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Originally posted by Panky
Experience.

We had a Great Dane and a street wise, rat of a cat. That cat lived to torment the dog and every human in the house. The dog had enough one day and pinned the cat to the floor and stared at it. The cat hissed and snarled, trying to intimidate the dog while trying desperately to break loose. The dog simply continued to stare at the cat and the cat eventually gave up. From that point on, the cat still tried to torment the dog, but all the dog had to do was look at the cat a certain way, and the cat would find something else to do.

In the beginning, they will both try your patience. They will chase each other a few times. Steal each others toys. Knock over a few things on tables... The dog will bark. The cat will hiss. They will live to bother each other for awhile, but it's normal. They will drive you nuts for a bit until the boundaries are set.

Discipline is key. Don't let the dog rule.

The dog will be jealous of the cat and the cat will be jealous of the dog. It's no different than if you introduce another cat into the house.

Worst case... they could both hate each other. The cat could be pissed for life that you brought the dog home. Cats hold grudges.

I've raised dogs all my life along with various other pets. At one point, we had 2 dogs, an albino rabbit, a hampster, and a parakeet all at the same time. The rabbit was kept outside, but still roamed free in the yard. The dogs wanted to eat the hampster, bird, and rabbit, but they also were well trained. They would sniff the hampster and rabbit, sometimes lick them. The one dog lived to chase the rabbit around the yard, but would stop dead in his tracks if he saw one of us or we yelled out the window. When we cleaned the birdcage, the bird would torment the dogs. It would fly just out of reach. The bird was braindead and asking to be eaten. We never gave them the opportunity to eat the hampster. They would knock the little clear ball around, but would stop when told to go lay down.

wow.. thanks Panky, Great info there.