Hi,
I have a 1 1/2 yr old cocker spaniel, my housemate is thinking about getting a cat.  If I walk her past cats they end up arching their backs and hissing as she's straining to get to them, not agressively but more excited and curious.  If my housemate did get a kitten what would be the best way to get them used to each other? has anyone done this?
thanx
miri

My dogs have always chased cats. I had a hubby who let them, even encouraged them. :( After I had left him my daughter decided she wanted a cat. We got a 5/6 week old kitten. One of the dogs tried to eat her They ended up sleeping together until the kitten died on the road.

What we did was to keep the kitten in a separate room (daughters bedroom ;) ) for a few days. The dogs were put into my bedroom at night for a short time so that the kitten could go into the living room. After about half an hour the kitten was put back and the dogs were allowed through. We did this for a couple of nights before re-introducing them. Daughter held the kitten and I had the dogs on leads. One sniffed the kitten and sat down, just looking. The other tried to eat it again :) She was told off. After about 5 attempts to eat the kitten  she realised that she wasn't going to be allowed to. She lay down and watched the kitten very closely. We watched her even more closely :D It took us about a week before we felt we could trust them together, but as I said they became good friends in a short time. Kitten even came for walks with the dogs

Oh, the dogs still tried to chase other cats, just not her :D