Any suggestions for introducing a d*g to my cats?

"22brix" wrote in message
...
Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a
large
(operative word being large!) dog? In a weak moment I offered to take
care
of a friend's dog while she is selling her house and moving. It may be a
fairly long time (ie several months). I have had dogs and cats together
before but the dogs were either puppies or in one case a small dog that
were
more intimidated by the cats than anything. This dog (Nala) is probably
80
lbs., a mixed mutt. She's elderly and so isn't very lively anymore. She
also has not been around cats much. She is very sweet and responsive but
she could do very real damage to a cat. My cats have been around several
dogs but Kellie just ignored them and Boku (a Boston Terrier we took care
of
for awhile) was very very respectful of them.

Any suggestions for making the introductions any easier?

Bonnie




Nala arrived yesterday with my friend and so far it has been very
uneventful. Nala is extremely mellow, has wonky hips, can't move very fast,
can't see well, is partially deaf, doesn't guard her food, loves people and
has shown only mild interest in the cats. She is very responsive to voice
commands (when she can hear you!). She has already made tentative friends
with Hailey, who is the dumb blonde type (no offence meant being sorta blond
meself!) She is very distractable--you clap your hands and she'll come
gallumphing towards you. I do think this will work--of course I'll be
keeping a gimlet on on her. She is a real sweetheart and looks very
formidable.

Except for Hailey, the rest of my crew is not so impressed. Gollum and
Linden are big-eyed and puffed up and keeping out of the way, Clover is
playing hard to get and Sophie, tramp that she is, has used some frightfully
foul language to voice her strident opinions. We are not pushing any
introductions--Hailey sort of introduced himself, Nala sniffed noses with
him and wagged her tail gently. One of the cats (probably Sophie) gave her
a swat--Nala merely blinked in surprise. Hopefully things continue this
way!

Thanks for all the good suggestions and comments!

Bonnie

PS By the way, she is part pit-bull (actually American Staff Terrier) and
is totally dog and people friendly. Evidently she was used initially as a
breeder and then abandoned--my friend adopted her when she was two or three.