'Already stressed about adding a newborn': Rescue dog with territorial issues making life harder for newly wed couple and their kittens, they question whether rehoming is the right decision

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Briana Viser • Writer and Editor
Aug 4, 2026 9:00 AM EDT

Life is full of difficult decisions, but once you make it you can't go back. 

When one door closes, another opens. When we finally think everything will fall into place, it might not. Life is full of endless ebbs and flows, ups and downs, and the need to be strong in situations we never imagined. The unexpected is always around the corner, and sometimes we're met with a decision between two things that seem equally bad or good (however you look at it). In this story, a recently married couple struggles with a difficult decision regarding their pet dog. They adopted two kittens at the beginning of their relationship, and they love the cats more than anything. They really spoil them and see them as their babies, so getting rid of them now is not an option. They got married and bought a house, and now they went to the animal shelter to get a dog. 

The dog has no previous experience with cats, but they thought everything would be okay. They thought they could train him to get along with their cats, but they were wrong. The dog is territorial and has a strong prey instinct. They're having a hard time finding ways to coexist the animals. There's a lot of problems that have stemmed from this. They separated the pets with a baby gate, and also have the cats upstairs and the dogs downstairs. The problem too is that the house is small, and the cats are now extremely vocal and yell because they don't like the dog being in the house. So on top of the existing issues now, they also are getting ready to have their first kid. They wonder if it's the right decision to keep everything in this situation for the baby. They seek wholesome advice from the internet, and the internet delivers advice back. Read the full story below, and remember that it's better to make a bad situation better rather than trying to brute force through the bad situation. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10652929024
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    Pitbull dog with territorial issues. 

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    To keep a long story short: my now husband and I adopted 2 kittens in the beginning of our
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    relationship. We loved those cats so much, they were our babies and we spoiled them to no end.
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    We got married last year and bought a house. I took a trip to the animal shelter one weekend
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    and fell in love with a shelter dog that no previous experience with cats (not bad or good). I decided
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    to take him in and thought I would be able to train him to get along with our cats. Well, I was
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    wrong. He has a strong prey drive, and I am having a very hard time finding ways to coexist the
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    animals. This has resulted to us separating them by a baby gate with the cats upstairs and the dog
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    downstairs. Now the problem, our house is small, 1500 square foot cape code state home. Our cats
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    have become extremely needy and vocal since we adopted the dog. They still at top of the stairs
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    and meow to no end. The litter box is also in the only other room we have in the house, and the
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    litter tracks everywhere despite efforts to vacuum daily and change the litter often.
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    We both want to start trying for our first child a year from now, a chapter I have wanted for a long
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    time. However I am dreading it now more than ever due to the thought of having to navigate the
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    needy,messy cats, the high prey drive dog, and a newborn who will require all my attention. I've
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    softly brought up the re-homing discussion with my husband and he gets very upset and shuts it
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    down immediately. I don't even have a baby yet and I'm already stressed. I don't know what else
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    to do. Has anyone else gone through this before?
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    TopEagle 4012 I'm going to apologize before I share my thoughts
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    because they may not be in line with what works for you. I'm hearing that everything was pretty good until you added the dog. Any animal
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    with a strong prey instinct may not be the best thing with a newborn baby. I know it's going to be hard no matter what direction you
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    go and I don't envy your predicament but I'm thinking if the dog is rehomed that may solve the need for the gate the meowing, the neediness,
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  • This isn't an easy decision. But in the end, maybe it's better to rehome the dog and send it to a family without cats or a baby. Rehoming isn't usually recommended, but there's always a situation where it's actually better than not. 

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    and perhaps the environment will change. Again I don't envy your situation and maybe there's a close friend or relative that can take the dog so that you can still have contact with it. Good luck.
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