly and amphibious) animals and wild ones too (& the birds and squirrels have grown to have certain expectations of me around here), but no matter, dogs are pampered here, they need it after being family-less & stressed at the animal shelter for months or years. Even the insects are pampered around here. If they enter the house, they are safely rehomed outside – doesn’t matter what it is (large spiders get escorted to the far end of the yard & wished well).

Life would be easier without animals in the home, but it sure wouldn’t be quite right. Murph reminds me to breathe, and that it’s okay to stop working on something for a bit to sit outside with him to do nothing but live, love, and look at nature with him. I need him and that. We belong to each other.

You can sponsor Lil’ Murph for $10 USD monthly, or make a one-time gift donation to go into his bank account for things such as his UVB lightbulbs when needing changed annually, healthcare, and after that, to help us keep this website going, spreading love for lizards and sharing care tips and education. Changes to his account will be shared with all of you (no names of gifters) – our friends, and our new and long-time followers/subscribers via photo/screenshot updates.

“Give me Lizardry or give me Death!” – ❤️Murph & Dawn